Reading scores among 15-year-old students in the United States have fallen to their weakest point in approximately 25 years, according to a new international education assessment.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) on Tuesday, offering a global measure of students’ educational achievement.
The latest figures show that US reading scores declined by 14 points from the 2022 assessment, the previous edition for which results had been released.
The downturn reflected a wider international pattern: the OECD average fell by 16 points across 23 participating countries.
However, the United States stood out for the disparity between its highest- and lowest-performing students. Low performers accounted for 25.7 percent of US participants in reading, compared with 13.3 percent classified as top performers.
“Across all 90 participating countries, there was not a single country with significantly wider inequality in reading scores than the US,” Michael Kieffer, a professor of literacy education at New York University, told Al Jazeera. “What is clear is that we are under-serving many students.”
The PISA findings arrive as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to redefine the federal government’s involvement in education.
In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin the process of dismantling the Department of Education, which monitors student achievement, allocates federal education funding and enforces civil rights protections in schools.
The department, however, does not determine school curricula or academic standards, responsibilities that have traditionally rested with state and local authorities.
Even so, Trump has cited declining test scores among his arguments for closing the department. He has also condemned what he called its “entrenched bureaucracy” and advocated transferring its responsibilities to the states.
McMahon told Al Jazeera in her response that the administration supports restructuring the department’s role.
“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,” McMahon wrote.
The White House has argued that federal education spending is excessive and has not produced stronger standardised test results.
According to the White House, the Education Department has spent more than $3 trillion since being established in 1979.
“This moment is a stress test for our nation’s future,” McMahon said. “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.”
“School choice” has become a major slogan among US conservatives. It generally refers to directing public education funds toward alternatives such as charter schools, homeschooling or private institutions, allowing parents to help pay for their children’s schooling through scholarships, vouchers or similar programs.
The approach remains highly contentious. Critics argue that it weakens public education by shifting money toward less regulated institutions while providing limited oversight of how public funds are used.
Since returning to office in 2025, Trump has promoted school choice as a form of educational freedom.
Last year, the Education Department announced $500 million in funding for its Charter School Program, describing it as the largest investment the initiative had ever received.
The funds were intended to help states expand their charter school systems and support new charter-school developers.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s signature legislation, created the first federal tax credit for donations to organisations providing scholarships for primary and secondary students in July 2025. The credits may be used for expenses such as private-school tuition and tutoring.
Last month, Trump held a school-choice-themed event at the White House to mark the beginning of the new school year.
Critics, however, warn that reversing declining test performance will require broader investment across the education system.
“PISA 2025 shows that reversing declines in student performance is urgent,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said in a statement.
“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.”
