AbroadEd could confirm that student learning has experienced historic setbacks in reading and math. According to the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, the setbacks are being traced to the COVID-19 pandemic.
AbroadEd says the PISA is a comparative study of the scores of 15-year-old students on reading, math and science tests. The PISA exam is administered every three years, and about 700,000 students took part in the recent study conducted in 2022.
According to the 2022 PISA results that included about 37 member countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), test scores have decreased in both rich and poor countries.
The OECD has been administering the test since 2000 in 81 education systems. In the words of Andreas Schleicher, the director for education and skills at OECD: “The world is no longer divided between rich and well-educated countries and poor and badly educated countries.”
Reasons for declines in reading and math
AbroadEd could establish that the average international scores for math and reading have fallen by 15 points and 10 points, respectively, since 2018. However, scores stayed the same in a major way in science.
Experts say the COVID-19 pandemic dealt education a massive blow, and it is a major reason for the worldwide score declines.
AbroadEd highlights the other possible reasons for the decline in scores to include:
- Level of investment in education
- The social value placed on education
- Pay levels of teachers
- Educational beliefs of students
- Fast-changing influence of technology
- Excessive use of electronic devices in school
