Latest standardized test scores show minimal improvement among Ontario students in math and literacy.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Students in Ontario saw hardly any improvement in math, reading and writing in the 2025-26 school year compared with the year before, according to the latest standardized test scores.
Only 52 per cent of Grade 6 students in English-language schools met the provincial standard for math, a slight increase of one percentage point over the 2024-25 school year. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who met the standard for reading and writing remained unchanged, at 86 per cent and 85 per cent, respectively.
Among Grade 3 students, 65 per cent met the provincial math standard and 75 per cent met the standard for reading, for increases of one percentage point in both subjects. In writing, 67 per cent of students met the standard, an increase of two percentage points.
The data was released on Friday by the province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office, or EQAO, an arm’s-length agency. Students in Grades 3 and 6 are tested annually in reading, math and writing. Grade 9 students are tested in math only, and Grade 10 students take a literacy test. The provincial standard is equivalent to a B grade.
This year’s results showed 59 per cent of Grade 9 students at English language schools met the standard for math – an increase of one percentage point over the 2024-25 school year.
Meanwhile, 86 per cent of Grade 10 students successfully passed the literacy test, up one percentage point.
Students in French-language schools fared relatively better in almost all areas, although any changes in results from the 2024-2025 school year also remained negligible.
The results overall show that students are making progress in math and literacy remains strong, Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra said on Friday in a statement.
“These results are encouraging, but they also make clear that there is more work to do. Too many students continue to struggle, achievement gaps persist and results remain uneven across the province,” he said.
Last year's results: Ontario students faring poorly in math, standardized tests reveal
Although the number of students meeting the provincial standard in math has slowly increased over time, math remains an area requiring attention, the EQAO said in its report.
Ontario NDP education critic Chandra Pasma called the results “deeply concerning.”
“But at the same time, they don’t come as a surprise because the Minister of Education has been completely neglecting what teachers and principals and parents have been saying our kids need, which is smaller class sizes, more supports, more investments. And instead, he’s been busy playing power games and running political crusades on his pet issues, and we can see the outcome of that,” she said in an interview.
The province has put eight school boards under supervision since last year for financial mismanagement and governance failures, among other reasons. It has also significantly reduced the powers and responsibilities of elected school board trustees in making budgets and setting policy.
Ms. Pasma said the latest EQAO results show these changes have “clearly not worked.”
Niagara boards’ math strategies may be a lesson for Ontario
Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser called the results “alarming.”
“The Ford government has, over the past 8 years, allowed our schools and our students to fall behind. Our class sizes are too big, the government has starved special education, and there is a mental health crisis in our schools that is not being addressed. Doug Ford has created chaos in our schools,” he said in a statement.
Some teachers’ unions have long objected to the EQAO test since it was established in 1996, saying teachers are much better equipped to assess students’ achievements and needs.
David Mastin, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, which represents approximately 84,000 education workers, said higher achievement across all areas will require more supports for students. Those supports should include psychologists and child and youth workers, among others, to help students who are struggling, he said. “Kids right now do not have that in Ontario schools.”
Nidhi Sachdeva, a researcher and lecturer at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, said more needs to be done to prepare teachers for teaching math.
“We have been finding that teachers themselves lack confidence in their math abilities,” she said.
In March, Ontario appointed an independent advisory body to review student assessment and achievement across the province.
A final report will be made public when its review is complete.