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Private school attendance in Ontario has grown over
recent decades from 1.9 percent of the student population in 1960
to 5.6 percent in 2006. What are the characteristics of private
schools? Why are parents increasingly choosing them over public
schools? What kinds of parents are choosing them for their
children? This study is the most recent and comprehensive attempt
by researchers to document the characteristics of private schools
and the characteristics and motivations of Ontario parents of
private school students.
This study is based on a survey of parents (from 919 households)
whose children attend private schools in Ontario. We considered
two major groups of private schools: academically- or
pedagogically- defined day schools (ADS) and religiously-defined
day schools (RDS), schools which together served over 107,000
students in 2005-2006, or almost 90 percent of Ontario private
school students. The study did not include schools with a more
specialized madate; those specifically for special needs students
(11%), schools that cater almost exclusively to international
students, or publicly funded First Nations schools.
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