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A report from the C.D. Howe Institute has found that more Canadian students are struggling in math, with B.C. students showing a steep decline.
“B.C. in particular, there’s been a 42-point decline in math since 2003, and the EQAO (Education Equality and Accountability Office) would equate that to around two years of schooling,” Anna Stokke, the report’s author and a mathematics and statistics professor at the University of Winnipeg, told Global News Morning.
“So it is significant. And in addition to that, more students are struggling. So the share of students performing at the lowest levels in math has doubled. While the share of students performing at the highest levels in math has halved.”
Stokke said that the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international test that is written by 15-year-old students, who need to have a good foundation in math and problem solving in order to excel and that is what the report has found to be lacking in many cases.
“Generally speaking, if you look at the research on problem solving, students have to have a really strong foundation in math to be good problem solvers,” she added.
“So one of the things that I’m recommending is that we focus on that, that we give students a better, strong foundation and that they gain knowledge.
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“The way that you become a good problem solver in math is if you have a wide range of knowledge and you have a lot of techniques in your head for solving problems.”
Stokke said that some of the factors leading to a decline in math literacy in B.C. include the B.C. math curriculum, “which has very vague outcomes for mathematics.”
She said that kids really need to learn fractions, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by Grade 5 or 6, because it’s important for algebra later on.
“You know, for example, even at Grade 5, it says that it’s not intended that children should memorize math facts, which is terrible,” Stokke added.
“Like it’s really, really critical that students know those basic facts, because it makes later problem solving easier. And the other thing we see is that there’s been a change on the focus in the way math is taught. We see a lot more exploratory math, which may sound really good, but what happens is students don’t get enough practice on math concepts and then they don’t get good at the things that they need to do in math to be able to be ready for math later on.”
B.C.’s education minister defended the B.C. curriculum, saying it has great flexibility.
“We have here in B.C., our Pathways to Learning for math that allows teachers the ability to be flexible, to not only plan to teach and assess students when it comes to the math curriculum, to ensure we’re getting the best results for students and meeting them where they’re at,” Lisa Beare said.
Stokke also recommended keeping technology out of the classroom during math lessons because math requires a lot of concentration and focus.
“A lot of people have been drawing attention to the detrimental aspects of technology in the classroom,” she added.
“So I do think that’s part of it. But I also think we really need to focus on teaching math well, and making sure students get a lot of practice.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
