American students’ math performance has long lagged behind other countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 38 industrialized countries primarily comprising nations in Europe and Asia. This trend continued in 2022, with the U.S. ranking 28th out of 37 OECD countries, scoring an average of 465 points on the test—7 points lower than the average score for OECD countries

U.S. scores declined sharply from 2018, the last time the test was administered before the pandemic, with scores dipping 13 points. But while this decline is concerning, it pales in comparison to the overall decline across OECD countries, whose average score decline was 17 points.

And this decline continued in OECD reading scores.