Research in Education

2008 Ontario Education Research Symposium

Summary report including PowerPoint presentations

The Ministry of Education held its third annual Education Research Symposium in Toronto from January 31 – February 2, 2008. The symposium's primary goals were to:

• Foster and support a collaborative relationship among educators, researchers, and policy makers focused on a shared commitment to improving the education system for all students
• Profile and develop connections between research, policy and practice at all levels of the education system
• Showcase Ontario examples of research into practice and practice-led research in relation to the ministry's strategic goals
• Stimulate inquiry and foster high quality research activity (including identifying new research questions; conducting, disseminating, interpreting, and/or applying research in response to these questions)
• Engage the Ontario education community in identifying opportunities for collaboration and partnership to advance education research as a support for improved teaching and learning.

Click on the attached summary report to see PowerPoints presented at the symposium, including those of the keynote speakers, along with descriptions of the "storefront sessions."

• Summary Report (PDF, 8.8 MB)
• Program (PDF, 144 KB)

2007 Ontario Education Research Symposium

From January 18 to 20, 2007, the Ministry of Education held its second annual Education Research Symposium in Toronto. The symposium's primary goals were:

• to strengthen relationships with those who have stakes in education research in Ontario; and
• to serve as a forum for disseminating research findings among researchers and for considering research implications and applications.

The articles below, presented at the sympsosium, explore a number of topical questions, such as:

1. What do we know about "what works" in relation to this topic?
2. What are some practical implications of what we know?
3. What do we not know?
4. What are some directions for future research?

• Summary Report (PDF, 888 KB)
• Program (PDF, 298 KB)

Click on article titles to view the full text in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.

• Helping students who are experiencing persistent and/or serious discipline problems to succeed in school: The state of the evidence (PDF, 82 KB)
  Shelley Hymel and Natalie Rocke Henderson, University of British Columbia
• Fresh starts/false starts: A review of literature on the transition from elementary to secondary school (PDF, 62 KB)
  Kate Tilleczek, Laurentian University
• Parent engagement: Creating a shared world (PDF, 84 KB)
  Debbie Pushor, University of Saskatchewan
• Supporting Aboriginal student success: Self-esteem and identity, a living teachings approach (PDF, 91 KB)
  Pamela Rose Toulouse, Laurentian University
• What have we learned about reading comprehension? (PDF, 53 KB)
  John R. Kirby, Queen's University
• Where there's a will there are ways to close the achievement gap for children with special education needs (PDF, 59 KB)
  Marcia A. Barnes, University of Guelph
• Word study and reading comprehension: implications for instruction (PDF, 43 KB)
  Ruth McQuirter Scott, Brock University

Please note that the opinions expressed in these papers are those of the authors themselves, and do not necessarily reflect the policies, programs or directions of the Government of Ontario.