Average PIRLS reading scores of 4th-grade students, by education system: 2001, 2006, and 2011

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Table B.1.85.

Average PIRLS reading scores of 4th-grade students, by education system: 2001, 2006, and 2011

Education system	2001			2006			2011
Education system	Average score	s.e.		Average score	s.e.		Average score	s.e.
PIRLS scale average	500	*0.0*	▼	500	*0.0*	▼	500	*0.0*	▼
Argentina	420	5.9	▼	—	†		—	†
Australia	—	†		—	†		527	2.2	▼
Austria	—	†		538	2.2		529	2.0	▼
Azerbaijan	—	†		—	†		462	3.3	▼
Belgium (Flemish)-BEL	—	†		547	2.0		—	†
Belgium (French)-BEL	—	†		500	2.6	▼	506	2.9	▼
Belize	327	4.7	▼	—	†		—	†
Bulgaria	550	3.8		547	4.4		532	4.1	▼
Canada	—	†		—	†		548	1.6	▼
Chinese Taipei-CHN	—	†		535	2.0		553	1.9
Colombia	422	4.4	▼	—	†		448	4.1	▼
Croatia	—	†		—	†		553	1.9
Cyprus	494	3.0	▼	—	†		—	†
Czech Republic	537	2.3		—	†		545	2.2	▼
Denmark	—	†		546	2.3		554	1.7
England-GBR	553	3.4	∆	539	2.6		552	2.6
Finland	—	†		—	†		568	1.9	∆
France	525	2.4	▼	522	2.1	▼	520	2.6	▼
Georgia	—	†		471	3.1	▼	488	3.1	▼
Germany	539	1.9		548	2.2		541	2.2	▼
Greece	524	3.5	▼	—	†		—	†
Hong Kong-CHN	528	3.1	▼	564	2.4	∆	571	2.3	∆
Hungary	543	2.2		551	3.0	∆	539	2.9	▼
Iceland	512	1.2	▼	511	1.3	▼	—	†
Indonesia	—	†		405	4.1	▼	428	4.2	▼
Iran, Islamic Rep. of	414	4.2	▼	421	3.1	▼	457	2.8	▼
Ireland	—	†		—	†		552	2.3
Israel	509	2.8	▼	512	3.3	▼	541	2.7	▼
Italy	541	2.4		551	2.9	∆	541	2.2	▼
Latvia	545	2.3		541	2.3		—	†
Lithuania	543	2.6		537	1.6		528	2.0	▼
Luxembourg	—	†		557	1.1	∆	—	†
Macedonia, Rep. of	442	4.6	▼	442	4.1	▼	—	†
Malta	—	†		—	†		477	1.4	▼
Moldova, Rep. of	492	4.0	▼	500	3.0	▼	—	†
Morocco	350	9.6	▼	323	5.9	▼	310	3.9	▼
Netherlands	554	2.5	∆	547	1.5		546	1.9	▼
New Zealand	529	3.6	▼	532	2.0	▼	531	1.9	▼
Northern Ireland-GBR	—	†		—	†		558	2.4
Norway	499	2.9	▼	498	2.6	▼	507	1.9	▼
Oman	—	†		—	†		391	2.8	▼
Poland	—	†		519	2.4	▼	526	2.1	▼
Portugal	—	†		—	†		541	2.6	▼
Qatar	—	†		353	1.1	▼	425	3.5	▼
Romania	512	4.6	▼	489	5.0	▼	502	4.3	▼
Russian Federation	528	4.4	▼	565	3.4	∆	568	2.7	∆
Saudi Arabia	—	†		—	†		430	4.4	▼
Scotland-GBR	528	3.6	▼	527	2.8	▼	—	†
Singapore	528	5.2	▼	558	2.9	∆	567	3.3	∆
Slovak Republic	518	2.8	▼	531	2.8	▼	535	2.8	▼
Slovenia	502	2.0	▼	522	2.1	▼	530	2.0	▼
South Africa	—	†		302	5.6	▼	—	†
Spain	—	†		513	2.5	▼	513	2.3	▼
Sweden	561	2.2	∆	549	2.3	∆	542	2.1	▼
Trinidad and Tobago	—	†		436	4.9	▼	471	3.8	▼
Turkey	449	3.5	▼	—	†		—	†
United Arab Emirates	—	†		—	†		439	2.2	▼
United States	542	*3.8*		540	*3.5*		556	*1.5*
Benchmarking education systems
Abu Dhabi-UAE	—	†		—	†		424	4.7	▼
Alberta-CAN	—	†		560	2.4	∆	548	2.9	▼
Andalusia-ESP	—	†		—	†		515	2.3	▼
British Columbia-CAN	—	†		558	2.6	∆	—	†
Dubai-UAE	—	†		—	†		476	2.0	▼
Florida-USA	—	†		—	†		569	2.9	∆
Maltese-MLT	—	†		—	†		457	1.5	▼
Nova Scotia-CAN	—	†		542	2.2		—	†
Ontario-CAN	548	3.3		555	2.7	∆	552	2.6
Quebec-CAN	537	3.0		533	2.8		538	2.1	▼

∆ Score is higher than U.S. score (p <05).
▼ Score is lower than U.S. score (p <05).
— Not available.
† Not applicable.
NOTE: Italics indicate participants identified and counted in this report as an education system and not as a separate country. "Education system" is defined at http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pirls/countries.asp. Population coverage, participation rates, or sampling procedures deviated from international standards in the following education systems (years in parentheses): Alberta-CAN (11), Azerbaijan (11), Belgium (Flemish)-BEL (06), Belgium (French)-BEL (11), Bulgaria (06), Canada (11), Croatia (11), Denmark (11, 06), England-GBR (11, 01), Florida-USA (11), Georgia (11, 06), Greece (01), Hong Kong-CHN (11), Israel (11, 06, 01), Lithuania (11, 01), Morocco (11, 01), Netherlands (11, 06, 01), Northern Ireland-GBR (11), Norway (11, 06), Oman (11), Ontario-CAN (11), Qatar (11), Russian Federation (06, 01), Scotland-GBR (06, 01), Singapore (11), and the United States (11, 06, 01). Data from Israel, Qatar, and Morocco are not comparable for measuring trends to 2011, due to education systems improving translations, increasing population coverage, or percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeded 25 percent. Details are available in the International Data Explorer Help Guide. Results for Ontario-CAN in 2006 may differ slightly from the IEA PIRLS 2006 International Report because the 2006 data shown include public and private schools, whereas the IEA report excluded private schools from trend analysis for Ontario-CAN in 2006 to match its 2001 sample. The Reading scale ranges from 0 to 1000. Some apparent differences between estimates may not be statistically significant. Standard error is noted by s.e.
SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) International Data Explorer, retrieved March 12, 2013, from http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/international/ide. (This table was prepared March 2013.)