Canadian students have recorded their lowest-ever scores on a major international assessment of science, reading, and mathematics.
The Programme for International Student Assessment, commonly known as PISA, tests how well 15-year-olds can use what they have learned to solve problems and understand information. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conducts the assessment every three years, allowing countries to compare student performance.
This year, Canada scored 510 in science, 490 in reading and 485 in mathematics. All three subjects represent the lowest PISA results on record, continuing a decline that began before the pandemic. This year, PISA introduced a new metric. Canada scored 525 on computational problem-solving ability, ranking us 11th globally.
Despite the long term decline in scoring, PISA ranks Canadian students among the world’s top performers, above the global average in science, reading, and mathematics, outperformed by a few other OECD countries.
