CMEC coordinates and participates in numerous data and research activities that provide key information concerning education in Canada. Some examples of these indicators include the number of students enrolled in public education, or the impact of education on labour market outcomes. These data play an important role in describing our education systems, in addition to supporting evidence-based decision making in the development of policies and programs.

Many of these data and research activities are initiated through the Canadian Education Statistics Council (CESC), which is a partnership between CMEC and Statistics Canada. CESC was established in 1989 to improve the quality and comparability of Canadian education data as well as to inform policy development in education.

Our two primary areas of work are described in more detail below: