Reading scores among 15-year-olds in the United States have dropped to their lowest level in roughly 25 years, according to new results from the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), a major global education benchmark run by the OECD. US scores fell 14 points from the last assessment in 2022, and the country recorded one of the widest gaps between low and top performers of any participating nation, with 25.7 percent of students ranked as low performers. The findings arrive as the Trump administration pushes to dismantle the federal Department of Education and redirect funding toward "school choice" initiatives, though critics argue broad investment in education — not structural dismantlement — is what is needed to reverse the decline.