Every three years, roughly 700,000 fifteen-year-olds across more than 80 countries sit the same assessment in mathematics, reading and science. It is the closest thing the world has to a single report card. The 2025 results were released on September 8, and they contain an uncomfortable message for American parents.
The United States finished 27th in math, with an average score of 463, the same as the OECD average. That sounds like the safe middle of the pack, but it isn't reassuring. It's the problem.
The scoreboard
Mathematics mean scores, PISA 2025 (OECD):
- 1. China (B·S·J·Z) — 612
- 2. Singapore — 563
- 3. Macao (China) — 549
- 4. Chinese Taipei — 546
- 5. Japan — 525
- 6. Korea — 522
- 7. Hong Kong (China) — 522
- 8. Estonia — 508
- … 20-plus systems score above the United States …
- 27. United States — 463 (exactly the OECD average)
Singapore averaged 563, exactly 100 points above the U.S. mean. That does not tell us how any individual child performed, but the size of the difference deserves attention.
And "average" is not the safe harbor it sounds like. The OECD average has fallen about 24 points from 2015 to 2025. The message is clear: the international average is moving in the wrong direction.
America's math score now sits among its lowest since PISA began in 2000. The U.S. didn't hold steady while the world moved; it is standing on a line that is itself sinking.
Reading and science tell a slightly kinder story — the U.S. placed 13th in each (490 and 502). But math, the subject that opens the most doors later in life, is where American teenagers are furthest behind.
What strong math systems emphasize
Look again at the names above the United States. The very top of the world's math table is not a random scatter of wealthy countries. It is dominated by systems that teach mathematics in a strikingly similar way: mastery before pace, deep number sense before shortcuts, and concepts built concretely before they ever become abstract symbols on a page.
Singapore offers a useful example. It finished second in mathematics and first in reading in PISA 2025, and it was one of only two systems to place in the top two across all three subjects. Its long record of strong results suggests that this performance is more than a single exceptional class of students: Singapore ranked at or near the top of international math assessments for decades.
That method has a name — the Singapore Math approach — and it is the most studied mastery curriculum in the world. Randomized trials in U.S. and U.K. classrooms have found statistically significant gains from Singapore-method instruction over conventional teaching (Jaciw et al., 2016; Lindorff et al., 2019). Its hallmark, the Concrete–Pictorial–Abstract sequence, is built around how children actually learn, not how quickly a textbook wants to move (Ginsburg et al., 2005, AIR).
Why this should worry a New York parent in particular
It is tempting to read a global ranking as somebody else's problem. It isn't. Closer to home the picture is just as stark: in New York, only 47% of 8th graders scored proficient in math this year, meaning more than half did not (NYSED, 2025–26 preliminary results). We discussed this problem in our earlier article, Why Your Elementary Child Needs a Math Check. Your child's real competition for a seat, a scholarship, a place in a STEM career, isn't their classmates. It's a fifteen-year-old in Singapore who is, by the world's own yardstick, years ahead and was taught by a method your child can begin this fall.
Singapore Math on the Upper East Side
S.A.M New York teaches children ages 4 to 12 through a structured, mastery-based program built on Singapore Math principles, including the Concrete–Pictorial–Abstract progression. Children learn what a method means and why it works before relying on it as a shortcut.
In small classes, instructors can see more than whether an answer is right or wrong. They can identify how a child is thinking, where the reasoning breaks down and what needs to be rebuilt.
When the foundation is strong, an unfamiliar problem feels less threatening. A child has something more reliable than last-minute memorization: a way to think through the problem.
Start with a clear look at your child's foundation
Before you worry about the ranking, find out exactly where your own child sits, and more importantly, why. Our free online math assessment helps identify strengths and gaps, and gives us a starting point for a practical conversation about what your child needs next.
Then see it for yourself: meet with us, review your child's results and learn which S.A.M level would be the best place to begin.
Children do not stand still for three years. Neither do learning gaps. Finding one now gives your child time to strengthen it before the next stage of mathematics depends on it.