US teenage reading scores fall to a near-25-year low in the 2025 PISA assessment

A sharp US decline

Reading performance among 15-year-olds in the United States fell to its lowest level in roughly a quarter-century in the latest Programme for International Student Assessment. Al Jazeera reported that the US score dropped 14 points from the previous 2022 assessment. The 2025 exercise tested students across about 90 participating countries and economies and was released this week.

The results show a problem extending beyond the national average. About 25.7 percent of US participants were classified as low performers in reading, while 13.3 percent reached the top-performing category. An education researcher interviewed by Al Jazeera said no other participating country showed a significantly wider spread between stronger and weaker readers, highlighting persistent inequality inside the US system.

Part of a broader international slide

The American result forms part of an international decline rather than an isolated collapse. Al Jazeera reported that the comparable OECD average fell by 16 points across a group of countries. The Guardian's coverage of the same assessment found scores falling across most participating systems and identified digital distraction as one concern raised by the results.

England offered a notable contrast. The Guardian reported that its performance remained broadly stable, helping the United Kingdom move into the top 10 while many peers declined. A September 10 statement from Britain's Department for Education likewise says England improved or held steady and remained above OECD averages in reading, mathematics and science. That comparison does not establish a single cause for the US decline, but it shows that deterioration was not universal.

The policy dispute intensifies

The findings arrive as the Trump administration seeks to reduce the federal role in education and expand school-choice programmes. Education Secretary Linda McMahon used the results to argue that the existing federal bureaucracy had failed students. Critics of that approach contend that diverting public funds toward private, charter or home-school options can weaken oversight and leave disadvantaged districts with fewer resources.

What comes next will depend on state-level responses as much as Washington. Curriculum, teaching standards and most school operations remain state or local responsibilities. Policymakers will need to examine whether the decline reflects pandemic-era disruption, reduced reading outside school, classroom technology, socioeconomic inequality or a combination of factors. Future national assessments and the next PISA cycle will show whether the 2025 result marks a temporary shock or a continuing downward trend.