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During the 2018 provincial election, Doug Ford blasted Kathleen Wynne’s government for its poor education policies. Ford noted that student test scores, particularly in math, had declined steadily while the Liberals were in office, and he promised to implement a back-to-basics approach that would improve the quality of education in Ontario schools. To support his criticism, Ford relied on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a series of tests in math, reading and science written by 15-year-old students from more than 90 countries around the world.

However, while Ford won that election and became premier of Ontario, his government’s performance on the education file has been haphazard at best. Ford and his education ministers talk a good game about empowering parents, improving the curriculum, ending teacher strikes and getting back to basics, but they have largely failed to follow through with meaningful action. As a result, Ontario schools continued to flounder. And the new PISA data released in September do not paint a rosy picture. From 2018 to 2025, the math scores of Ontario students dropped by 29 points while reading scores declined by 30 points. PISA equates 20 points to approximately one grade level.

In other words, Ontario students are about one-and-a-half grade levels behind in their reading and math skills compared to where they were when the Ford government first took office. Since Ford used the previous PISA results to castigate the Wynne government for its education failures, it’s appropriate to now use the same standard to shine a spotlight on the failures of Ford’s government.

Education system deterioration accelerated

To be fair, Ford inherited an education system already in academic freefall. Both math and reading scores, as measured by PISA, had steadily declined since PISA tests began more than 20 years ago. But the decline in math and reading scores from 2018 to 2025 is steeper than the decline during the previous decade. It’s bad enough that Ontario’s education system is getting worse, but it’s particularly concerning that the deterioration has accelerated.

Paul Calandra, Ford’s current education minister, has implemented some reforms that may help. Specifically, he mandated that schools use reading instruction programs consistent with the science of reading. Students will once again learn phonics. This was a direct response to the Right to Read report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which documented the abysmal results from “whole language” reading programs. Calandra also ordered school boards to get their finances in order, and he followed through on his threat by taking control of eight school boards that failed to take his order seriously. Considering the evidence that many Ontario school boards are profoundly dysfunctional, this is a welcome step.

Unfortunately, Calandra has also implemented changes that likely won’t benefit students or improve test scores. For example, his government’s new $750 credit for teachers to purchase school supplies from Staples is another big government initiative that needlessly makes things more complicated for teachers. There’s also little evidence that school boards run by provincial administrators are in better financial shape than they were before they were taken over.

Despite being in power for eight years, there’s no evidence the Ford government has improved the academic performance of students. PISA’s new math and reading scores show that Ontario’s education system has gotten worse rather than better. If Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Paul Calandra are serious about improving Ontario’s education system, they must do more than talk tough.

Michael Zwaagstra is a senior fellow at the Fraser Institute.

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