Reading Achievement and the Long Tail of the Pandemic
The latest reading test results should be troubling to all.
I’m reacting to the PISA results that were recently issued (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2026). PISA – Programme for International Student Assessment – is the test used to compare nations in academic performance. These reading, math, and science results were from a 2025 test administered in 91 countries.
Usually, our concerns about PISA scores have had to do with how many countries have passed us this time in the reading ability of their 15-year-olds. Not this time. No, this year we held service – no new nations outdid us.
But only because almost everyone declined in reading this time around.
It appears to me that this nearly universal drop is mainly because of the 2020 pandemic. The first shock of the pandemic deprived most kids out of face-to-face teaching for a year or two. That certainly trimmed their reading sails.
But the aftershock of this kind of thing can be almost as humbling. Historical analyses of pandemics reveal that they leave in their wake a tsunami of antisocial and asocial behavior. That’s why we experienced increased crime rates that have only recently begun to come down in most places.
The asocial effects seem to be lingering longer. The schools of many countries have been experiencing the same chronic absenteeism rife in the United States. Many kids never returned to school after COVID and large numbers of those who did have spotty attendance (Barragan Torres, 2025; U.S. Department of Education, 2025).
Time matters when it comes to learning. Fewer days, fewer hours, fewer lessons means lesser gains in academic achievement (Carroll, 1989; Fisher, Berliner, Filby, Marliave, Cahen, & Dishaw, 1981; Gay, Sonnenschein, Sun, & Baker, 2021; Smith, Lee, & Newmann, 2001; Walberg, Fraser, & Welch, 1986).
The PISA report itself emphasizes an unfortunate decline in classroom discipline across the world since COVID. There is more misbehavior these days which reduces the amounts of instruction even for those kids who manage to show up.
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Notes and links on the taxpayer funded Wisconsin DPI and Jill Underly.
“Did you know my school was bad like this when you decided to put me here?” she asked.
Madison’s district, despite an elite university pipeline, hypereducated leadership, and a shiny, new strategic plan, suffers the same frailties as Milwaukee’s: basement performance, backbreaking spending. But while Milwaukee is pulling out of its tailspin due to courageouschoices from the top, Madison is ponderously ambling to nowhere. Just ask the locals. “You need the marketing, and you need the product,” as a parent told a reporter. “I’m missing the product.”
2025-2026 Madison 4k-3rd grade Early Literacy Screener report: The bar moves faster than the kids.
Joe Gothard, Becky Kundert and Sonia Spencer Remarks on Madison’s K-12 Literacy Crisis.
2026-2027 Madison K-12 $pending continues to grow, fueled by a 9.7% (!) property tax increase. Total spending will be at least $706,000,000 for 25,003 students, or $28,236 per student.
May 2026 Madison School District Presentation: 7,095 adults for 25,003 students (3.52 students per adult!)
2024-2025 Early Literacy Screener Map.
Map: Foundations of Reading Results: 2015–2024
Where have all the students gone?
3,887 Madison 4 year old to third grade students scored lower than 75% of the students in the national comparison group.
Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average k-12 tax & $pending. This despite our long term, disastrous reading results. May, 2026: 7,095 Staff for 25,003 students; $pending > $26k per student!
Madison Schools: More $, No Accountability
The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…
The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic.
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results
Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators
Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?
China’s PhD Glut Drives Top Graduates to High School Teaching Jobs
