The 2025 results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released on Tuesday indicate that Canada and its province Quebec continued to score above the Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) average, even as overall performance slipped in reading and mathematics.
PISA, administered every three years, measures the competencies of 15‑year‑old students in reading, mathematics and science across participating countries. The 2025 assessment covered thousands of students worldwide, providing a comparative snapshot of educational outcomes. In this cycle, Canadian participants maintained a position higher than the OECD mean, a status also achieved by students from Quebec, which is reported separately in the national breakdown.
Despite the favorable standing relative to the OECD, the released data show a reduction in average scores for both reading and mathematics compared with the previous assessment round. The decline was observed across the Canadian cohort as a whole and within the Quebec sample. No information was supplied regarding changes in science scores or the magnitude of the drop.
The results reaffirm that Canadian education, including that of Quebec, remains competitive on an international scale, while also highlighting a downward trend in two core domains. Education officials in Canada and Quebec have been monitoring PISA outcomes for years to gauge the effectiveness of policies and curricula. The latest figures will likely be examined by policymakers and educators as they consider strategies to address the observed decreases while preserving the overall advantage over the OECD benchmark.
The PISA release on September 8, 2026 adds to the ongoing record of international assessments that inform public discourse on education quality in Canada and its provinces.