PISA 2025 Results Reveal Record Global Learning Decline

The scores did more than dip. They set records, the kind nobody wanted, and they did it in the subjects that underpin almost everything else a student learns.

The PISA 2025 results, released by the OECD on September 8, 2026, point to a global learning decline that has now reached its worst level on record. Across wealthy countries, average performance in reading and mathematics fell to the lowest the assessment has ever measured. The test covered 760,000 fifteen-year-olds across 91 countries and economies, which makes the finding hard to wave away as a local blip. Something broad is happening, and it started before the pandemic and has outlasted it.

Short Answer

• PISA 2025 recorded the lowest-ever average scores in reading and mathematics across OECD countries.
• Reading fell about 28 points since 2015, roughly a year and a half of learning, and one in five 15-year-olds is now a low performer, up from 16% in 2022.
• Science held steady since 2022, and the overall slide predates COVID, so school closures alone do not explain it.

What the PISA 2025 Results Actually Show

Start with the headline the OECD itself led with: performance in reading and mathematics declined sharply and hit the lowest averages the test has recorded.

A few figures carry the story. Average reading scores across the OECD fell by about 28 points between 2015 and 2025, which the OECD frames as roughly a year and a half of schooling. The share of low performers, students who struggle with basic tasks, climbed to one in five, up from 16% in 2022. Science was the quieter subject, holding stable since 2022 after years of earlier decline. You can read the specifics in the full PISA 2025 report.

Why “Beyond the Pandemic” Matters

It is tempting to blame COVID and stop there. The data does not let you. The reading slide is measured from 2015, years before any school closed for a lockdown, which means the downward trend was already underway when the pandemic arrived and made it worse.

That reframes the problem. If the decline were purely a pandemic wound, you would expect a sharp drop around 2020 and a recovery afterward. Instead the line has been sagging for a decade. The pandemic looks less like the cause and more like an accelerant thrown on a fire that was already smoldering.

What Could Be Driving It

Here the honest answer is that no single factor explains a shift this wide, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling something. Researchers point to a mix, and the weight of each is still debated.

The candidates that come up most often are shifts in how teenagers read and focus in a phone-saturated world, uneven recovery from pandemic disruption, teacher shortages and turnover, and growing gaps between stronger and weaker students. Reading, which depends on sustained attention, may simply be the most exposed to a culture of constant interruption.

Teachers themselves tend to push back on any single villain, phones included. In education forums, the recurring theme is that something broader shifted: shorter attention spans, more absenteeism, less independent reading at home, and a harder time getting students to persist through a difficult text. The people in the room describe a change in stamina and engagement rather than a change in test difficulty.

What It Means for Classrooms and Parents

A global average is not a verdict on any one child, and it helps to keep that in view before the panic sets in. Still, the trend is a useful prompt. A few things are worth watching:

• Check your own country’s or district’s PISA breakdown, since national averages hide big regional differences.
• Treat sustained reading, the long-form kind, as a skill that needs deliberate practice rather than an assumed default.
• Watch the gap between strong and struggling students, because widening inequality drives much of the average decline.
• Ask schools what they are changing in response, rather than only whether scores fell.

This article summarizes international assessment data for general understanding. For decisions about a specific school or child, consult local results and education professionals rather than a global average.

Main Takeaways

• PISA 2025 recorded the lowest reading and math averages the test has ever measured across the OECD.
• Reading dropped about 28 points since 2015, and low performers rose to one in five.
• The decline started before COVID, so the pandemic is an accelerant rather than the sole cause.
• The practical response is local: check regional data and protect sustained reading time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is PISA?

PISA is the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment, a test given every three years to 15-year-olds around the world in reading, mathematics, and science. It is used to compare education systems and track trends over time.

What did the PISA 2025 results show?

They showed record-low average performance in reading and mathematics across OECD countries, a rise in low performers to one in five, and stable science scores since 2022. The results were released on September 8, 2026, covering 760,000 students across 91 countries and economies.

Is the decline just because of the pandemic?

No. The reading decline is measured from 2015, well before pandemic closures, so the downward trend predates COVID. The pandemic likely worsened an existing slide rather than starting it.

Why is reading falling faster than science?

Reading depends heavily on sustained attention and regular practice, which many researchers link to changing habits in a phone-heavy environment. Science held steadier since 2022, though it had declined in earlier years.

What can schools and parents do about it?

Focus on local data rather than the global average, protect time for long-form reading, watch the gap between strong and struggling students, and ask schools what specific changes they are making in response to the trend.

What This Means

The uncomfortable message in PISA 2025 is that the world’s schools are not slipping because of one bad event, but because of a slow drift that a crisis exposed. That is harder to fix than a single setback, and also more within reach, because a decade-long trend is made of ordinary daily habits that can be changed. For related coverage, browse Wayodd’s Education and Family & Personal sections. The scores are a warning, not a sentence, and the next cycle will show whether anyone listened.