PISA test: Early literacy is an urgent priority, now more than ever

Argentina’s decline in the latest PISA results is part of a wider reading crisis, but the country’s results underline the urgency of rebuilding basic literacy from the earliest years of schooling.

Argentina fell in all three assessed areas compared with PISA 2022: 13 points in science, 12 in reading and 11 in mathematics. The declines were statistically significant. Reading, however, stands out as a distinct problem rather than simply one consequence of a general deterioration.

Across 74 education systems with comparable data, 56 recorded significant reading declines between 2018 and 2025. The OECD average fell by about 25 points. The average reading score for the 13 Latin American and Caribbean participants was 389, compared with 461 across the OECD. Some 59% of students in the region remained below Level 2, the basic reading proficiency threshold. In 10 of the 13 systems, at least half of students failed to reach it.

The regional trend was broadly negative. Of 12 countries with comparable results from 2022 and 2025, 10 saw their reading scores fall. Costa Rica and El Salvador recorded positive changes, but neither improvement was statistically significant. Guatemala recorded the largest decline, at 37 points, followed by Paraguay, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay.

The OECD identified growing difficulty with longer texts, combining information from different sources and evaluating material critically. It also found more instances of fast but inaccurate reading. The article argues that these findings should redirect attention toward basic abilities: concentrating, identifying what matters, comparing sources and interpreting information. Because PISA reflects a student’s full educational trajectory, the response cannot begin only in secondary school. Schools must establish strong literacy foundations early and sustain them throughout education.