Washington, D.C. – U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Education and Workforce Policy Cheryl Oldham issued the following statement today on the release of the 2023 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results:
“The results from PISA show a steep decline in math achievement for American 15-year-olds between 2018 and 2022, another data point in our country's backslide in academic achievement in the wake of the pandemic. Although the U.S. improved overall in this first post-pandemic international ranking, the math scores continue the alarming decline revealed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and statewide summative assessments.
Today’s students are the workforce of the future, and American businesses cannot compete on the global stage if our students continue to fall behind. We need a national call-to-action to improve and increase the amount of instructional time our students are spending mastering math, reading, and science skills. These are fundamental skills that our kids need to be successful. We must do better today for our students and for our future workforce.”
PISA is a globally recognized standardized assessment that compares how 15-year-olds perform in reading, math, and science across countries. The results serve as a global benchmark for student achievement and provide a measure for evaluating the skills and preparedness of our future workforce.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation are committed to supporting education leaders in improving the quality of classroom materials and increasing instructional time. Encouraging recent steps include:
- Commitments in states like Colorado and Alabama to improve math instruction.
- Support systems for early numeracy in West Virginia.
- Policies aligning early reading instruction with new cognitive findings on how children learn to read in 31 states and the District of Columbia.
The U.S. Chamber Foundation recently partnered with Learning Heroes on informative research showing that when parents know that their child is falling behind, they are far more likely to prioritize math and reading and take action. Learn more about the U.S. Chamber Foundation’s work to create meaningful solutions for American students here.
