OECD Finds 8% of College Students Read at 10-Year-Old Level, 9% Lag in Math
Updated
Updated · Futurism · Jul 4
OECD Finds 8% of College Students Read at 10-Year-Old Level, 9% Lag in Math
3 articles · Updated · Futurism · Jul 4
Summary
A 160,000-person OECD survey across 38 member countries found 8% of higher-education students read at a 10-year-old level or worse, while 9% perform math at or below that benchmark.
The weakest results were concentrated in several countries: 21% of college students in Poland, 20% in Israel and 14% in the United States fell into the lowest reading band; in math, Israel was near 21%, with Italy, the U.S. and Slovakia above 15%.
The report points to pandemic learning loss, weaker preparation, enrollment pressures that may lower admissions standards, and reduced public funding as drivers of the decline.
It also lands as schools grapple with AI tools such as ChatGPT, while one Minneapolis classroom that banned phones and laptops saw students' reading confidence rise from 46% in September to 95% by February.