Canada received a devastating report card last month, showing how academic test scores are collapsing and the country’s education system is failing students.
Canadian 15-year-olds’ performance on science, math and reading, which has been dropping for two decades, reached new lows on the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).
The chart below shows that since 2006, Canada has declined by 37 points in reading, 42 points in math, and 24 points in science. The drop is equivalent to one to two years of lost learning for the average student.
Other tests, such as the international TIMSS mathematics assessment, and Ontario’s EQAO tests in math, reading and writing, also show Canadian students are struggling to master the basics.
Canadians shouldn’t be reassured by the fact that the country remains a relatively strong performer globally, tied for 12th in reading, and ranking 11th in math and ninth in science out of the 91 countries and economies evaluated on PISA. In the year 2000, Canada was second in reading, sixth in math and fifth in science out of the 32 countries measured that year.
Paul W. Bennett, director of the Schoolhouse Institute and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, says that between 2015 and 2025, Canada’s deterioration was around 8 to 9 points worse than the average OECD decline in each subject.
The truth is our children are learning much less than they were several decades ago, and their knowledge and basic skills have dropped substantially.
This is a tragedy for Canadian children, who face lifetimes of difficulty if they fail to master basic literacy and numeracy. Students who score high on PISA tests are much more likely to complete university and become employed in skilled occupations, while those who do poorly have a higher risk of dropping out of school.
Canadian 15-year-olds’ performance on science, math and reading has reached new lows on the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Lower levels of learning also have a negative impact on the economy. Modern economies are propelled by innovation, which requires workers who excel in math and science. Lower reading levels also act as a drag on workplaces, given that employees will have weaker communication skills and reduced comprehension.
As we see in these next two charts, the 2025 PISA test results show that fewer students are excelling, while more students are falling under the baseline proficiency levels the OECD says is required to participate fully and productively in society (Level 2). The changes accelerated in 2015, well before the COVID-19 pandemic, as teen social media use began taking off.
An abundance of culprits
These test results are a clear alarm bell, and ministries of education and educators need to take dramatic action to turn around the results. A fix first requires pinpointing the cause. There is no shortage of potential culprits.
The COVID-19 pandemic’s lengthy school closures certainly hurt students, but the trend of falling test scores started well before that. Likewise, blaming provincial governments for underfunding school boards is overly simplistic. Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director for education and skills, says that Canada spends significantly on education, but needs to allocate resources more strategically, warning it has become “complacent” about lowering standards.
Many factors have converged to erode education standards, but two stand out. Over several decades, schools widely adopted “progressive” teaching methods that have caused more children to struggle with reading and math. The already weakened education system suffered another blow when educators and students began bringing digital devices into the classroom.
These trends have occurred throughout much of the Western world, depressing the average PISA scores, but that doesn’t mean that Canada’s continued academic decline is inevitable. With decisive action, Canada’s education system – and our children’s futures – can be turned around.
Lengthy school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had a notable negative impact on Canadian students, but the trend of falling test scores started well before that disruption.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Backing away from basics
A podcast by American journalist Emily Hanford documents how in the 1990s, many educators across North America switched from the tried-and-true methods of teaching reading. Sold a Story describes how buzzy celebrity educators prompted a switch en masse to “three-cueing,” a system where children are taught to predict words based on context cues from pictures, text meaning and letters.
Essentially, the children guess what the word is, rather than learning how to sound it out, as they did under the classic phonics method.
Within a few decades, all across the English-speaking world, including Canada, children were no longer being taught explicitly how to read. Three cueing was driven by a “romantic” notion of reading, says Jamie Metsala, professor of education at Mount Saint Vincent University. Its advocates believed that if kids were encouraged to curl up with a book they liked in a cozy nook, for example, they would be more engaged than those taught with phonics, which came to be seen as outdated.
The reforms were well intentioned, but the results have been heartbreaking. Many kids manage to figure out how to read despite not being explicitly taught, but others struggle. Ms. Hanford’s podcast describes how during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, parents working from home were shocked to realize that despite regular praise from teachers, their children couldn’t read. Over the years, scientific research has mounted showing that many children don’t learn to read with three cueing.
