Global educational performance reaches lowest levels of the century, Pisa points out

Teenagers more accustomed to smartphones than Shakespeare are experiencing the worst reading rates on record this century, leading to a broader decline in education, according to global student assessments.

The 2025 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) test, carried out with 760,000 15-year-olds in 91 countries, showed that scores in reading, mathematics and science reached their lowest levels since data began to be collected in 2000.

On average, students had a reading level that, in the past, was expected of students one year younger, according to the latest edition of the OECD's Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa), released this Tuesday.

The maximum reading score of 501, recorded in 2012 on the Pisa index, fell to 466 last year. The test is considered the world's main indicator of educational performance, and its results are closely analyzed by governments and educators.

“The increase in time spent in front of screens and the decrease in reading for pleasure have gone hand in hand with weaker results,” said OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann at a press conference.

“We are also seeing more rushed reading, with students rushing through a text and quickly giving wrong answers.”

Reading scores fell most sharply among students from wealthier backgrounds, the study added.

Hampered by falling reading standards, average teenagers' skills in science and math have also reached their lowest level this century. The science score fell from 506 — the peak recorded in 2009 — to 486, while the math score fell from 502 to 469 over the same period.

East Asia was the best performing region. The Chinese cities that participated in the test, in addition to Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, had the best educational systems, with the United Kingdom and Estonia being the only countries outside the region that were among the top ten in reading, mathematics and science.

Digital distraction

The report stopped short of endorsing a ban on smartphones in schools. However, it said digital distraction is associated with lower science grades in 59 of the 82 education systems studied, and more than one in four students say devices distract peers in science classes.

The OECD reported that students reported spending, on average, 3.4 hours per working day on digital devices for leisure in OECD member countries and an additional three hours per working day in the classroom and at home for learning purposes.

Digital devices can be used to improve learning, but only to a certain extent, Cormann said. If used for more than five hours a day, results begin to decline, he added.

The study also found that nearly half of students regularly use AI chatbots to learn, but those who use them to write essays, summarize texts and research topics generally score about 20 points lower in science, which is equivalent to a year of learning.