Ontario students improving in math, but scores still low: EQAO data

Ontario students are showing progress in math since last year, but the percentage who meet provincial standards remains low, according to new data from provincial standardized tests. 

The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) released its results from 2025-26 testing on Friday, which gives a snapshot of whether students are meeting provincial curriculum standards in mathematics, reading and writing skills. 

The results indicate a small rise across all categories in English-language schools.

Math scores in particular have been a focal point of successive governments, as the percentage of students meeting the provincial standard has remained low.

Results for the 2025-26 school year show that 52 per cent of Grade 6 students met the provincial standard for math, while 65 per cent of Grade 3 students and 59 per cent of Grade 9 students met the standard.

All of those scores are up one percentage point from the previous year.

Math scores on the EQAO tests for Grade 6 students in particular have been hovering around the 50 per cent mark for years, meaning only about half of the students are meeting the provincial standard.

Over 569,000 students across Ontario were assessed in Grade 3, Grade 6 and Grade 9 in both English and French-language schools. 

Reading and writing remain steady: data

According to the report, reading and writing skills among students from elementary through to secondary-school levels have remained steady, with slight improvements from the last three years. 

The amount of Grade 3 students who met reading and writing standards was 75 and 67 per cent, respectively, up slightly from the previous year, and the amount of Grade 6 students who met reading and writing standards was 86 and 85 per cent, respectively, the same as the previous year.

The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test, typically written in Grade 10, saw 86 per cent of first-time eligible students meet the standard, one percentage point higher than the previous year.

Results from French-language schools were better than the average results in English-language schools in most categories.

‘Too many students continue to struggle’: Calandra

Education Minister Paul Calandra said in a statement Friday the results are encouraging, but they also signal there is more work to do. 

“Too many students continue to struggle, achievement gaps persist and results remain uneven across the province,” he said. 

“The results give us valuable information about where progress is being made and where added action is needed,” he said. “Our responsibility is to use that information to make sure students get the support they need to succeed.” 

After the release of last year’s EQAO results, Calandra announced that he would be establishing an advisory body to do a review looking at why the pace of improvement isn’t faster, whether the curriculum and learning resources are clear, how well teachers are being prepared and whether students have the tools they need.

That work is ongoing, Calandra said.

“The earlier we identify a student who needs additional support, the sooner we can take action.”

NDP education critic Chandra Pasma suggested that EQAO scores are not higher because the government is not funding schools at high enough levels.

“EQAO results are not a reflection of our students,” she wrote in a statement. “They are a reflection on this minister of education’s failure to provide students with what they need to succeed.”

Ontario Liberal interim Leader John Fraser called the results “alarming” in a statement.

“The Ford government has, over the past 8 years, allowed our schools and our students to fall behind,” he said.

“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.”