The 2026 INVALSI Report, presented on July 16, offers a mixed picture of Italy's school system. The most significant concern involves mathematics in primary school: approximately 60% of pupils in the second and fifth grades reach at least the basic level, about three percentage points fewer than in the previous assessment. Average results are 8-10% lower than in 2019, before the pandemic, when more than 70% of pupils met the minimum targets. Consequently, nearly 40% of primary-school children lack basic mathematics skills. INVALSI director Roberto Ricci said the school system appears to have settled at lower levels than before the pandemic, a phenomenon also reported elsewhere in Europe, including France and Scandinavia. Ricci stressed the need to devote greater effort to mathematics teaching in primary schools. Results improve in the later years of secondary education. Among pupils in the final year of upper-secondary school, the proportion reaching at least the expected mathematics level rose from 49% in 2025 to 52% in 2026. Southern Italy recorded the largest gains: the figure rose from 40% to 45% in the South and from 38% to 41% in the South and Islands, narrowing the gap with the rest of the country. In the second year of upper-secondary school, the national figure increased slightly from 54% to 55%, while the South rose from 45% to 51%. Results in the final year of lower-secondary school remained broadly stable, with a slight national decline from 56% to 55% and a territorial gap of approximately 15-20 percentage points between central and northern Italy and the South. In Italian, the proportion of final-year upper-secondary pupils reaching the expected level rose from 52% to 54%, with notable gains in the South. In the second year of upper-secondary school, the figure declined slightly from 62% to 61%, while in the final year of lower-secondary school it fell from 59% to 57%. Primary-school results remained stable compared with 2025 but below pre-pandemic levels: 67% of second-grade pupils reached the basic level, compared with 73% in 2019. One positive development is the continuing decline in early school leaving. The rate stood at 8.2% in 2025 and, according to INVALSI estimates, could fall to 7.3% in 2026. Italy has therefore met ahead of schedule the European target of reducing the rate below 9% by 2030. The institute notes, however, that keeping more pupils in education also creates a more diverse school population, with a growing number experiencing learning difficulties. So-called implicit school dropout—the proportion of pupils who complete their studies without acquiring adequate skills—fell from 8.7% to 6.3%, while the share achieving high results rose from 12.3% to 13.1%. The strongest results concern language and digital skills. In the final year of upper-secondary school, 63% of pupils reached level B2 or B1+ in the English reading test and 48% in listening. In the final year of lower-secondary school, 83% reached level A2 in reading and approximately 70% in listening. In the fifth grade of primary school, 91% achieved level A1 in reading comprehension and 85% in listening comprehension. Digital skills also improved at every stage, with a growing share of pupils reaching advanced levels, particularly in secondary education. The president of INVALSI said the pandemic's effects continue to be reflected in learning outcomes and that further investment in teaching quality will be necessary to recover the ground lost. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the measures introduced by the government were working, an assessment the INVALSI report does not directly evaluate.