Reading scores near lowest point in 25 years

Reading scores in the United States were near their lowest point in 25 years, according to global exam results released Tuesday. American students were outperformed by students in Canada, Singapore and parts of China on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in reading — falling below the average score by over 30 points. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) evaluation measures how well 15-year-old students apply their knowledge to real-world problems. It is administered every three years to more than 80 countries, assessing mathematics, science and reading skills. The scores released this year are the lowest average levels of performance observed in all three subject areas across all OECD countries, not just the U.S., since the test started in 2000. The highest dropoff was in reading, with scores falling by 28 points across OECD countries between 2015 and 2025. The World Population Review states that top-performing countries are often associated with 'more equitable access to education,' whereas countries with lower PISA scores are linked to 'higher levels of poverty and inequality that affect learning outcomes.' Eight percent of students in the U.S. were top performers in mathematics, which is lower than the rate reported in parts of China, Singapore, Japan and South Korea. U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon told The Hill that the scores 'confirm a decade of stagnation and a devastating gap: we successfully propel our highest achievers, but the lowest-performing students are falling further behind — and have suffered a loss of learning in reading equivalent to nearly a year and a half of instruction compared to 2015.' 'This moment is a stress test for our nation's future. To pass it, we must enact a hard reset that stops protecting a failed status quo and instead builds a system that empowers state leaders and embraces innovative learning options through school choice,' she said. Early into President Trump's term, the Education Department cut staff who were directly responsible for PISA's administration, the New York Times reported, leading to participation rates in the U.S. falling below the minimum targets. OECD researchers warned that 'caution is required' when interpreting the U.S. results because of this. OECD Director of Education Skills Andreas Schleicher credited the score gaps between the U.S. and other Asian OECD countries to differences in attracting talent to the education sector. 'In the U.S. if you make a choice between a better teacher and a smaller class, you typically choose a smaller class,' he said. 'In these countries, they save on the class size, but they get the best people to become teachers.' He also reported that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in classrooms differed in Western countries that use the technology to 'make things easier for kids' as opposed to teachers in Asian countries using it 'to make students think harder, work harder.'