Frequently asked questions

Right School is a free tool that helps Ontario parents find, compare, and understand school performance. We cover 4,800+ public, Catholic, and French-language schools across Ontario, providing plain-language summaries of EQAO test results, school ratings, and side-by-side comparisons.

School scores on Right School are derived from official EQAO (Education Quality and Accountability Office) assessment data published by the Ontario government. We analyze Grade 3, Grade 6, Grade 9, and Grade 10 OSSLT results across reading, writing, and mathematics, then combine them into an overall score out of 10. Three-year performance trends are also factored in to reflect whether a school is improving, stable, or declining.

EQAO stands for the Education Quality and Accountability Office. It is an independent Ontario government agency that administers province-wide standardized assessments to students in Grades 3, 6, 9, and 10. EQAO results help parents understand how well a school is helping students meet the provincial curriculum standards in reading, writing, and mathematics. These results are the most consistent, publicly available measure of academic performance across all Ontario schools.

You can search for schools on Right School by entering your postal code, city name, or school name in the search bar on the Browse Schools page. Postal code searches find all schools within 25 km of your location, sorted by distance. You can also filter results by school board, school type (public, Catholic, or French), and minimum rating.

Yes. Right School lets you compare up to 6 schools side by side. From the Browse Schools page, select the schools you want to compare using the checkboxes, then click "Compare selected." The comparison view shows overall scores, subject-level performance (math, reading, writing), performance trends, and "best for" fit indicators for each school.

The "Best For" section on each school profile highlights what types of students or families the school is particularly well-suited for, based on its performance data. For example, a school might be flagged as "best for" families seeking strong math instruction or for students who thrive in environments with steadily improving results. These insights are generated from the data, not from subjective opinions.

Right School currently focuses on Ontario public, Catholic, and French-language schools that participate in EQAO assessments. We are actively working on integrating private and independent school data to provide a unified search experience across all school types in Ontario.

Right School uses the most recent preliminary EQAO data released by the Ontario government, currently the 2023-2024 school year. We update our data each time a new EQAO release becomes available, typically once per year in January.

Yes. Right School is completely free for parents, guardians, and educators. There are no hidden fees, premium tiers, or paid features. Our goal is to make school performance data accessible and understandable for every Ontario family.

Ontario has four publicly funded school systems: English Public, English Catholic, French Public (conseil scolaire public), and French Catholic (conseil scolaire catholique). All four are funded by Ontario taxpayers and follow the Ontario curriculum. Catholic schools incorporate religious instruction and may have different admissions policies. All four systems participate in EQAO assessments, and Right School includes schools from all four systems.

Each school profile on Right School includes a "Trend" indicator showing whether the school's EQAO results have been improving, stable, or declining over the past three years. This is calculated by analyzing the year-over-year change in the percentage of students meeting the provincial standard across all assessed subjects and grade levels at that school.

Yes. Each school profile breaks down performance by subject — math, reading, and writing — at each assessed grade level. When browsing schools, you can look for "Strong math," "Strong reading," or "Strong writing" tags on school cards. You can also use the minimum rating filter to find only top-performing schools.