According to a recent survey of 65 mainly emerging countries worldwide by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which ranks countries by their education standards, around half of Latin American 15-year-olds performed below the basic levels in math, science, and reading comprehension. While standards for students in the region’s upper socioeconomic quintile rose over the past decade, there was little change in the lower quintile, where 70% of students failed to reach the most basic levels.