Counting the cost of Covid: American 15-year-olds' math scores plunge to 'among lowest ever' in wake of pandemic - with students seeing 13-point drop in results and US ranked 28th behind peers across the globe

American teens' math scores are lagging behind those of their peers elsewhere in the world as students continue to be held back by pandemic learning loss.

U.S. 15-year-olds scored 'among the lowest ever' scores in the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Math scores plummeted by 13 percentage points compared to 2018 and fell below levels seen in 2012.

The drastic decline has been attributed to the impact of school closures during the pandemic.

It means U.S teens are trailing behind those in the likes of China, Japan and Singapore.

PISA measures around 700,000 15-year-old students' performances in reading, mathematics, and science. 

Last year, 81 education systems participated in the tests, including 37 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and 44 other countries and education systems.

The US ranked 28th among OECD states, with a below-average math score of 465 compared to 480.

The score was, 'among the lowest ever measured by PISA in mathematics' for the U.S., per the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country note. 

There was also a discrepancy between male and female students. Boys scored higher, on average, than their female peers by 13 points on mathematics literacy.

A similar trend was seen across OECD countries where on average, male students outperformed female students in mathematics by nine points. 

The drop was also consistent with declines seen elsewhere in the world, as other nations were forced to close their schools in the wake of Covid-19.

'Learning loss due to the pandemic was a global phenomenon,' Martin West, the academic dean at Harvard Graduate School of Education told the Wall Street Journal. 'We've never seen, in an international assessment, consistent declines across a large number of school systems in the way we see here.' 

The typical OECD country saw its math scores plunge by 15 percentage points. The outlet reports that 20 is equivalent to an entire year of learning. 

Those countries and economies that managed to improve or maintain their math scores were typically those who experienced shorter lockdowns or less barriers to remote learning, according to the PISA report.

Studies have suggested U.S. elementary and middle school students will need months of additional tutoring to make up for their lost learning in reading and math after 13-year-olds scores dropped to their lowest level in decades.

Researchers estimated that students would need 4.1 months of extra schooling to catch up in reading and 4.5 months for math. 

The 2022 PISA score saw US teens maintain a similar position for reading, ranking 6th of the OECD countries with an above average score of 504 compared to 476 overall.

The U.S. also had a larger percentage of top performers in reading literacy than the OECD average with 14 percent compared to seven percent respectively. 

While OECD countries saw teens' reading scores slide by 10 percentage points compared to 2018, the US' performance remained unchanged. 

American teens also scored more highly than average in science proficiency, with a typical score of 499 compared to 485. Scores remained flat compare to 2018 levels. 

Although several countries including Estonia, Japan and China performed better across all three exams. 

PISA assessments are considered to be indicative of more than just educational prowess and are seen as a measure of socioeconomic success. 

In 2018, the US placed 29th in the OECD rankings for math making this year's performance a slight improvement. 

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona claimed the results indicate that $123 billion emergency funding distributed to schools during the pandemic minimized the impact of school shutdowns.

'Here's the bottom line: At an extremely tough time in education, the United States moved up in the world rankings in reading, math, and science – all three categories PISA measures – while, unfortunately, many other countries saw declines.

'These results also show that we can't be satisfied with the status quo in education. There's much work to be done – and we need all hands on deck to accelerate academic success,' he said.

However West said it is too early to state whether the additional funding helped students recover.

The PISA report also noted some bias in the test results as participation is optional.