U.S. Rises in PISA Rankings Amid Global Score Declines

The United States has moved up in international education rankings because other countries' test scores are falling faster. Results from the 2025 Programme for International Student Assessment, released Tuesday, show U.S. 15-year-olds now score above average in science and reading, with math performance on par with other developed nations.

This relative improvement masks a troubling trend. American PISA scores in math and reading are at or near their lowest recorded levels. The nation's rise in the rankings is primarily a result of steeper declines in student achievement across many other countries over the past decade. Tracey Burns, chief of global strategy and research at the National Center on Education and the Economy, described an "ongoing global decline" and suggested the pandemic's effects have a "long, long tail."

U.S. Performance flagged with data uncertainty

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development administers the PISA test to measure problem-solving skills in math, reading, and science. The OECD reported the U.S. Results with a warning. Incomplete responses from some American schools mean bias in the performance data cannot be ruled out. Only Albania's results received a similar caution this year.

While many nations saw sharp drops between 2022 and 2025, U.S. Reading scores fell while math and science results remained essentially flat. Andreas Schleicher of the OECD wrote that "learning outcomes have stagnated or declined in many countries, in some cases for well over a decade." Singapore, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Canada scored better than average on all tests.

These proficiency rates are more encouraging than those reported on the U.S. National Assessment of Educational Progress. U.S. Students also scored above average on a new test of computational problem-solving and were less likely to rush through questions.

Equity gaps and data collection issues persist

By some measures, the United States has unusually unequal educational outcomes. The gap between top and bottom performers in science and reading was larger in the U.S. Than in most other countries. Key data on race and family poverty, which drive academic gaps, were not broken out. This was because over 40% of U.S. Test-takers did not complete an accompanying questionnaire.

The U.S. Department of Education acknowledged a "month-long pause in PISA activity in spring 2025" that resulted in some questionnaires not being administered. This pause coincided with contract and staff cuts at the department's Institute of Education Sciences. Matthew Soldner, acting director of the institute, did not respond to questions about whether the cuts were related to the data gaps.

Researchers seek explanations for global slide

There are no definitive answers for why test scores have fallen in so many countries. OECD officials offered several hypotheses, including heightened student absenteeism, greater classroom disruptions, and the proliferation of phones and screens. Educators and researchers in the U.S. Have raised similar theories.

Burns noted that U.S. Students report relatively positive relationships with teachers, higher growth mindset, and more access to peer tutoring. They are also less likely to learn in schools with teacher or material shortages. These factors may explain why American scores declined less sharply than those elsewhere. On a different international test of fourth and eighth graders' math skills, however, U.S. Scores between 2019 and 2023 fell faster than in most other countries.

NCEE officials said the PISA results raise serious questions about how well the U.S. Is serving its most disadvantaged students. Burns questioned whether the system is "able to deliver on the aspirations that the U.S. Holds as the world's major economic power."