Ford government presides over student test score decline in Ontario

To open the school year, on Sept. 8 the Ford government announced it was “putting student achievement first.” It didn’t say what the focus has been for the past eight years—the Ford government entered office in 2018—but if it has been “putting student achievement first,” test results suggest the government may want to revisit its methods.

The same day as the government’s announcement, the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which measures the performance of 15-year-old students worldwide, published its latest results. From 2018 to 2025, Ontario’s average science scores fell from 519 to 513, from 524 to 494 for reading, and from 513 to 484 for mathematics.

For context, the OECD equates 20 points to about one year of learning, which means Ontario’s Grade 10 students are effectively 1.5 years behind in both reading and mathematics versus where the province’s Grade 10 students were back in 2018. This is, to put it plainly, an appalling result.

A deeper dive into the PISA results reveals more discouraging details. On reading tests, from 2018 to 2025, the proportion of Ontario’s students who were categorized as low performers increased significantly from 13.2 per cent to 20.9 per cent, while those who were high performers fell from 16.4 per cent to 10.5 per cent. Similarly in mathematics, from 2018 to 2025, the proportion who were low performers increased from 15.8 per cent to 26.6 per cent while those who were high performers fell from 15.4 per cent to 11.1 per cent.

Even in science, where the test score decline was less severe, from 2018 to 2025, the proportion of Ontario students who were low performers increased from 12.9 per cent to 16.0 per cent while the proportion who were high performers was relatively flat, at 11.5 per cent in 2018 and 11.6 per cent in 2025.

The Ontario government’s own testing provides yet more evidence that student achievement has lagged in recent years.

The latest tests from the province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office show approximately half of Grade Six students who “fully participated” in assessments met provincial standards (categorized as “Levels 3 and 4”) in mathematics in 2024/25. This proportion has remained stable over recent years, but again, only half of Grade Six students met the standards. An examination of test questions, showing just how low the standards are to begin with, should only increase the alarm.

One Grade Six test question asks: “A jar contains 200 marbles, and 5% of the marbles are blue. How many marbles are blue?” The multiple-choice answers are 5, 10, 20 or 25 marbles. Even among “Level 3” students in English language schools—who are considered to have met provincial standards—only 71 per cent answered this astonishingly easy question correctly. Another question asked students to select the two prime numbers among 11, 21, 24, 42 and 43. Even among “Level 3” students in English language schools, the success rate was only 61 per cent.

Clearly, based on both the PISA and EQAO tests, the Ontario government has not excelled in “putting student achievement first.” Will its latest changes improve things? Its announcement includes increased school spending, but this is certainly no silver bullet, as past experience has shown. Ontario’s previous government ramped up public school per-student spending significantly and test scores declined.

Other announced changes, such as clearer expectations around classroom attendance, may help. Time will tell. Either way, Ontario parents and taxpayers should keep a close eye on student achievement to hold the government accountable for its promises. So far, the government’s track record has been dismal.