Education

Cardus Education exists to cultivate education for the common good and convene education leaders, through original research and policy studies on educational pluralism, excellence in education, and graduate outcomes.

Program Director

David Hunt

Research & Policy

Bringing Thou Back In
Bringing Thou Back In
2018-03-05T00:00:00

This report examines the correlation between religious school attendance, pro-social attitudes, and civic involvement. Are religious school graduates more likely to vote, attend a community meeting, or engage in some other action that contributes to the common good? Author David Sikkink at the University of Notre Dame examines these issues through an analysis of a major American longitudinal data set.

Walking the Path: The Religious Lives of Young Adults in North America
Walking the Path: The Religious Lives of Young Adults in North America
2018-01-30T00:00:00

Using Cardus Education Survey data, University of Notre Dame analysts say that attending a Protestant Evangelical school has a measurable effect on graduates that is distinct from the influence of family, socio-economic background, or church life.

Promises, Promises
Promises, Promises
2017-12-15T00:00:00

What is the impact of schooling experiences on the formation, quality, and stability of marriages and other romantic relationships of young adults? This report brings evidence to bear on the hypothesis that schools contribute to family formation and flourishing.

Cardus Education Policy Round Tables Summary
Cardus Education Policy Round Tables Summary
2017-12-15T00:00:00

In the fall of 2017 Cardus Education hosted four by-invitation education policy round tables across Canada.

School Effects on Graduate Outcomes in Quebec 2016
School Effects on Graduate Outcomes in Quebec 2016
2017-06-08T00:00:00

Because of historical, cultural, and governmental differences between Quebec and the rest of Canada, we have considered responses from Quebec high school graduates separately from the primary Cardus Education Survey 2016 report. This research brief reports the findings from Quebec, where it seems that schools may be choosing between an emphasis on faith formation or academic and civic formation.

The Lasting Impact of High School on Giving and Volunteering in the U.S.
The Lasting Impact of High School on Giving and Volunteering in the U.S.
2017-02-01T00:00:00

Jonathan Schwarz and David Sikkink investigate if high schools in the United States foster behavior, attitudes, and identities that support volunteering and giving among their graduates.

Blinded by Religion? Religious School Graduates and Perceptions of Science in Young Adulthood
Blinded by Religion? Religious School Graduates and Perceptions of Science in Young Adulthood
2016-12-12T00:00:00

Jonathan Schwarz and David Sikkink examine if religious school attendance has a direct, independent effect on adults' orientation toward science.

Cardus Education Survey 2016: Educating To Love Your Neighbour
Cardus Education Survey 2016: Educating To Love Your Neighbour
2016-10-11T00:00:00

The 2016 Cardus Education Survey report is available now. This is the second instalment focusing on Canadian graduates.

Business Gone Quiet
Business Gone Quiet
2016-04-05T00:00:00

Canadian businesses tend to be leading players in public policy debates, pushing governments to ask hard questions about costs and efficacy....except in K-12 education. The business community is virtually silent on an issue to which governments dedicate more money than any other service save health. This report asks, Why?

Lessons for Ontario: Education Diversity Across Canada
Lessons for Ontario: Education Diversity Across Canada
2015-11-19T00:00:00

This paper summarizes the discussion convened by Cardus and explores the lessons that Ontario can learn about "warming the climate" for educational diversity from across Canada thirty years after Shapiro.

Religious Schools, Gender Roles, and College Choices
Religious Schools, Gender Roles, and College Choices
2015-06-29T00:00:00

Julie Dallavis investigates whether religious high schools are associated with gender differences in earning a bachelor's degree and choosing a college major.

Homeschooling and Young Adult Outcomes: Evidence from the 2011 and 2014 Cardus Education Survey
Homeschooling and Young Adult Outcomes: Evidence from the 2011 and 2014 Cardus Education Survey
2015-06-22T00:00:00

David Sikkink and Sara Skiles report on young adult outcomes of students who have been homeschooled using data from the Cardus Education Survey of 2011 and 2014.

Variations in School Sector Advantages: Degrees, Earnings, and College Majors
Variations in School Sector Advantages: Degrees, Earnings, and College Majors
2015-06-05T00:00:00

Sara Skiles and David Sikkink examine religious school sector outcomes of college degree, field of postsecondary study, and income using data from the National Survey of Youth and Religion (NSYR)

Religion and Reading in Early Childhood
Religion and Reading in Early Childhood
2014-12-03T00:00:00

David Sikkink and Sara Skiles investigate the relationship between religious school attendance and reading outcomes during the early elementary school years.

