PIRLS 2006 Results

In 2006, 45 jurisdictions participated in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), including 38 countries, 5 Canadian provinces, ... SkipNavigation PIRLS PIRLSResults PIRLSPastResults PIRLS2006Results PIRLS2006Results PIRLS2006resultsareprovidedintheU.S.nationalreport: TheReadingLiteracyofU.S.Fourth-GradeStudentsinanInternationalContext:Resultsfromthe2001and2006ProgressinInternationalReadingLiteracyStudy(PIRLS)(U.S.DepartmentofEducation,2007) Inaddition,supplementaldatatablesfortheU.S.PIRLS2006Reportareavailable:SupplementalTablesfortheU.S.PIRLS2006Report. SummaryofFindingsfromPIRLS2006 In2006,45jurisdictionsparticipatedintheProgressinInternationalReadingLiteracyStudy(PIRLS),including38countries,5Canadianprovinces,andtheseparateFlemish-andFrench-speakingeducationsystemsinBelgium. Onaverage,U.S.fourth-gradersscoredhigherthantheirpeersworldwide,withaveragescoreshigherthanthePIRLSscaleaverage(540vs.500),andagreaterpercentageofU.S.studentsreachingeachachievementbenchmarkcomparedtotheinternationalmedianpercentage. TheaveragescoreforU.S.studentswas lowerthantheaveragescorein10jurisdictions higherthantheaveragescorein22jurisdictions;and notmeasurablydifferentfromtheaveragescorein12jurisdictions. Comparedto2001,theaveragescoreforU.S.studentsin2006wasnotsignificantlydifferentoverall.Onthe2006assessment,theaveragescoreforU.S.studentsinreadingforliteraryexperiencewas4pointshigherthantheiraveragescoreinreadingtoacquireanduseinformation.In2001,thedifferencewas17points. Otherfindingsfrom2006includethefollowing: ThepercentageofU.S.studentsatoraboveeachofthefourinternationalbenchmarkswashigherthantheinternationalmedianpercentage(96versus94forthelowinternationalbenchmark,82versus76fortheintermediateinternationalbenchmark,47versus41forthehighinternationalbenchmark,and12versus7fortheadvancedinternationalbenchmark). Averagescoresforgirlsonthecombinedreadingliteracyscalewerehigherthanaveragescoresforboysin43ofthe45participatingjurisdictions,includingtheUnitedStates. Onthecombinedreadingliteracyscale,averagescoresforWhite,non-Hispanic(560);Asian,non-Hispanic(567);andnon-HispanicstudentsintheracialgroupsclassifiedasOther(573)intheUnitedStateswerehigherthanthescoresforBlack,non-Hispanic(503);Hispanic(518);andAmericanIndian/AlaskaNative,non-Hispanicstudents(468)intheUnitedStates.