Kids who can’t read tend to fall behind in other subjects, and they often develop self-esteem issues and dislike school. Many of these children have been designated as having learning disabilities, but tragically, their issues stem from the fact that nobody taught them how to read properly.
Over the years, teachers of older children, in middle school and high school, have reduced the difficulty of texts and novels assigned to accommodate the lower levels of literacy in the classroom. It’s a vicious cycle, as expectations are reduced for all children, even those who read at normal levels, giving them less practice at reading complex texts.
As a result, reading scores have been gradually dropping across the country. In New Brunswick earlier this year, the education minister, who was discouraged because low numbers of students were hitting their literacy targets, dropped the targets by 20 per cent to make them easier to hit.
In recent decades, mathematics teaching fell prey to a similar trend to the one that transformed reading. There’s been a movement away from explicit instruction, which is based on teacher-led guidance that breaks problems into small steps, practice and memorization. Instead, “discovery math” or “inquiry-based instruction” emphasizes allowing children to explore freely and experiment, finding their own solutions to problems.
Over several decades, schools have widely adopted 'progressive' teaching methods that have caused more children to struggle with reading and math.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Whatever the intentions, this strategy hasn’t been effective. But due to rampant grade inflation in regular classroom marks, many children – and their parents – believe they have mastered math.
Math lecturer Dan Wolczuk of the University of Waterloo, an institution known for its strong math and computer science programs, says first-year students are missing foundational skills and are unprepared for university math. Many have never received less than 90 per cent on a math test, yet they struggle as they don’t have the skills they need to succeed.
Canadian students continued to do well on PISA’s science exams for longer, but now, those scores are also dropping, a result of the compounding impacts of the loss of learning in math and reading.
A raft of other policies meant to help struggling kids and reduce inequities for disadvantaged groups has had unintended consequences. A move away from exams and de facto “no-fail policies” have reduced pressure on students and boosted graduation rates, but lowered academic standards.
Likewise, inclusion policies have led to the integration of many special needs children in regular classrooms, creating challenges for teachers, who must teach students with different learning levels. The ones hurt the most are often the special needs children these policies were intended to help, who often lack sufficient support and feel frustrated.
An open door to tech in the classroom
Canadian students reported spending an average of 1.6 hours per day using digital devices at school for learning activities, including 'ed tech' apps to gamify learning and foster engagement.JENNIFER ROBERTS/JOBFlocks
Already weakened by progressive teaching methods, schools have been further degraded by the onslaught of digital devices in the last two decades.
Instead of listening to the teacher or focusing on their work, students are constantly lured to their cellphones, where they can chat with friends, play games and engage with social media. School-provided devices have blurred the lines between educational and recreational use. For years, boards such as the Toronto District School Board gave every Grade 5 to Grade 9 student a Chromebook to use in class and at home, a policy meant to promote digital citizenship and equity. Teachers often use devices and “ed tech” apps to gamify learning to try to keep children engaged.
According to the OECD’s PISA report, in 2025, Canadian students said they spent an average of 1.6 hours per day using digital devices at school for learning activities. They also reported spending 1.1 hours a day using digital devices at school for leisure. Thirty-two per cent of Canadian students reported that their peers are often distracted by the use of digital devices during most or all science lessons. Excessive use of devices and digital distraction are associated with weaker learning outcomes.
Time spent on digital devices outside the classroom is also a factor: Kids used to skimming and scrolling on social media may be less able to engage in deep reading and complex texts. Social media use is also known to increase depression and anxiety, which can harm learning.
Excessive use of devices and digital distraction are associated with weaker learning outcomes, leading some schools to institute strict cellphone use policies.Amber Bracken /JOBFlocks
The provinces and educators have been slow to ban personal cellphones from classrooms, and the ones in place aren’t always consistently enforced. As cellphones began appearing in classrooms, the TDSB described them as “21st century learning” that would “enhance student learning and support curriculum delivery.” Cellphone bans have gained traction over the last couple of years, but as of 2025, only 37 per cent of Canadian students attended schools that had them.
