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Digest of Education Statistics
2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 602.15. Average online reading literacy scale scores of fourth-graders and percentage distribution, by international benchmark level and country or other education system: 2016
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Country or other education system1 Average online
reading
literacy scale
score2
Percentage distribution, by international benchmark level (score
range)3
Low (400-474)
and below4
Intermediate
(475-549)
High
(550-624)
Advanced
(625 and above)
1 2 3 4 5 6
Scale centerpoint2 or
      median percentage5
500 (†) 16 (†) 31 (†) 37 (†) 12 (†)
Canada6,7 543 (3.2) 18 (1.3) 33 (1.5) 37 (1.5) 12 (1.0)
Chinese Taipei 546 (2.0) 14 (0.9) 35 (1.0) 42 (1.0) 10 (0.7)
Denmark8 558 (2.2) 11 (0.9) 32 (1.2) 42 (1.2) 15 (1.0)
Georgia6 477 (3.3) 46 (2.1) 38 (1.5) 15 (1.3) (†)
Ireland 567 (2.5) 10 (0.9) 27 (1.3) 43 (1.3) 20 (1.3)
                     
Israel9 536 (2.3) 22 (1.1) 31 (1.1) 35 (1.2) 13 (1.0)
Italy 532 (2.1) 18 (1.3) 41 (1.1) 35 (1.3) 6 (0.7)
Norway10 568 (2.2) 8 (0.8) 29 (1.4) 46 (1.5) 18 (1.2)
Portugal7 522 (2.2) 23 (1.3) 43 (1.0) 30 (1.1) 5 (0.6)
Singapore9 588 (3.0) 8 (0.9) 20 (1.0) 38 (1.3) 34 (1.7)
                     
Slovenia 525 (1.9) 22 (1.0) 39 (1.1) 33 (1.2) 5 (0.5)
Sweden 559 (2.3) 11 (0.8) 30 (1.4) 45 (1.4) 14 (1.0)
United Arab Emirates 468 (2.2) 50 (1.1) 28 (0.7) 17 (0.6) 5 (0.3)
United States11 557 (2.6) 14 (1.0) 30 (1.1) 38 (1.1) 18 (1.2)
                     
Benchmarking education systems                    
Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) 431 (4.1) 64 (1.8) 22 (1.2) 11 (1.0) 3 (0.5)
Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 528 (1.6) 25 (0.8) 31 (0.7) 32 (1.0) 12 (0.5)
†Not applicable.
‡Reporting standards not met (too few cases for a reliable estimate).
1 Most of the education systems represent complete countries, but some represent subnational entities, such as the city of Dubai within the United Arab Emirates.
2 Scores on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study's assessment of online reading (ePIRLS) are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000, with the scale centerpoint set at 500 and the standard deviation set at 100.
3 ePIRLS international benchmarks group achievement into four levels, providing a way to interpret scale scores and to understand how student proficiency varies at different points on the scale. The score range for each benchmark level (i.e., the lowest and highest score in that level) is shown in parentheses. The score cut-points (i.e., lowest scores) that define the beginning of each level were selected to be as close as possible to the standard percentile cut-points (i.e., the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles). Descriptions of the skills associated with each level can be found at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pirls/pirls2016/tables/pirls2016_exhibit03.asp.
4 This column combines students who are in the Low level (scores of 400 to 474) with students who are below the Low level (scores of less than 400).
5 International median percentages are shown in columns 3 through 6 of this row. Half the education systems have a percentage of students equal to or higher than the international median and half have a percentage of students below the median. The median includes only the education systems shown in the top part of this table, which are members of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). "Benchmarking" education systems are not members of the IEA and are therefore not included in the median.
6 National Target Population does not include all of the International Target Population.
7 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of National Target Population.
8 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates.
9 National Defined Population covers less than 90 percent of National Target Population (but at least 77 percent).
10 For ePIRLS 2016, Norway assessed students in grade 5, which is similar to grade 4 in many other countries because grade 1 in Norway is considered the equivalent of kindergarten instead of the first year of primary school.
11 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included.
NOTE: The ePIRLS assessment measures students' achievement in online reading for informational purposes.
SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), 2016. (This table was prepared November 2017).

2017 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest