EQAO Chief Executive Officer

Marguerite Jackson is the CEO of the Education Quality and Accountability Office. Prior to joining EQAO, Marguerite was the first Director of Education for the Toronto District School Board, where she provided leadership in the amalgamation of 7 school boards, with 600 schools, and 300,000 students.

Marguerite also served as Director of Education for the North York Board of Education. She came to North York from New Brunswick and Hamilton where she taught elementary and middle level students. In North York she assumed a number of assignments including teacher, consultant, principal, superintendent and associate director, before becoming Director of Education in 1996.

Throughout her career Marguerite has opened many doors for students and colleagues always with a focus on building school learning communities that challenge minds, engage personal responsibility and help students reach high levels of achievement. A founding member of Women in Leadership, she has provided seminars across the country and has led courses preparing staff for certification as principals, supervisory officers and specialists in Reading. She was responsible for the Ministry of Education’s removal of restrictive quotas for principals’ courses, opening them up to all qualified candidates.

A strong advocate for literacy, Marguerite has launched a number of programs to provide teachers with resources and strategies to teach reading. She initiated the first provincial courses for Ministry of Education reading certification, implemented a Parents as Partners program which centered around Family Reading, co-authored several program guides and sets of resources for teaching reading, founded the North York branch of the International Reading Association, introduced system-wide delivery of Reading Recovery programs, and while at the Toronto District School Board, implemented an early literacy initiative which provided support for local schools in their efforts to improve student achievement.

Marguerite sits on the board of directors of the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. She has also served on the boards of the Toronto Child Abuse Center, United Way, Junior Achievement, Collegium of Work & Learning, Learning Partnership, Educational Computing Network of Ontario, Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario and the Canadian Club.

During her career Marguerite has been honoured by a number of awards. These include the OPSOA Distinguished Leadership Award, Bell Canada’s Award of Excellence for Leadership in Information Technology, the International Reading Association’s Jenny Mitchell Award, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education’s Distinguished Educator Award, the Helen Horn Leadership Award, the OSSTF Woman of the Year Award and the International Association of Business Communicators CEO Award of Excellence in Communication Leadership.

Marguerite holds a BA from McMaster University and a MEd from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.

As CEO of the Education Quality and Accountability Office Marguerite’s efforts are focused on providing service and support to the education community. EQAO is an independent agency established by the Province of Ontario in 1996. The Agency is committed to the improvement of student learning through providing objective, reliable and relevant information about student achievement of expectations described in the Ontario curriculum.