Math scores among American tenth-graders hit a record low in 2022 according to the results of an international academic assessment published on Tuesday. The downward trend in scores on the Program for International Student Assessment, an evaluation of students across 81 industrialized countries, was reflected globally as well, suggesting lingering effects of the pandemic-era lockdowns.
The PISA exams are administered every three years by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, assessing the performance of high school sophomores (or the national equivalent for students around 15 years old) in reading, math, and science. The results of the test are used to gauge students’ competency and ability to apply knowledge in and out of the classroom.
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The exam originally scheduled for 2021 was delayed by a year when the COVID-19 pandemic led to school closures and a move to remote learning. In 2022, the test was administered to a random selection of 620,000 students around the world.
According to the results published by the OECD on Tuesday, math scores in the U.S. slipped from an average of 478 out of 1,000 in 2018 to 465 in 2022. This 13-point drop increases to 18 when the 2022 results are compared to those from 2003 when the test was first administered.
Iceland, Norway, Poland, and Slovenia, which typically perform highly in mathematics, fell by even larger margins. Among the top six countries—all of which are in Asia—the highest scorers were from Singapore, with an average of 575 points. The remainder of the top 10 were rounded out by various European countries and Canada.
“These results are another piece of evidence showing the crisis in mathematics achievement,” Peggy Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, told the Washington Post. Carr’s division within the Department of Education administers the exams in the United States.
“Only now can we see that it is a global concern,” she continued. “The whole world is struggling in math.”
However, while the American score marked a decrease when taken in isolation, the country’s relative international ranking actually rose to sixth place, up from eighth in 2018.
Also worth noting is the fact that U.S. reading and science scores remained consistent between the two exams.
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But while the U.S. reported significantly longer COVID-era school closures than other participating countries, Carr maintained that there is only a “weak relationship” between the lockdowns and the test scores.
“Most of the changes in scores was not due to how long schools were closed,” she said, going on to compare the results to a “very parallel, significant decline” in another national standardized test.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona celebrated the country’s rise in the international rankings as a victory during “an extremely tough time in education.”
“Today’s results are further proof that President Biden’s bold investments, backed by tireless efforts at the Department of Education to support student success and academic recovery, kept the United States in the game,” he declared.
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