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US Reading Scores Hit Near-25-Year Low in PISA Global Assessment — AI-generated representative image: Students take a reading assessment in a US classroom amid declining national reading scores.

Editorial Team

PISA 2025 reveals a 14-point drop in US reading performance and the widest achievement gap among 90 countries

Reading scores among 15-year-olds in the United States have fallen to their lowest level in about 25 years, according to findings released Tuesday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) showed US reading scores dropped 14 points from 2022, the last time results were published.

The results arrive as the administration of President Donald Trump seeks to dismantle the federal Department of Education, pointing to slipping test scores as justification. The findings also revealed that the United States had the widest reading inequality gap of any participating country, underscoring concerns that the education system is under-serving large numbers of students.

Declining Scores and Widening Gaps

The US decline was part of a broader international trend, with an OECD average across 23 countries also falling 16 points. However, the United States stood out for the size of its performance gap.

25.7 percent of US students were ranked as low performers in reading.
13.3 percent were flagged as top performers.
No country among the 90 participants showed significantly wider inequality in reading scores than the US.

"Looking across all 90 participating countries, there was not a single country with significantly wider inequality in reading scores than the US," said Michael Kieffer, a professor of literacy education at New York University. "What is clear is that we are under-serving many students."

Federal Education Policy Under Review

The PISA results have become a focal point in the ongoing debate over the federal government's role in education. In March 2025, Trump issued an executive order calling on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the Department of Education, which tracks student achievement, distributes federal education funds and enforces civil rights in schools.

The department does not establish school curriculums or academic standards, a responsibility that has traditionally fallen to state and local authorities. Still, Trump has cited slipping test scores as a reason to close the agency, denouncing its "entrenched bureaucracy" and calling for its responsibilities to be redistributed to the states.

The White House has argued that federal education spending is excessive and has failed to improve standardised test scores. Since the department was founded in 1979, it has spent more than $3 trillion, according to the White House.

Official Statements and School Choice Push

In a statement responding to the results, McMahon echoed Trump's position. "The United States of America is a nation built to lead the world, yet our one-size-fits-all federal education bureaucracy has shortchanged our children and stifled our future," she wrote.

McMahon described the moment as "a stress test for our nation's future" and called for "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."

The administration has advanced school choice policies since returning to office in 2025. Last year, the Education Department announced $500 million for its Charter School Program, described as the largest investment the initiative has ever received. In July 2025, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act created the first federal tax credit for donations to organisations providing scholarships for primary and secondary school students, including private-school tuition and tutoring.

What Lies Ahead

Critics warn that reversing the decline will require greater investment in education across the board. "PISA 2025 shows that reversing declines in student performance is urgent," said OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann. "The most successful education systems focus on fewer areas in greater depth, invest in teachers, engage parents and provide targeted support for the students and schools that need it the most."