In Canada, your exact home address determines the schools your children must attend. 

Select Schools (Canada)™ has developed a method of evaluating schools that assists parents and potential homebuyers in evaluating the neighbourhoods that offer the best choices of school quality for their children. Select Schools™ is owned and operated by me, Dennis Paradis, as a free service for my real estate clients.

Yes, my clients get these reports FREE. If you want to buy these reports first, and later use my real estate services to buy or sell your next home, you will get a full refund.

Select School Reports™ are a valuable indicator of the school's performance and quality. Our reports are revised bi-annually as new data becomes available. The ratings are averaged over several years to smooth out the effect of a single exceptional test (for better or worse). 

Changing Address Soon?  If you are considering a move or are relocating, the question becomes: Do you want to buy your next home near good quality schools?  

Not Moving But Interested? If you are a homeowner without any current intention to move, you may want to know what the schools are like in the neighbourhood you live in now?

Impact of School Quality

Obviously your children, if they are attending these schools, are directly impacted by the school quality.

Besides the direct impact the quality of your schools have on your children, school quality has a 25-30% impact on your home's resale value. Read article 

A UK study revealed a house value increase of 19% for secondary and 34% for primary schools between the worst performing schools and the best performing schools. Average schools (primary and secondary) did not differ much on their house prices compared to the same houses in the worst school areas.

Schools are at the top of most buyer's list of priorities.

Why is it so hard to get good information about schools?

Most parents and homeowners (or real estate people) really don't have the time to research and stay current on school quality and certainly very few  know how their schools compare to other choices across the entire GTA. This is because it is very difficult to find (and interpret) this information and then try to do comparisons.

The Four Challenges

Yes, you can get individual provincial test results (EQAO tests) but there are four major challenges faced by parents/homebuyers when trying to use public sources, i.e.; the school boards websites or special reports from The Fraser Institute and CD Howe Institute:

1. Schools are not compared (ranked)  - only raw data is provided from EQAO tests and this is complicated information.  

2. Schools are not grouped by neighbourhoods. You have to deal with each school individually and figure out how they are grouped geographically.

3. School connections are difficult to determine. Except for Toronto, you have to call the school board to see which elementary schools are "connected" to what high schools. Again, your street address ties you to an exact set of schools.

4. School Sets (elementary plus high schools) that are BOTH of high quality are rare and hard to find - Select Schools calls these "Sweet Spots™"and we identify and highlight these rare gems. Note: Only one out of ten neighbourhoods in the GTA have "sweet spots".

Parents/Homebuyers want and need to see the "big picture" - school quality summarized and compared by neighbourhoods, not just a street or two and a handful of schools chosen at random or based on someone's opinion that this or that school is "pretty good".

Select Schools has solved the four challenges mentioned above. Select Schools uses factual data (not opinions) from several sources including but not limited to school board data. We summarize and condense this data across multiple years.

Sample School Reports

Select School reports accurately and fairly compare schools within Toronto, York and Durham by neighbourhoods using a new scientific method that became available in March, 2005 from the CD Howe Institute. This breakthrough in comparing schools is explained in the reports.

Over 1,600 schools (elementary and secondary) were carefully reviewed in Toronto, York (Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan, etc) , and Durham Region (Pickering, Ajax, Whitby and Oshawa), including all the public elementary and secondary schools in these three areas involving over fifty neighbourhoods.

Select Schools provides the best school reports available to-day for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). They are the only reports that rank and rate schools within neighbourhoods.

Select Schools  will continue to add more schools and be refreshed with the best available information on School Quality every two years. 

Toronto School Report - Covers All Toronto Schools

This unique and comprehensive 45-page report available to Dennis Paradis's clients at no cost as part of his real estate service. Others may purchase reports for $295 $USA  (public and catholic sold separately). 

York Region School Report - Covers all York Region (Markham, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, etc).

Durham Region School Report   - Covers all Durham Region (Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, Oshawa, plus villages)

Select Schools reports are sought after worldwide.  

Requests have been received from relocating families from as far away as the United Kingdom and Russia about Select Schools reports. Parents have hired consultants to research the schools and have found Select School reports in the process. Many prospective newcomers to Canada pay close attention to the quality of the schools in those neighbourhoods where they are considering purchasing their home.

Many Canadians who have only lived in Canada assume all schools are about equal and just take what they get after they move to a new neighbourhood. If they check the schools at all they simply rely on word-of-mouth from their friends or perhaps a Realtor. Please, no offense intended if you are the exception.

Word-of-mouth from most sources is a hit-and-miss approach. Why? Your friends or local real estate people are no doubt trying to help, but usually they are relying on opinion, not facts, and often focus on a few neighbourhoods involving a handful of schools at best. But school quality has dramatically changed in many areas in recent years and most people's knowledge is very localized and out-of-date. They may even be quite current on their small area of expertise but, can they advise and compare better choices from the broad area these reports cover - over 1,600 schools in 50 neighbourhoods? No, they honestly cannot. That's why I created these reports, so I could properly answer the big question: "Dennis, where are the best schools in the GTA?"

Here's more good news.

This research information is used to find my clients the best homes near the best schools. These reports are free for my clients. 

You can have these reports free as part of a unique school and real estate personal service provided by me, Dennis Paradis. Plus, as a client you will have access to more information than what is currently published - for example, Catholic Schools and many other areas across Ontario. Also information on Gifted Programs and French Immersion Programs.  When you become my client and you buy or sell a home you get all this extra value as part of Dennis Paradis's  Home + School Service. 

Don't guess wrong on selecting your children's next school.  Don't buy your next home in a poor quality neighbourhood - make the right choice.

You may purchase the reports  online. If you later decide to use my services, your report costs will be fully refunded from my buyer or seller fees on the home you buy or sell thru me.

Why do I charge for these reports? There are two main  reasons:

One. They are worth every penny and then some given the work and cost involved in producing them and the value they provide to parents/homeowners, both directly for their children and later when they sell their property.

Two. I want to meet you. I did not create these reports to make money selling them. These reports were created to help parents and homeowners find better homes near good schools. I want to meet you and help you with this important decision and become your favorite real estate resource.

  
School quality can impact the resale value of your home by as much as 

Nothing like this anywhere else!

 
Find the "Sweet Spots"  
Select Schools reports identify "School Sweet Spots" - very rare combinations of elementary and secondary schools (serving the same address) that are BOTH of high quality. Learn more about "Sweet Spots"

  
My monthly e-newsletter, HomeOwner's View, is available free to keep you informed on my on-going reporting on school quality and accountability and other issues and views important to parents and homeowners. You may Subscribe now.

Interested?  - Go to Select Schools for more information on how to obtain these exclusive and valuable reports.