The report represents one of the most in-depth analyses of pandemic-era learning loss in the country. Nearly three dozen researchers examined data from Canadian ministries of education, analyzing standardized test results and teacher-assigned grades in language arts and mathematics for students before, during, and after the pandemic period. With the exception of Manitoba and Nunavut, all provinces and territories participated in the data sharing. The study also considered contextual factors such as gender and geographic location, specifically comparing urban centers with rural, remote, and northern communities.
One of the most striking findings is the divergence between how students are performing on high-stakes standardized tests and the grades they receive in the classroom. The report notes that “grade inflation” is a real phenomenon, though researchers emphasize this is not a criticism of educators. Instead, it reflects the difficult context in which teachers operated. High-stakes tests capture a static snapshot of student knowledge at a specific moment, whereas teacher-assigned grades often incorporate progress over time and the challenges of remote or hybrid learning. During the pandemic, many school systems suspended traditional exams and altered how assignments were weighted, while some educators were directed to reduce the volume of content covered to accommodate the logistical obstacles of the era, such as inconsistent internet access and frequent quarantines.
Tracy Vaillancourt, chair of the report and a professor of education at the University of Ottawa, cautioned that the impact of these disruptions will be long-lasting. “The pandemic is going to influence learning for the next few decades and that’s not exaggeration,” Vaillancourt said. “These effects are going to be felt for generations to come.” She noted that while the specific findings varied by region and student population due to the patchwork of provincial responses—ranging from the duration of school closures to physical distancing measures—broad commonalities emerged.
The data suggests that the pandemic had a mixed impact on reading and writing scores, but the decline in mathematics was more pronounced. Furthermore, the report highlights significant inequities in recovery. Students in rural, remote, and northern communities experienced greater declines in overall achievement and are taking longer to recover compared to their urban peers. This disparity underscores the role of schools as critical social infrastructure, providing not just instruction but also social connection, safe spaces, food programs, and mental health supports. The absence of in-person schooling during prolonged closures deprived vulnerable students of these essential services.
Clint Johnston, president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation, which represents more than 390,000 education workers, stated that the report validates concerns teachers have voiced for years. “What I see is an exacerbation of a context that honestly already exists in an under-resourced system,” Johnston said. He argued that the pandemic highlighted existing gaps in support for students who were already falling behind. Addressing these gaps requires significant investment, which Johnston described as currently lacking. “Right now it essentially seems like we’re being asked to make up those gaps — to do more with the same amount — which isn’t really feasible,” he said.
Parents have also noted the long-term effects on their children. Katherine Korakakis, president of the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec, said her family required tutoring for her two children during and after the pandemic. “We knew that the pandemic disrupted our children’s education, but the questions always were, how significant were those disruptions?” Korakakis said. She supports the report’s call for a clear, set plan with meaningful actions and measurable progress to identify students with learning gaps.
The report’s authors offer several key recommendations to Canadian governments. First, they urge the maintenance and support of standardized testing to establish reliable, comparable benchmarks of student achievement over time. Second, they recommend prioritizing evidence-based methods to tackle learning loss, with a specific focus on the most disadvantaged students, and the continual evaluation of these initiatives. Finally, they advise emergency preparedness planners to recognize the detrimental nature of prolonged school closures on broader well-being. “Schools should be the last to close and the first to re-open,” Vaillancourt stated, provided it is safe to do so.
The report serves as a reminder that while the acute phase of the pandemic has passed, the educational and developmental consequences are still unfolding. Vaillancourt emphasized that initiatives to address these losses must span from K-12 through to post-secondary education. “We can’t think that because the pandemic feels like it was so long ago, that there’s nothing to be done,” she said. “Even though this was in the past, we still have these learners in our system — they’re still in my system at the university level — and they still need help.” The next critical step lies in whether provincial governments will allocate the necessary resources to implement these evidence-based recovery strategies before the learning gaps become permanent.
