The Reading Literacy of U.S. Fourth-Grade Students in an International Context

Abstract

This report summarizes the performance of U.S. students on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assessment, comparing the scores of U.S. fourth-graders to the scores of their peers internationally in 2006 and also examining the extent to which the reading literacy of U.S. students had changed from the first administration of PIRLS in 2001. The results show that the average reading comprehension score of U.S. fourth-grade students in 2006 was higher than the average score of students in 22 of the 44 other countries and educational jurisdictions that participated in the PIRLS assessment. Ten countries and educational jurisdictions had average scores higher than the scores of U.S. students; average scores of students in the remaining 12 countries and educational jurisdictions were not significantly different from the scores of U.S. students. The performance of U.S. students on PIRLS in 2006 did not measurably differ from their performance in 2001. In addition to framing the reading literacy of U.S. students within an international context, the report shows how the reading literacy of U.S. fourth-graders varies by student background characteristics and contextual factors that may be associated with reading proficiency. Following the presentation of results, a technical appendix describes the study design, data collection, and analysis procedures that guided the administration of PIRLS 2006 in the United States and in the other participating jurisdictions.