After seeing its test scores drop, Sweden, an early adopter of devices in the classroom, has changed tack. It’s moving away from policies to provide children with laptops, which were distracting students, and is returning to printed textbooks.
Artificial intelligence is the next big threat to our schools. According to the PISA report, 38 per cent of students reported using AI chatbots to help them learn at least once a week, using them for research, summarizing texts they had to read, and drafting text for writing assignments. Students who don’t use AI tend to outperform on PISA when compared with those who do.
Back-to-basics is not enough
A 2022 report released by the Ontario Human Rights Commission found the province's reading curriculum was systematically failing many students, and in particular those with reading disabilities.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
The Right to Read report, released in 2022 by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, shattered the consensus that reading was being taught effectively. Describing learning to read as a human right, it said Ontario was systematically failing many students, and in particular those with reading disabilities, leaving them at risk of significant life-long difficulties.
In the years following the report, there has been a determined effort to correct the problem. Ontario has updated its reading curriculum, eliminating three-cueing methods and returning to explicit instruction. It implemented universal early reading screening, provided funding for professional learning, and hired approximately 700 new teachers to support screening and early intervention.
These efforts are focused on young children, and should bear fruit in the years to come. However, older children, such as the 15-year-olds who wrote the PISA test last year, continue to struggle with reading and haven’t been given help to catch up, says Alicia Smith, executive director of Dyslexia Canada. There also isn’t a consistent policy in place on how to help younger children who have been identified as needing extra support. Other provinces are following Ontario’s lead, and are in the process of moving back towards explicit reading instruction.
There has been resistance. Teachers’ unions in B.C., Alberta and Ontario have pushed back against early reading screening, saying it poses a threat to teachers’ professional judgement and adds to their heavy workloads. And while curricula may have changed, new teaching methods don’t always filter down to the classroom.
Some teachers trained under the old methods stick with their old routines, and the faculties of education that train new teachers aren’t always on board with the changes. Textbooks aren’t used as frequently any more, so the material in the classroom is often left to individual teachers. A case in point: As far back as 2018, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government claimed it would take schools “back to basics” and eliminate discovery math, yet the changes in the classroom have been modest.
There has been some momentum to return to explicit math instruction across the country, but it hasn’t been adopted as widely as with reading. Some individual school boards and pockets of schools are making progress, focusing on step-by-step instruction, in-depth teacher training and early screening for students falling behind. Much more needs to be done.
Inspiration can be taken from England. Former education minister Nick Gibb believed the root cause of the country’s poor academic outcomes was “progressivist education” – aversion to exams, resistance to explicit instruction and practice, and the rejection of classic methods like phonics and memorizing times tables. According to Anna Stokke, a math professor at the University of Winnipeg, England replaced its vague curriculum with a knowledge-rich curriculum, and brought in regular phonics screenings, a times-table check, and a calculator ban on standardized math tests.
As a result, England has bucked the trend of falling PISA scores. Meanwhile, Canada, Scotland and Wales, which didn’t undergo comprehensive reforms, have seen their scores drop.
In 2018 Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government claimed it would eliminate discovery math and move back to explicit instruction, yet the changes in the classroom have been modest.EDUARDO LIMA/JOBFlocks
Turning a big ship around
In order for Canada to reverse its decline, provincial ministers of education must take the lead with decisive changes to curricula that focus on proven methods of teaching reading and math. Teachers want to see their students succeed and can help them thoroughly master the basics through practice and repetition before challenging them on more complex work.
The changes need to be carefully implemented with teacher training, screening for students falling behind, and proper support to help them catch up. Achievement and excellence needs to be restored as a goal, and consequences should be established for missing class and failing exams.
Lastly, technology needs to be greatly reduced in the classroom. That doesn’t mean pretending we live in a pre-digital era, but it does mean restricting technology that serves as an unnecessary distraction.
PISA might seem like a test for Canadian school children, but it’s really a test for policymakers and educators on how they are running the schools. Right now, they are failing. In order to turn around test scores, and put children back on the path of achievement, they need to fundamentally change how students are being taught.