Special Analysis 2009

Synthesis of reading results

Table A-1. Average PIRLS scores of fourth-grade students on combined reading literacy scale, by jurisdiction: 2001 and 2006

	2001				2006
Jurisdiction	Average score			s.e.	Average score			s.e.
PIRLS scale average	▼	500		*0.0*	▼	500		*0.0*

Argentina	▼	420		5.9		—		†
Austria		—		†		538		2.2
Belgium (Flemish)		—		†		547	¹	2.0
Belgium (French)		—		†	▼	500		2.6
Belize	▼	327		4.7		—		†
Bulgaria		550		3.8		547		4.4
Canada, Alberta		—		†	∆	560		2.4
Canada, British Columbia		—		†	∆	558		2.6
Canada, Nova Scotia		—		†		542		2.2
Canada, Ontario		548		3.3	∆	555		2.7
Canada, Quebec		537		3.0		533		2.8
Chinese Taipei		—		†		535		2.0
Colombia	▼	422		4.4		—		†
Cyprus	▼	494		3.0		—		†
Czech Republic		537		2.3		—		†
Denmark		—		†		546		2.3
England	∆	553	^1,2	3.4		539		2.6
France	▼	525		2.4	▼	522		2.1
Georgia		—		†	▼	471		2.2
Germany		539		1.9		548		2.4
Greece	▼	524	²	3.5		—		†
Hong Kong, SAR³	▼	528		3.1	∆	564		2.4
Hungary		543		2.2	∆	551		3.0
Iceland	▼	512		1.2	▼	511		1.3
Indonesia		—		†	▼	405		4.1
Iran, Islamic Republic of	▼	414		4.2	▼	421		3.1
Israel	▼	509	⁴	2.8	▼	512		3.3
Italy		541		2.4	∆	551		2.9
Kuwait		(⁵)		†	▼	330		4.2
Latvia		545		2.3		541		2.3
Lithuania		543	⁶	2.6		537		1.6
Luxembourg		—		†	∆	557		1.1
Macedonia, Republic of	▼	442		4.6	▼	442		4.1
Moldova, Republic of	▼	492		4.0	▼	500		3.0
Morocco	▼	350	⁷	9.6	▼	323		5.9
Netherlands	∆	554	¹	2.5		547	¹	1.5
New Zealand	▼	529		3.6	▼	532		2.0
Norway	▼	499		2.9	▼	498	⁸	2.6
Poland		—		†	▼	519		2.4
Qatar		—		†	▼	353		1.1
Romania	▼	512		4.6	▼	489		5.0
Russian Federation	▼	528		4.4	∆	565		3.4
Scotland	▼	528	¹	3.6	▼	527	¹	2.8
Singapore	▼	528		5.2	∆	558		2.9
Slovak Republic	▼	518		2.8	▼	531		2.8
Slovenia	▼	502		2.0	▼	522		2.1
South Africa		—		†	▼	302		5.6
Spain		—		†	▼	513		2.5
Sweden	∆	561		2.2	∆	549		2.3
Trinidad and Tobago		—		†	▼	436		4.9
Turkey	▼	449		3.5		—		†
United States		542	¹	*3.8*		540	¹	*3.5*
∆ Score is higher than U.S. score.
▼ Score is lower than U.S. score.
— Not available. (Data were not collected or not reported.)
† Not applicable.
¹Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after substitute schools were included.
²National Defined Population covers less than 95 percent of National Target Population.
³Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China.
⁴National Defined Population covers less than 80 percent of National Target Population.
⁵Although Kuwait participated in 2001 and 2006, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) elected not to report the 2001 estimates for the country because of concerns about the quality of Kuwait’s data.
⁶National Target Population does not cover all of International Target Population because coverage falls below 65 percent.
⁷Nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after substitute schools were included.
⁸Did not meet guidelines for sample participation rates after substitute schools were included.
NOTE: Jurisdictions are ordered alphabetically. Combined reading literacy scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. The tests for significance take into account the standard error for the reported difference. Thus, a small difference between the United States and one country may be significant while a large difference between the United States and another country may not be significant. Standard error is noted by s.e.
SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), 2001 and 2006.


For more information: Baer, J., Baldi, S., Ayotte, K., and Green, P. (2007). The Reading Literacy of U.S. Fourth-Grade Students in an International Context: Results From the 2001 and 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) (NCES 2008-017), figure 3 and table R-1. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC; Ogle, L., Sen, A., Pahlke, E., Jocelyn, L., Kastberg, D., Roey, S., and Williams, T. (2003). International Comparisons in Fourth-Grade Reading Literacy: Findings from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) of 2001 (NCES 2003-073), figure 3 and table A1.1. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.

Would you like to help us improve our products and website by taking a short survey?

YES, I would like to take the survey

or

No Thanks

The survey consists of a few short questions and takes less than one minute to complete.