Canadian students’ test scores in reading, mathematics and science are worse in smaller-population provinces than larger-population provinces, a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute says.
The think tank’s report offers a detailed look at the decline in Canada’s test scores, which have been falling since the OECD first began conducting educational assessments in the early 2000s.
“Canada is slipping,” said John Richards, the report author and emeritus economist at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. “You can see the consistent decline from the values that Canada had at the beginning in the first decade.”
The new report points to a gap in educational standards across Canada — and a need for reform.
“I’ve been teaching first-year students out of high school math courses for around 20 years,” said Anna Stokke, a mathematics professor at the University of Winnipeg.
“Definitely, our students come to university without the skills they need to succeed in the classes … We see more students struggling and fewer students excelling,” Stokke said.
‘Drastically below’
Students’ test scores fell during the pandemic, as students spent months learning from home. But test scores have continued to fall even after students returned to in-class learning, the report says.
The OECD’s global education assessment — called the Program for International Student Assessment — compares students’ test scores in math, science and reading across 81 countries.
Canadians’ scores have fallen “drastically below” its original scores in all three areas.
However, globally, Canada still remains a relative leader in education. Canada has dropped from having the second highest global average in 2000, to sixth place in the most recent evaluation in 2022. The leading countries in 2022 were Singapore, Japan and South Korea.
Canada’s drop has been the most pronounced in mathematics, which now falls below the OECD average.
When weighted by population, the report shows a sharper decline in the small-population provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Manitoba, P.E.I. and Saskatchewan. Scores were higher in Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Quebec.
“Small provinces have experienced a substantial decline in mathematics performance, equivalent to losing 2.5 years of schooling since 2003,” says Richards in the C.D. Howe Institute’s press release. “This decline is nearly one year greater than that observed in large provinces over the same period.”
Educational reform
Canada is not the only country that has slipped. Most other developing western countries — including Sweden and the U.K. — have seen a steady decline in OECD assessment scores.
Richards says Canada can improve its overall test scores by identifying what the large-population provinces are doing well.
For example, Quebec scored the highest in math and well above the OECD average in science and reading. Richards credits the province’s higher scores to the province’s more rigorous training requirements for teachers. Quebec requires prospective teachers to take several math courses in their education programs.
In Manitoba, Wab Kinew’s NDP government dropped the requirement for aspiring teachers to specialize in specific subjects in their post-secondary degrees. Since 2024, students have not been required to complete extra training in math, science, English or French to receive their teacher’s certification.
Stokke, of the University of Winnipeg, says teaching quality will be affected if teachers are not trained on how to teach specific subjects.
“It’s really necessary, first and foremost, that our teachers actually know the math they have to teach,” she said.
‘Not just one’
Harvey McCue, an Indigenous education and health consultant, says including Indigenous culture and history in school curriculum is key to improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students.
In Manitoba and Saskatchewan, about 30 per cent of the K-to-12 student cohorts are Indigenous. Both provinces’ low testing scores are partly due to lower grades among Indigenous students, the report says.
“Cultural content … is critical because there’s a great disconnect between the provincial curriculum and First Nation kids’ experiences and background,” said McCue. “So there’s very little in the provincial curriculum that students can relate to.
“That inability to relate to what they’re being taught and what they’re expected to learn just creates a barrier.”
Richards says provinces should publicize students’ test scores by school district. Doing so would enable provincial governments to better understand where to allocate more resources.
Barry Anderson, a former senior official at B.C.’s Ministry of Education, agrees. He says transparency in testing scores is critical to improving education.
“The scores are going down. Then your next question … is, ‘where is this happening?’” said Anderson, who helped improve B.C.’s data collection on students. “That’s why a student-level data system, which can pick that information up … is important.”
Ultimately, there are many ways to approach improving Canada’s education, says Richards.
“I’m a great fan of knowing the numbers before you start thinking about the solutions,” he said. “And there are many solutions. There’s not just one.”
Correction: A prior version of this article incorrectly said that Quebec teachers took more “math education” courses.
