Standardized tests needed to boost student achievement? Saskatchewan begs to differ

Until recently, the Prairie province has been an outlier with no provincewide mandated testing.

Ads

Global readers recently learned that, across OECD countries, 15-year-olds’ average reading scores fell by 28 points between 2015 and 2025, and by 22 points in mathematics over the same period.

These findings are based on 2025 results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s educational testing program.

PISA samples 15-year-olds’ performance in science, mathematics and reading typically every three years via PISA testing.

While Canadians may worry about academic decline, it’s also critical to consider what the more granular results may signify.

Who or what is to blame?

Louis Volante, an education researcher with expertise in testing and educational policy, notes that a post-pandemic decline is of concern, as are questions around how teacher shortages, digital distractions and growing AI are affecting students.

The OECD also notes a powerful predictor of performance remains student socio-economic background: “Across OECD countries, advantaged students scored 85 points higher in science than disadvantaged students.”

What the OECD isn’t stating, but what these latest PISA results also suggest, is that standardized testing was never the simple answer for educational attainment.

The Saskatchewan advantage?

Saskatchewan bucked a powerful OECD and Canadian trend, with its scores being among the best in terms of provincial differences in results between 2022 and 2025.

Among Canadian provinces, Nova Scotia was the only other province whose scores improved in math and reading, though its results come with a sampling caution.

Saskatchewan’s scores went up in science (from a score of 494 in 2022 to 500 in 2025) and in mathematics (from 468 in 2022 to 471 in 2025).

As for reading? All Canadian provincial scores dropped; however, Saskatchewan’s dropped the least, from 484 in 2022 to 482 in 2025.

In the last two PISA testing years of 2022 and 2025, Saskatchewan was the only Canadian province without government-mandated provincewide standardized testing, whether in math, science or reading at the high school level.

The province began rolling out an assessment program in the last school year, with a full rollout expected by 2027-28. The province’s website notes Grade 9 math assessment was scheduled for June 2026, while PISA tests were administered between April and May.

What about top scorers?

We shouldn’t gloss over the fact that Saskatchewan, along with all of Canada’s less populated provinces, underperform on PISA when compared to Canada’s top four scoring provinces, and it has been this way for a long time.

Larger, more urban provinces always outperform the less populated ones.
In Canada, the four top-performing provinces are Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario and Québec. So, even though Saskatchewan showed improved scores, they are still lower than those of higher-performing provinces.

PISA’s own research has found that across participating OECD countries, students who attend schools in cities, on average, perform better than those in rural areas and towns at a difference in performance that “translates to about 20 PISA score points — the equivalent of half-a-year of schooling.”

The path to future success?

One reason the Saskatchewan results are comparatively interesting against other provinces is that standardized testing is sometimes amplified as a critical key to boosting student learning. This is** even as researchers have flagged a host of problems associated with it such as potentially diverting teaching time and resources away from student supports.

In Ontario alone, for instance, it costs the Education Quality and Accountability Office roughly $32 million per year to administer the tests. When Saskatchewan attempted to implement a provincewide standardized testing program in 2013, the initial cost was pegged at $5.9 million.

Other researchers discuss how negative news about standardized tests can carry negative effects, including eroding teacher morale.

Math, reading and science are important

There’s no denying the importance of math, reading and science. The question is: How to provide students with an optimal learning environment?

In the latest PISA report, OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann notes:

“The most successful education systems focus on fewer areas in greater depth, invest in teachers, engage parents and provide targeted support for the students and schools that need it the most.”

He also shares a word of caution about technology and AI, stating:

“Technology and AI can strengthen learning and help prepare young people for the future, but only when used purposefully and not as a substitute for attention, effort and understanding.”

What Saskatchewan and other provinces need is better-placed investments in teachers who are sufficiently supported to lead classrooms that educate students with a variety of needs and challenges, as well as investments in educational assistants and specialists.

We also need a much more general fight against poverty to recognize that schooling successes depend on more than schools.
Marc Spooner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Tags: Academic Journalism, The Conversation, The Conversation Academic News