PISA 2025: OECD Student Performance Hits Historic Low
Results from the PISA 2025 study show that student performance in OECD countries has reached historic lows in reading, mathematics, and science, with 20% of 15-year-olds failing to meet basic proficiency levels across all three subjects. The decline, attributed to digitalization, reduced reading for pleasure, and long-term pandemic effects, has been ongoing for over a decade.
Consensus
- PISA 2025 is the largest study in the program's history.
- The study involved 760,000 students from 91 countries and territories.
- The average performance in reading, mathematics, and natural sciences in OECD countries reached historic lows.
- 20% of 15-year-old students in OECD countries did not meet basic proficiency levels in reading, mathematics, and natural sciences.
- The decline in performance began before the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Digital technologies and AI are linked to the decline, but their impact depends on usage.
- Students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds still outperform those from lower-income families.
- Reading performance declined significantly over the past decade, with a 28-point drop in average scores between 2015 and 2025.
- Mathematics performance also declined, with a 22-point drop over the same period.
- Natural sciences performance remained relatively stable, with a 7-point decline.
Points of divergence
- In 2022, 16% of students in OECD countries failed to meet basic proficiency levels in all three subjects. — tg_theinsider
- The decline in reading performance is linked to reduced reading for pleasure and increased consumption of short-form digital content. — thebell
- Students who did not use AI for writing showed better results than those who did. — kommersant
- The gap between high- and low-income students narrowed between 2022 and 2025, but only due to worsening performance among higher-income students. — thebell
- The main factors behind declining performance include changes in attitude toward education, digital technology, long-term pandemic effects, and reduced parental involvement. — kommersant
Coverage (3 sources)
- Every fifth schoolchild in OECD countries has not reached basic level immediately in... — The Insider
- Literacy of schoolchildren in developed countries dropped to a historical minimum — study — The Bell
- PISA-2025: Student performance in OECD countries has fallen to a historical minimum — Коммерсантъ