The finding

A Slow-Moving Catastrophe

On September 8, the OECD released the 2025 results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and they are the lowest average reading and math scores on record. In the United States, reading scores for 15-year-olds fell 14 points since 2022, a decline the U.S. Education Secretary described as equivalent to roughly seven months of lost learning. Across the participating countries, both reading and math reached the lowest averages the assessment has ever recorded.

The Economist did not soften the language, calling plunging test scores a "slow-moving catastrophe" and warning that a typical 15-year-old now reads no better than a 14-year-old did a decade ago. Test scores are not the full measure of a child, but they are a strong predictor of desirable outcomes: students who do well tend to earn more, live longer and healthier lives, and are better prepared for what comes next.

The cause

It Is Not the Pandemic. It Is Something More Fixable.

The key shift The easy explanation, COVID, does not hold. As the OECD's Andreas Schleicher put it, "this decline started much earlier and it continues. So the pandemic is not a compelling explanation." The evidence increasingly points somewhere schools can actually act: screens and disengagement.

The Economist notes the growing evidence that "tablets, mobile phones and other such screens are distracting youngsters from their studies and diverting them from hobbies, like reading books, that instil the ability to focus." The PISA data reinforces it: students reported spending 1.7 hours per school day on devices for learning, plus another hour for leisure, and it was limited or moderate use of technology for learning, not heavy use, that was associated with better outcomes. More screens have not meant more learning. Very often, as The Economist puts it, "snazzy new tools and devices just get in the way."

This is the hopeful part of a bleak report. A decline driven by how students spend their time and attention is a decline schools can reverse, by changing what fills the day.

The AI paradox

The Student Skills Fading Fastest Are the Ones AI Makes Most Important

Here is the finding that should reframe the entire conversation. The declines are not evenly spread. According to Schleicher, "success has declined fastest on reading tasks that are particularly important in this AI age", the higher-order skills of evaluation, critical thinking, reflecting, remembering, and integrating different pieces of information. His conclusion is stark: "in this world increasingly flooded with information, our students are less likely to think deeply and separate signal from noise."

It is tempting to shrug this off. If machines are getting smarter, why worry that students struggle to think? The Economist answers directly, and the answer is the heart of the matter:

"Adapting to a world of rapid, AI-driven change will require more mental agility, not less. And precisely because AI will increase the temptation for people to outsource difficult cognitive tasks, schools have an extra duty to help pupils exercise their brains and acquire the hard habits of thinking."

In other words, AI does not make durable thinking optional. It makes it essential. The students who will thrive are the ones who can evaluate, reason, create, and separate signal from noise, precisely the skills PISA shows are eroding fastest, and precisely the skills a well-designed education must now protect on purpose.

The response

A Proven Answer: Develop Students’ Durable Thinking, Off the Screen

If the problem is disengagement and too much shallow screen time crowding out deep thinking, the response is not another app that adds screen minutes. It is a return to the kind of learning that builds higher-order skills: engaging students through their interests, and giving them hands-on, real-world work that requires them to think.

That is precisely what the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) was built to do. Developed across more than five decades by Dr. Joseph Renzulli and Dr. Sally Reis at the University of Connecticut, the SEM applies the best of gifted-education pedagogy to every student, using interest and strength as the engine for engagement, and channeling that engagement into authentic, higher-order work. It is not a new fad chasing a headline. It is a research-based approach that predates the crisis PISA describes, and it is designed to develop exactly the skills the assessment shows are fading.

The Schoolwide Enrichment Model is the foundation. Renzulli Learning is how a district actually delivers it. The SEM is a body of research and pedagogy; Renzulli Learning is the platform that operationalizes it and puts its tools in every teacher's and student's hands. The durable-skill assessments, the Total Talent Portfolio, the enrichment database, the project tools, and the student showcase all live inside Renzulli Learning. A district that wants to develop and document these AI-age skills does not have to build the model from scratch; it uses Renzulli Learning to access the whole system, ready to run.

The connection between what PISA found and what Renzulli Learning delivers is direct:

