The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international comparative study that measures 4th-grade reading performance every 5 years. PIRLS provides valuable information on the reading literacy of students in the United States and how their reading performance compares to that of students in other parts of the world. The study also surveys students’ attitudes toward reading and their reading habits. In addition, students’ principals answer questions about students’ school experiences. The United States has participated in every administration of PIRLS since its inception in 2001. A total of 65 education systems participated in the 2021 PIRLS assessment.

This web report presents descriptive data from PIRLS 2021 on school operations during COVID-19, student reading performance and attitudes, and school reading resources.

This report describes selected results from the 2021 NAEP School and Teacher Questionnaire Special Study conducted in March and April 2021. Results are based on a survey sample consisting of schools and teachers that serve fourth- and eighth-grade students, and are limited to states/jurisdictions and districts that agreed to participate in the study and met reporting standards. The report provides insight into some of the efforts schools and teachers made during a period of widespread academic disruption, including what support schools provided for distance learning; how schools and teachers supported students to address gaps in learning that may have occurred because of school closures; and how confident teachers were in facing the challenges of distance learning.

The TIMSS 2019 U.S. public-use data files and documentation include the following at grades 4 and 8: student, teacher, and school data in ASCII text format; SPSS and SAS control files for reading the ASCII data to produce SPSS and SAS data files; codebooks; illustrative merging code; a Read Me file; and a Quick Guide. Also included for each of the grades are the analogous files for the Bridge study, which was conducted to form a link between eTIMSS countries’ computer-based data in 2019 and their paper-based data in 2015 as well as to the paper-based TIMSS countries in 2019. Additionally, analogous eTIMSS with PSI files include the data files for eTIMSS that contain additional data for the students that were administered problem-solving inquiry tasks (PSIs).

The TIMSS 2019 U.S. public-use student, teacher, and school data files include U.S. specific variables that are not part of the U.S. data files in the IEA’s TIMSS 2019 international database. They are add-on files that do not contain weight variables or replicate weights, and therefore must be merged with the U.S. data files in the IEA’s public-use international database before any analysis can be conducted. The U.S. data files in the IEA’s public-use international database can be downloaded at https://timss2019.org/international-database/. Users of this data should consult the U.S. Technical Report and User Guide for the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) available for viewing and downloading at https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2022049.

These online Highlights present an overview of results from the NAEP 2019 science report. Highlighted results include key findings for nationally representative samples of fourth-, eighth-, and twelfth-grade students. Results are presented in terms of average scale scores and as percentages of students performing at the three NAEP achievement levels: NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced. In addition to the overall average scale score, NAEP science results are also reported as average subscale scores for each of three content areas—Physical Science, Life Science, and Earth and Space Sciences. Highlighted results also include performance data for demographic student groups, scores at five selected percentiles, and responses to NAEP survey questionnaires

The 2019 average science score was lower for grade 4, and not significantly different for grades 8 and grade 12, compared to average scores in 2015. Average science scores were higher for grades 4 and 8, but not significantly different for grade 12, compared to 2009, the first year under the current science framework. Compared to 2015, the average score was lower for grade 4 in two of the three science content areas; there were no significant changes in average content areas scores for grades 8 and 12. Average scores were higher in two of the three content areas for grades 4 and 8 compared to 2009 while there were no significant changes in average scores across the content areas for grade 12.

Reported results include responses of students, teachers, and school administrators to survey questionnaires designed to collect information about student’s educational experiences and opportunities to learn both inside and outside of the classroom. The report includes detailed descriptions of released interactive scenario-based tasks and discrete questions to illustrate the types of science knowledge and scientific inquiry skills that were measured as part of the NAEP science assessment.

Full results are available in the 2019 NAEP Science Report Card.

The National Indian Education Study (NIES) utilizes the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and contextual questions to describe the condition of education for fourth- and eighth-grade American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students in the United States. NIES is conducted under the direction of the National Center for Education Statistics on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education.

• an in-depth look at the findings from the student, teacher, and school administrator survey questions that were focused on AI/AN culture and language;
• information about the achievement of AI/AN students at grades 4 and 8 on the NAEP reading and mathematics assessments—for the nation as well as for 15 states with relatively large proportions of AI/AN students;
• an examination of contextual factors that are associated with higher- and lower-performing AI/AN students; and
• an exploration of composite variables (i.e., variables built upon multiple discrete student survey questions) related to AI/AN cultural knowledge, interest in reading about cultures (both their own and others), engagement at school, and perceptions about effort in school.

Results are reported for three mutually exclusive categories of schools as well as for an overall category:

• low density public schools (where less than 25 percent of all the students in the school were AI/AN);
• high density public schools (where 25 percent or more of all the students in the school were AI/AN);
• Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools; and
• all AI/AN students (includes all AI/AN students sampled throughout the nation in public, private, BIE, and Department of Defense schools).

The survey results presented in this report are focused primarily on the responses of fourth- and eighth-grade AI/AN students to selected survey questions. Approximately 7,000 fourth-graders and 6,300 eighth-graders participated in the NIES 2019 student survey. Teachers and school administrators also completed surveys.

Average scores in NAEP reading and mathematics for AI/AN fourth- and eighth- graders from earlier NAEP assessments in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2015 are compared to their average reading and mathematics scores in 2019.

The NIES survey questions, as well as the report itself, were created in close collaboration with the NIES Technical Review Panel (TRP). The NIES TRP is composed of AI/AN educational stakeholders from across the country.