Cardus Education Survey 2014: Extended Data Pack
Cardus Education Survey 2014: Extended Data Pack
2014-10-03T00:00:00

Download the 500+ slide extended data pack, to review a larger sample of Cardus's findings than could be discussed in the 2014 report.

Cardus Education Survey 2014: Private Schools for the Public Good
Cardus Education Survey 2014: Private Schools for the Public Good
2014-09-10T00:00:00

The 2014 Cardus Education Survey is the second instalment focusing on USA graduates.

The Cardus Education Survey is considered the most significant representative benchmark of non-public school academic, cultural, and spiritual outcomes.

Toward a Warmer Climate for Ontario's Private Schools
Toward a Warmer Climate for Ontario's Private Schools
2014-09-04T00:00:00

What is Ontario going to do about its private schools? Cardus explores the need for a serious policy review in this discussion paper by Dr. Derek Allison, emeritus professor in the education faculty at Western University.

"Something of a chilly climate has developed toward non-public schools in Ontario," writes Allison. This report argues to politicians, bureaucrats, and fellow citizens that both private and public education are goods that can be intertwined and made interdependent to foster a stable, orderly, and integrated society.

What is Your Major? Occupational Trajectories of Graduates of Religious Schools
What is Your Major? Occupational Trajectories of Graduates of Religious Schools
2014-04-25T00:00:00

David Sikkink examines whether religious high schools influence the type of job and career achieved by graduates. He considers college choice, college transfers, college major, graduation rates and occupational sector for Evangelical Protestant schools and Catholic schools, comparing them with public, private and homeschool students.

Loyola: A Momentous Case for Religious Freedom in Education
Loyola: A Momentous Case for Religious Freedom in Education
2014-03-24T00:00:00

Cardus presents a quick review of the Loyola High School v. Attorney General of Quebec case to date, including an introduction to the various perspectives of key intervening organizations. Published March 24, 2014.

Canada's New Industrial Revolution
Canada's New Industrial Revolution
2014-02-14T00:00:00

Canada is in the midst of a new industrial revolution which is changing the face of our economy. Resources— long lamented as the means by which Canadians served other, more developed countries—have instead held Canada steady through a global economic crisis and maintained an industrial core.

What Religious School Parents Want
What Religious School Parents Want
2014-01-13T00:00:00

David Sikkink examined "What Parents Want," a recent Fordham Institute report based on a survey of American parents and the educational goals and the school characteristics that are most important to them. Sikkink looks closely at the differences between religious school parents and non-religious school parents.

Competition and Cooperation
Competition and Cooperation
2013-12-19T00:00:00

This policy paper presents the case for a new framework of understanding labour relations in Canada. Taking insights which move debates about labour beyond the pendulum of pro-union and anti-union policies, it proposes a new policy within a new framework.

Open Tendering Briefing Note
Open Tendering Briefing Note
2013-05-21T00:00:00

On May 21, 2013, Brian Dijkema presented this briefing note to the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in Ottawa, ON.

Cardus Construction Competitiveness Brief
Cardus Construction Competitiveness Brief
2013-02-20T00:00:00

A potential labour monopoly could increase costs by up to 40 percent on over a 100 million dollars worth of work in the Region of Waterloo, says a brief released by Hamilton based think-tank Cardus. The paper estimates

  • A successful application in the Region of Waterloo could increase construction costs by up to 78 million dollars for 553,000 taxpayers in the Region of Waterloo
  • 28 percent of Ontario taxpayers are affected by municipal labour monopolies in construction
  • Labour monopolies affect almost a billion dollars worth of construction work in Ontario municipalities

For further information, or to arrange an interview, please contact Julia Nethersole at jnethersole@cardus.ca or via phone at 905.528.8866 x29

Cardus Education Survey: Phase II Report (2012)
Cardus Education Survey: Phase II Report (2012)
2012-09-26T00:00:00

How do Canadians students rate their education? How do they fare—years later, decades later—in their cultural and civic lives? The Cardus Education Survey 2012 report examines graduate outcomes of both government (public) and non-government schools, comparing them to each other and to the stated aims of every provincial education ministry. Data collected by Angus Reid's Vision Critical polling.

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