Overall, Ontario secondary students ranked 4th out of 21 countries in mathematics and science literacy. Canadian students ranked well above their counterparts in the United States in math, but at the same level in science. As a result, international standardized test results can be misleading at best. In many countries, some students are streamed out of programs at an early age and don't have the opportunity to participate. Canadian schools tend to be more inclusive.
Canadian students stay in school longer and have more equitable access to all school programs.
In Ontario, for example, we have legally mandated special education programs. These programs don't exist in many countries. The tests do not directly measure the performance of Peel students or the Peel curriculum directly. In Peel as in the rest of Canada, the teacher is the main evaluator of student progress and uses a variety of evaluation methods to measure student progress and help children learn and achieve better. Standardized testing is just one of the methods and is only useful if the results are used to set directions for change and improvement.