Each generation entrusts its children to schools with the hope that knowledge will become capability — that learning will translate into a life well navigated. The 2025 PISA study, measuring the real-world skills of 760,000 fifteen-year-olds across 91 countries, suggests that trust is eroding: reading, mathematics, and science scores have fallen sharply across wealthy nations, with nearly a third of young people now lacking the foundational skills needed for everyday life. Germany, long haunted by its first PISA reckoning in 2000, has slid further still, while the broader data reveals not mere
Global student performance hits new low as PISA reveals sharp decline in reading, math skills
Approximately 29% of OECD 15-year-olds lack foundational skills in reading, math, and science needed for basic life tasks, limiting future educational and economic opportunities.