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PISA 2025 Finds Most Mexican 15-Year-Olds Below Basic Competence

The results escalate pressure on leaders by tying falling scores to recent education reforms while highlighting poverty and weak local demand for learning as barriers to change.

Overview

  • The OECD’s PISA 2025 assessment shows about seven in ten Mexican 15-year-olds fail to reach basic level in mathematics and roughly half fall below basic in reading and science.
  • Scores have declined since 2018 with math falling from 409 to 388 and reading from 420 to 408, a drop commentators link to policy shifts under the Morena governments and the Nueva Escuela Mexicana.
  • Federal officials have questioned the test’s scope and limits while opinion writers argue the government must accept political responsibility for reforms that changed teacher evaluation and curricula.
  • Digital monitoring found a polarized public reaction, with 39% of online mentions blaming 4T policies and 21% disputing PISA figures or their interpretation.
  • Analysts warn that entrenched inequality and low social mobility make national diagnostics insufficient by themselves and call for translating PISA data into clear, school-by-school expectations that parents, teachers and authorities can act on.