EQAO results for Ontario were released on Wednesday, but those who wanted to see how a particular school board or school fared in the standardized reading, writing and math tests were disappointed as the website got bogged down by heavy traffic early in the day.
Education Minister Paul Calandra had been delaying the release of the test results, saying he wanted to have a “deep dive” into the numbers. On Wednesday morning, he told reporters the province was appointing an expert advisory body to review its approach to student assessment because the results showed insufficient progress.
“I was really taken aback by these results,” Calandra said.
More than 574,000 students across Ontario took Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) assessments during the 2024-25 school year. Standardized tests in reading, writing and math are given to students in Grade 3 and 6. In Grade 9, students take math proficiency tests. High school students are also required to pass literacy tests in order to get high school diplomas.
In the Ontario-wide results released Wednesday, 74 per cent students of Grade 3 in English schools met the provincial standard in reading in 2024–2025, compared to 71 per cent a year earlier.
In writing, 65 per cent met the provincial standard last year compared to 64 per cent the previous year.
In math, 64 per cent students met the provincial standard last year compared to 61 per cent in the previous year.
In Grade 6, 78 per cent of students in English schools across Ontario met the provincial standard for reading, along with 77 per cent in writing and 44 per cent in math.
In Ottawa, local school boards performed better than the provincial averages in many measures. In Grade 6, for example, 53 per cent of students at the Ottawa-Carleton District School board met the math standard, with 58 per cent at the Ottawa Catholic School Board, 66 per cent at the French public board and 78 per cent at the French Catholic board.
But Calandra said that, despite continued improvement in recent years, the pace of improvement in reading, writing and particularly math had not been adequate.
“In too many cases, dysfunction and infighting among trustees have distracted boards from this core responsibility. I have taken the time to closely review these results, and we are taking decisive action to get students on track for stronger achievement,” he said.
Students in French schools in Ontario outperformed their counterparts in English schools, Calandra said. For example, 58 per cent of Grade 9 students in English schools met the provincial math standard last year compared to 66 per cent of students in French schools.
“From board to board, English to French, the same levels of funding have very, very different results,” Calandra said. “That’s what I think we need to get to the bottom of.”
In some regions, Catholic board students also outperformed those from public boards, he said.
The student assessment review will build on the province’s review of school board governance and Calandra’s concerns about dysfunctional trustee performance.
The new advisory body will be made up of two members who will be appointed early next year. They will lead a comprehensive review and will focus on math, reading and writing and closing achievement gaps, he said.
Among the issues to be addressed in the review: whether the curriculum and learning resources are clear, consistent and easy to use; how well teachers are being prepared and supported; and whether students have the tools needed to succeed.
The assessment will also look at how EQAO tests are designed and delivered to ensure students can meaningfully demonstrate what they’ve learned, Calandra said. The final report will be made public.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario has called for “artificial and arbitrary” standardized tests to be replaced by alternative assessments led by teachers. On Wednesday, the union called for the money spent on standardized testing to be funnelled into classrooms to reduce class sizes and to provide supports for students.
“Educators are struggling with large class sizes, increasing workloads, and rising violence in schools, yet the Ford government remains incomprehensibly fixated on meaningless EQAO results,” ETFO president David Mastin said in a statement.
“Moreover, Minister Calandra’s ‘deep dive’ delay raises serious questions. If EQAO is supposed to operate as an arms‑length, independent agency, why is the minister intervening in decisions around the release of its results?”
ETFO argues that standardized testing has not closed achievement gaps along racial and socioeconomic lines and that EQAO assessments shift the blame from the government’s chronic underfunding of public education to teachers.
Calandra said other jurisdictions didn’t have limits on class sizes, and their students performed better.
He also suggested that changes were on the way for school board governance in the new year.
When he became the education minister, Calandra said, it became clear to him that changes in governance had to be contemplated.
“It was a system that was created in the one-room schoolhouse, and it’s time to be updated,” he said.
However, Calandra said he wouldn’t be able to introduce legislation regarding the future of trustees before the end of December.
“I have not yet provided advice to cabinet on where I want to go,” Calandra said Wednesday. “But, to be clear, there is absolutely nothing to date that has moved me from where I have been for months: that trustees aren’t necessarily the right avenue to deliver education across the province of Ontario.”
Calandra added he wanted to make sure he had done all his homework when it came to charter and constitutional rights for French-language and Catholic school boards.
“But nothing has changed my mind right now that trustees are not in any way the best way to deliver a $43-billion educational system,” he said.
Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed.
