Resources for Community Partners & Policymakers
People for Education
The People for Education has put together this resource to create a tool to measure the progress made towards children’s access to quality education. This resource was created in response to the effects of COVID-19, which have served to exacerbate the inequities found in education. The goal was to create a framework, the Canadian Right to Education Framework, that will measure progress in achieving the right to education for all children, in a clear and specific manner. In doing so, this resource hopes to contribute to an education system in which students have future-ready skills and global competencies to face a host of challenges and set them up for success not only financially, but as informed citizens. As the report points out, stakeholders and policymakers are bound to ensure students receive their right to quality education. This includes meeting the diverse needs of students, such as indigenous students, who have traditionally been underserved in education, which must be acknowledged if progress is to be made towards equitable education. The report then goes on to highlight what students have identified as needed for Canada to reach the goal outlined above.
United Way Toronto
In a series of United Way Toronto research studies that investigates the connection between neighbourhood concentration of poverty and housing. The focus is on the inner suburbs because poverty is more pronounced in Toronto’s inner suburban communities and on high-rise rental housing because it provides housing for the city’s low-and moderate-income families. It can be used usefully because it lists recommendations to reduce the growing concentration of low-income tenants in high-rise buildings.
Eizadarad 2020 Book Chapter about YAAACE & the Opportunity Gap
This chapter uses comparative spatial analysis and Critical Race Theory to outline an overview of systemic and institutional barriers impeding academic achievement of racialized students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds living in under-resourced racialized communities in Toronto, Canada. Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE), a nonprofit community organization in the Jane and Finch neighborhood, is examined as a case study in closing the achievement gap in the community by investing in minimizing the inequality of opportunity impacting young children, youth, and families in the area.
CBC News Article on the Cost of Losing Education
The article addresses the hardships young Black students in the Toronto Catholic District School Board, especially in Toronto’s northwest neighborhood of Rexdale, and Jane-Finch community. A former vice-principal, Paul Raso, at Father Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School quit his job once two of his students, who were brothers, were expelled and denied entry into other neighboring schools. Raso advocates for parents and students in the Jane-Finch community, but he still sees students being shuffled to schools where they are not safe.
Intevening Through Supplemental Education Programs
Supplementary Education Programs (SEPs) aim to diminish the achievement gap within the two-tiered public education system within Canada. The SEP in this document, based on a case study involving YAAACE and the Jane and Finch Community, aims to improve math and literacy levels by offering academic instruction during after school hours, on weekends, during summer breaks, often combined with unconventional activities like sports or arts. SEP’s also focus on small group learning and tutoring, as both have been shown to be an effective method for supplemental education. Lastly, SEPs also focus on student-teacher relationships and mentoring because studies show that forming a close relationship of trust fosters engagement and motivation in students.
Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (EFTO) focuses on social justice, equity, and inclusion. ETFO is committed to creating policies, professional learning and curriculum resources that protect and support the quality and rights of Black students and workers. ETFO wants to continue its efforts in developing curriculum resources that explore Black history, culture, identity and current day realities of racism and discrimination in a respectful and reflective manner and that can celebrate the contributions of Black Canadians to our country. ETFO also provides the public with equity workshops such as the re-thinking white privilege workshop and the Black Canadian Curriculum calendar workshop.