The results are in, and they're ugly. American 15-year-olds just posted their worst reading scores in nearly a quarter century. The latest Program for International Student Assessment — you know it as PISA — shows a 14-point plunge from 2022. That's not a blip. That's a freefall.
Let's set the scene. The tests were administered in 2025, before the current administration's school choice push really hit its stride. So you can't blame this on Trump's Department of Education — or what's left of it. The damage was already done. But here's the kicker: instead of confronting the crisis, Washington is busy peddling vouchers and privatization as if school choice is a magic elixir.
What the Numbers Actually Tell Us
The OECD runs PISA. They tested 15-year-olds in reading, math, and science. The reading scores for American kids fell from 504 in 2022 to 490 in 2025. That's the lowest since 1998, when the test was first administered. It's a drop that should alarm every parent, teacher, and politician — but especially those who claim to care about the future of this country.
Let me break it down. The average score across OECD countries is around 470. So the US is still above the average, but barely. And the trajectory is what matters. Since 2012, US reading scores have slid 25 points. That's not a statistical anomaly. That's a trend line pointing straight down.
It's not just reading. Math scores also fell, from 478 to 472. Science went from 495 to 487. Every core subject is in retreat. But the reading decline is the most telling. Reading is the gateway skill. If you can't read critically, you can't do anything else. And we're failing.
Who's to Blame? (Hint: It's Not Just the Teachers)
Conservatives will tell you it's the teachers' unions. Liberals will blame underfunding and poverty. Both are right, and both are wrong. The truth is more uncomfortable: we've spent the last two decades ignoring the fundamentals while chasing fads.
Remember No Child Left Behind? That was 2002. It turned schools into test-prep factories. Then came Race to the Top, which doubled down on standardized testing. And now we've got the "science of reading" movement, which is just a fancy way of saying we forgot to teach phonics.
But the deeper problem is cultural. Kids are reading less. They're scrolling more. The average American teenager spends over seven hours a day on screens — most of it on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube. That's not a school problem. That's a societal sickness. You can't blame teachers for the fact that kids would rather watch a 60-second video than read a 300-page novel.
We've spent the last two decades ignoring fundamentals while chasing fads. The result is a generation that struggles to parse a dense paragraph.
Yet the current administration seems to think the answer is to dismantle the public school system itself. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been touring the country, pushing "school choice" as the cure for all that ails us. The theory is that competition will force schools to improve. That sounds nice in a think tank white paper. In reality, it's a voucher scheme that funnels taxpayer money to private and religious schools, many of which have no accountability.
The School Choice Mirage
Let's be clear: school choice isn't inherently evil. Some parents have legitimate reasons to want alternatives. But as a national policy, it's a distraction. The data shows that voucher programs in places like Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C., have not produced academic miracles. In fact, some studies suggest they've made things worse.
And here's the dirty secret: the administration's own budget proposal cuts Title I funding — that's the money for schools serving low-income kids — by 20%. At the same time, they want to spend billions on tax credits for private school donations. That's not a choice. That's a shell game. You take money from the poorest schools and hand it to the wealthy who already have options.
The PISA results should be a wake-up call, but they'll likely be spun. The White House will say that the scores are from the "Biden era" and that their reforms haven't had time to work. That's true, but it's also a cop-out. The reforms they're pushing won't solve the problem because they don't address the root causes: poverty, screen addiction, and a curriculum that's been gutted by culture wars.
The Culture War Distraction
Speaking of culture wars, let's talk about how they're making things worse. While kids can't read, state legislators are banning books. They're passing laws that restrict how teachers can discuss race, gender, and history. These laws have a chilling effect. Teachers are afraid to assign anything controversial. So they stick to safe, bland texts that don't inspire anyone.
A kid who's told that their textbook is illegal in another state might just lose interest. A teacher who fears being sued or fired for using a certain novel will avoid it all together. The result is a classroom that's stripped of any intellectual challenge. We're literally teaching kids to be bored.
And it's not just the right. The left has its own orthodoxy. Cancel culture has made it risky to assign classic works that might contain outdated language or ideas. Jonathan Franzen once said that the novel is a "sweaty, unwashed" medium that requires effort. We're telling kids it's not worth the sweat.
What Actually Works? (Sorry, It's Not a Voucher)
Here's a radical idea: let's look at what countries that score well do differently. Finland, Canada, Ireland — they all beat us. And not one of them has a school choice program. They have something else: respect for teachers, equitable funding, and a culture that values reading.
Finland doesn't have standardized tests until the end of high school. They pay teachers like professionals. They give them autonomy. And their kids read for pleasure because their parents read to them at home. It's not magic. It's a commitment.
We could start by boosting funding for school libraries. A 2023 study by the American Library Association found that schools with certified librarians have higher reading scores. But the number of school librarians has been declining for years. In some states, there are no librarians left.
We could also get serious about early literacy. Research is clear that kids who aren't reading proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. Yet we're cutting Pre-K programs. The administration's budget eliminates the Preschool Development Grants. That's a disaster waiting to happen.
And let's not forget about the digital deluge. We need to teach digital literacy — how to read critically, how to spot misinformation, how to focus on a long article without checking your phone every two minutes. That's not a school problem; it's a parenting problem. But schools can help by modeling good habits.
The Verdict
Here's the bottom line: American 15-year-olds are losing their ability to read, and we're responding with ideological panaceas. School choice is a band-aid on a bullet wound. The real fix is messy, expensive, and requires long-term investment. It means paying teachers more, reducing class sizes, providing universal Pre-K, and yes — limiting screen time.
But that's not politically sexy. It's easier to demonize unions and push vouchers. It's easier to shout about CRT and book bans. It's easier to pretend that the problem is someone else's fault.
Meanwhile, the scores keep falling. And every year, another generation of kids gets left behind. They'll grow up unable to read a mortgage contract, let alone a novel. They'll be more vulnerable to propaganda because they can't parse a nuanced argument. They'll be less prepared for the jobs of the future, which will demand critical thinking, not just coding skills.
This isn't just an education crisis. It's a civic crisis. A democracy depends on an informed citizenry. If we can't read, we can't think. And if we can't think, we're doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
The PISA results are a flashing red light. The question is whether anyone in Washington is actually paying attention — or if they're all just arguing over the color of the bus.
