American Teens Post Worst Reading Scores in a Generation on Global Exam
US 15-year-olds scored a near 25-year low in reading and a two-decade low in math on the latest PISA exam, a test given to roughly 760,000 students across 91 countries.
American teenagers turned in their weakest reading performance in nearly 25 years and their lowest math scores in more than two decades on the latest Programme for International Student Assessment, the global exam administered to 15-year-olds every three years.
US students averaged 490 points in reading, a 14-point drop from 2022 and the second consecutive decline on the test, according to reporting from The Hill. Math scores held roughly steady at 463 points, a two-point dip from the prior cycle that researchers characterized as not statistically significant — meaning the real story of this cycle is reading, not math.
A Test Taken by 760,000 Students Worldwide
The exam, commonly known as PISA, was administered last year to about 760,000 15-year-olds across 91 countries, giving education researchers one of the broadest available snapshots of how American teenagers stack up against international peers. The Spokesman-Review's coverage notes the reading decline arrives as Americans' broader satisfaction with K-12 education has also fallen to a new low, with adults increasingly skeptical that schools are preparing students for the future.
READING SCORES DOWN 14 POINTS SINCE 2022 — THE SECOND STRAIGHT DECLINE
Education Week's analysis points to pandemic-era learning disruption, shrinking attention spans tied to smartphone and social media use, and uneven state-level literacy interventions as likely contributors, while cautioning that PISA's design makes it hard to isolate any single cause with certainty.
The results land at an awkward moment for school systems already under financial strain: several flagship public university systems, including the University of Utah, have announced workforce reductions, while K-12 districts such as Portland Public Schools are weighing school consolidations to close budget gaps. Education advocates say the combination of falling scores and shrinking budgets could compound each other if literacy interventions get cut just as they're needed most.
The Department of Education has not yet announced any new federal literacy initiative in response to the scores. State superintendents in several hard-hit states are expected to face questions about reading curricula and intervention funding as local school boards review the results in the coming weeks.