What the 2025 PISA Results ShowHow Renzulli Learning Answers It
Declines are fastest on the higher-order, AI-age skills: evaluation, critical thinking, reasoning, and integrating information.The platform delivers assessments that develop and document those exact skills, critical thinking, creativity, executive function, and leadership.
AI makes durable thinking more important, not less (The Economist: "more mental agility, not less").Renzulli Learning is built around durable-skill development for an AI-accelerated world, the whole point of a strength-based, thinking-first approach.
Screens and heavy device use are linked to lower scores; moderate use beats heavy use.Low-screen by design: a brief profile drives teacher-led, hands-on, off-screen enrichment, filling the day with deep work instead of screen minutes.
Students are less likely to "think deeply and separate signal from noise", disengagement is at the core.Interest-driven Type III investigations re-engage students in sustained, real-world work, learning how experts in the field work, then applying those methods.
The decline is systemic and decades-long, not a pandemic blip or a passing fad.Grounded in more than five decades of University of Connecticut research, a proven approach, not a new headline-chasing tool.
Districts need evidence of skill growth for Portrait of a Graduate accountability.The Total Talent Portfolio documents durable-skill growth and best work over time, in and out of school, made visible through the student showcase.
It puts the assessments in teachers' hands. Renzulli Learning is the delivery mechanism for the durable-skill assessments PISA identifies as most at risk, critical thinking, creativity, executive function, and leadership. Each is a student self-report of how the skill is used and applied, with growth over time, and they are available only through the platform.
It is low-screen by design. A few minutes of student self-report produce a strengths profile that drives teacher-led, hands-on enrichment. Students conduct original investigations and learn how experts in the field work, then apply those methods to real problems, off the screen, exactly the deep, focused work PISA shows students are doing less of.
It re-engages through interest. Disengagement is at the core of the decline. The SEM begins with what a student cares about, turning attention back toward deep, sustained work rather than shallow, distracted screen time.
It documents the growth. The Total Talent Portfolio records each student's durable-skill growth and best work over time, giving districts evidence of development on the Portrait of a Graduate competencies that matter most in an AI age.
It lets students showcase real work, in and out of school. The platform's showcase function gives students a place to highlight the work they are proud of, from school projects and from real-world experiences beyond the classroom, in clubs, sports, the arts, and the community. It is the off-screen, hands-on productivity PISA shows students are doing less of, made visible and documented in the Total Talent Portfolio.
An honest note

The Right Claim, Made Carefully

We will not tell you that any single platform will move a nation's PISA scores; that is not how a slow-moving, systemic problem is solved, and the honest research does not support such a claim. What we will say is this: PISA is measuring the erosion of the higher-order, durable-thinking skills that an AI age makes more important, not less. The evidence points to disengagement and shallow screen use as drivers. And the strength-based, hands-on, low-screen approach at the heart of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model is built to develop and document exactly those skills. Renzulli Learning is how a district puts that model to work: the assessments, the Total Talent Portfolio, and the student showcase are all delivered through the platform.

The Economist's closing line is a fitting charge for every school leader reading the 2025 results: as machines grow brighter, do not let teenagers grow any dimmer. The work of keeping students sharp, curious, and able to think deeply is more urgent than ever, and it is work schools can begin now.

Frequently asked questions

The 2025 PISA Results: Common Questions

The 2025 PISA results, released in September 2026, are the lowest average reading and math scores since testing began in 2000. U.S. 15-year-olds dropped 14 points in reading since 2022, described by the U.S. Education Secretary as roughly seven months of lost learning. According to the OECD, the decline began before the pandemic and has continued, and it is fastest on higher-order reading tasks like evaluation, critical thinking, and integrating information, the skills most important in an AI age.
No. The OECD's Andreas Schleicher stated that the decline started well before the pandemic and has continued since, so "the pandemic is not a compelling explanation." Research increasingly points to screen time and disengagement: heavy device use is associated with lower scores, while limited or moderate use of technology for learning is associated with better outcomes.
As The Economist put it, adapting to a world of rapid, AI-driven change requires more mental agility, not less, and because AI increases the temptation to outsource difficult thinking, schools have an extra duty to help students exercise their minds. PISA found that success declined fastest on the reading tasks most important in the AI age: evaluation, critical thinking, and separating signal from noise. Developing these durable skills is the point, not a nice-to-have.
The Schoolwide Enrichment Model, developed across five decades at the University of Connecticut, is a strength-based, low-screen approach that develops higher-order thinking through hands-on, real-world investigation rather than screen-based practice. Renzulli Learning brings it online: a brief student self-report profile drives teacher-led, off-screen enrichment; the platform develops and documents durable skills such as critical thinking, creativity, executive function, and leadership; and the Total Talent Portfolio records growth for Portrait of a Graduate reporting. It is designed to develop exactly the skills PISA shows are eroding, without adding screen time.

Sources
The Economist, "Plunging test scores are a slow-moving catastrophe" (Leaders section, print edition of September 12, 2026; published online September 10, 2026). Subscriber content; no public link available.
K-12 Dive, "From science to screen time: 4 key takeaways from the latest PISA results" (September 2026), quoting the OECD's Andreas Schleicher: k12dive.com.
OECD, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025 results, released September 8, 2026: oecd.org/pisa.
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