American 15-year-olds' reading performance has sunk to its lowest point in a quarter-century, according to the latest results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), released on Tuesday. The findings underscore a widening gap between the nation's top achievers and its most struggling students, a divide that has become a central issue in the ongoing debate over education reform.
The PISA exam, administered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) every three years, tests students in more than 80 countries on their ability to apply knowledge to real-world challenges in reading, mathematics, and science. This year's scores revealed that average performance across all OECD nations has hit its lowest level since the test began in 2000, with the steepest decline occurring in reading—a drop of 28 points between 2015 and 2025.
U.S. students fell more than 30 points below the OECD average in reading, placing them behind peers in Canada, Singapore, and several Chinese provinces. The results also showed that only 8% of American students reached the top tier in mathematics, a rate far lower than that of top-performing Asian education systems like Singapore, Japan, and South Korea.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon responded to the findings with a stark warning, telling 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."
McMahon used the results to push for a "hard reset" of the nation's education system, arguing that the current approach has "failed" and calling for policies that "empower state leaders and embrace innovative learning options through school choice." Her remarks come as the Trump administration has sought to reduce the federal role in education, a move that has drawn both support and criticism.
However, the reliability of the U.S. data has been called into question. The New York Times reported that early in President Trump's term, the Education Department cut staff responsible for administering PISA, leading to a U.S. participation rate that fell below the minimum required. OECD researchers have cautioned that the American results should be interpreted with "caution" due to these logistical issues.
Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's director of education and skills, offered a broader explanation for the gap between the U.S. and Asian education powerhouses. "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."
Schleicher also highlighted a divergence in how technology is used in classrooms. He noted that Western countries often deploy artificial intelligence to "make things easier for kids," whereas teachers in Asian countries use it "to make students think harder, work harder." This contrast, he suggested, reflects deeper pedagogical priorities that influence student outcomes.
The PISA results are likely to fuel ongoing debates over education policy, including the role of standardized testing, teacher quality, and the impact of socioeconomic inequality. As the shift back to test scores in college admissions gains momentum, these findings may also influence how schools prepare students for a competitive global economy. Meanwhile, the administration's push for state-led education solutions continues to face scrutiny from critics who argue that federal oversight is necessary to ensure equity and accountability.
