More than one in three students in Canada cannot read at a functional level by the end of Grade 3, according to a newly released report.
The study by the Aristotle Foundation drawing on early-grade literacy data, found that 38 percent of students in Canada do not meet basic reading standards by the end of the third grade.
Illiteracy rates remain high in Grade 4, though they differ from province-to-province, ranging from roughly one in four students in Alberta to more than half in Manitoba, the report indicated.
Grade 3 is meant to mark a shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” the study noted. Students who fall behind at this point face more challenges catching up because higher grades focus less on basic reading skills.
“Grade 3 marks a critical turning point in literacy education … and if students do not learn how to read before they start Grade 4, the evidence suggests they will not learn to read until they are adults (if ever),” the report authors said.
What ‘Cannot Read’ Means
In educational reporting, “cannot read” rarely means total illiteracy but instead indicates comprehension issues. It typically refers to students struggling to read text fluently or understand grade-level passages well enough to complete schoolwork independently.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization classifies individuals in industrialized countries as illiterate if they have less than a Grade 5 education, and as functionally illiterate if they have not achieved Grade 9 proficiency.
“And yet, a large minority of Canadians cannot read without assistance by the end of Grade 3,” the authors said. “Grade 3 illiteracy would be less concerning if those students achieved literacy in later grades; however, this is often not the case.”
International assessments support this finding, showing that 23 percent of Canadian 15-year-olds are at the baseline level for functional literacy—the minimum for future learning or effectively participating in society, the authors said. And another 22 percent are below that.
The report noted that the number of Canadian students who performed below basic proficiency on the Programme for International Student Assessment—better known as the PISA test— increased 22 percent from 2022 to 2025.
PISA testing has also found that 30 percent of Canadian adults are at Level 2 literacy as of 2023.
PISA assesses reading literacy across Levels 1 to 6, with Level 6 representing the highest proficiency. The Aristotle Foundation report noted that Level 3 is now regarded as the minimum literacy level needed to manage society’s growing information demands.
“Taken together, these findings suggest that early literacy gaps are not resolved over time but instead persist into adolescence and adulthood,” the authors said.
Data By Province
Canadian provinces assess literacy in either Grade 3 or Grade 4. Both grades appear in the Canadian overview, with the understanding that their results are not perfectly comparable because they reflect slightly different stages of literacy development, the study noted.
Grade 3 students are assessed in Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, and Grade 4 students are tested in British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick, and Quebec.
The most concerning Grade 3 reading results were in Manitoba, which showed 56 percent of students did not meet provincial reading standards in 2024. That was followed by 38 percent in Ontario, and 28 percent in Nova Scotia.
Grade 4 testing showed that half of New Brunswick students fell short of the proficiency benchmark, compared with 31 percent in Quebec, and 30 percent in British Columbia.
Alberta’s provincial assessments were not available to the public, but their Grade 4 Progress in International Reading Study (PIRLS) testing showed 80 percent literacy in 2021.
“Across the provinces, therefore, literacy proficiency rates at Grades 3 or 4 range from 44 percent to 80 percent, with no jurisdiction showing consistent yearly improvement, with the possible exception of Alberta,” the authors said.
The authors referred to recommendations made by the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) in its 2022 landmark Right to Read report, which found that the province’s public education system is failing students with reading disabilities.
They noted that the Right to Read report found the high percentages to be “unnecessary.” It said science-based approaches to reading instruction, early screening and intervention, would bring those with reading issues down to roughly 5 percent of students.
A 2024 review by the OHRC—two years after its report was released—found “limited receptivity to its recommendations.”
The authors in the Aristotle report are also urging school boards to change their methods.
“Tragically, many provincial school districts across Canada have been reluctant to abandon an approach to reading instruction that has failed to increase literacy rates,” they said.
The authors also recommended using alternative methods to teach phonics, grounding instruction in learning science and knowledge-rich content while providing early support for students who struggle.
Having students come out of school functionally illiterate is costly to society, the authors added.
“Children who do not master the ability to read early in life are more likely to have less healthy and productive lives and higher rates of mental health issues and incarceration,” they wrote. “While the cost to Canada may be lower economic productivity and higher crime rates, the personal costs to children and their families let down by an education system that refuses to follow the evidence is incalculable.”
