According to reports from CCTV news and The Hill in the United States, the results of the International Student Assessment Project (PISA) released on September 8 show that American students' reading scores are at their lowest point in over 25 years.
Xinhua News Agency reports that among the 91 countries and regions involved in the assessment, Chinese students ranked among the top in science, mathematics, reading, and problem-solving skills.
The American magazine Education Week noted that in the PISA reading test, American students’ scores dropped by 14 points compared to the previous assessment, reaching the lowest point since the launch of the PISA project.
It is understood that PISA is a assessment program conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to measure the ability of 15-year-old students to apply their knowledge to solve real-world problems. The assessments have been conducted every three years since 2000. The PISA assessment in 2025 is the largest ever conducted, involving more than 760,000 students from 91 countries and economies.
The results show that the overall performance of students in OECD member countries has declined, with scores in science, mathematics, and reading all reaching historical lows. Reading has seen the largest decline; between 2015 and 2025, the average score in reading in OECD member countries dropped by 28 points.
OECD Secretary-General Kohnen said: "The results of the 2025 PISA assessment show that reversing the decline in students' academic performance is an urgent task. The education systems that perform best streamline teaching priorities, focus on core areas, invest resources in teacher training, engage parents, and provide targeted support for students and schools who need it most. Technology and artificial intelligence can enhance learning and help young people prepare for the future, but this must be done with a clear purpose, and not to replace focus, effort, and understanding of knowledge."
The World Population Review states that countries with excellent PISA results are often associated with “more equitable educational opportunities,” while countries with lower PISA scores generally experience “higher levels of poverty and inequality, which in turn affect learning outcomes.”
According to The Hill newspaper, only 8% of American students have excellent math scores, a proportion lower than that in mainland China, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea.
According to reports from CCTV, students from Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang in China have achieved the highest levels in three major areas: science, mathematics, and reading among all the participating countries and regions. Additionally, the report shows that in the newly introduced assessment of 'computational thinking and problem-solving abilities,' students from Macau, China scored an average of 572 points, those from Singapore scored 563 points, and those from the four Chinese provinces and cities scored 560 points. These scores are much higher than the average of 500 points in OECD countries.
National Education and Economics Center's Global Strategy and Research Director, Tracy Burns, stated that students in mainland China who took the tests had an average math proficiency that was more than five years ahead of American students, and a science proficiency that was more than three years ahead.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McChrystal told The Hill that these scores “confirm a decade of stagnation and a significant educational gap: we have succeeded in improving the performance of the best students, but those with the lowest grades have fallen further behind—compared to 2015, their loss in reading skills is equivalent to nearly a year and a half of lost teaching time.”
She added, “This is a test of pressure for our country’s future. To withstand this challenge, we must make changes, abandon those failed old practices, and establish a new framework—in which state leaders have greater power, families can choose schools freely, and innovative teaching methods and curricula will be embraced.” This statement aligns with the overall policy direction of the Trump administration, which seeks to downsize the Department of Education and promote the marketization of education.
According to The New York Times, during the early years of Trump's presidency, the U.S. Department of Education cut the staff responsible for implementing PISA, resulting in a lower participation rate among Americans compared to the planned target. Researchers from the OECD warned that due to this situation, it should be 'cautious' when interpreting data related to the United States.
OECD Education and Skills Directorate Chief Andreas Schleicher attributed the score gap between the United States and Asia to “differences in attracting educational talents.” He said that in the United States, when faced with a choice between “better teachers” and “smaller class sizes,” people usually prefer the latter. In Asian countries, they spend money on reducing class sizes in order to “attract the most outstanding talents into education.”
He also mentioned that there are differences in how artificial intelligence is used in classrooms: Western countries use this technology to 'reduce the learning burden of students', while teachers in Asian countries use it to 'encourage students to think more deeply and study harder'.
