U.S. Reading Scores Decline in 2025 PISA Results

Where Left and Right agree, and where they split

Where Left and Right agree

Science scores held steady above the OECD average while reading fell 14 points to near a 25-year low, marking a subject-specific decline rather than a broad failure to learn or teach.

Where Left and Right split

Whether the reading decline calls for sustained investment in literacy instruction and educators, or for holding schools accountable to parents for a result science scores show wasn't inevitable.

Why they won’t converge

The divide is empirical, not just political: OECD data point to AI tools and social media use as key drivers of the reading decline, a causal claim neither the funding-focused left nor the institution-focused right can settle by citing today's scores alone.