EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective
Indicator 7: Reading Literacy
Reading literacy is a fundamental academic skill that students must possess before they can benefit from the rest of their education, participate effectively in labor markets that require increasingly sophisticated training, and meet their civic responsibilities. Measures of the reading proficiency of 9- and 14-year-old students provide an indication of the extent to which students can read, comprehend, and use written language. Since the overall scores reflect average performance within a country, they do not provide information about differences in literacy among subpopulations. For example, in the United States, differences in race and ethnicity, home language, urbanicity, sex, and the availability of books are all associated with differences in reading literacy scores.
- During the 1991_92 school year, 9-year-old students in the United States on average performed at or above the level of their peers in all the participating countries, except Finland, on overall and domain-specific* measures of reading literacy. (Students in Finland achieved the highest scores in almost every reading domain at age 9.)
- At age 14, students in the United States achieved higher levels of reading literacy (overall and domain-specific) than their peers in many of the other participating countries. None of the participating G-7 countries outperformed U.S. students in this age group.
- There is greater variation in the reading literacy of students within each country than exists across the highly industrialized countries. To illustrate, in the narrative domain there was a difference of 235 scale points between the 10th and 90th percentiles for 9-year-olds in the United States, compared with a difference of 62 scale points between the United States and the former West Germany.
*The three major domains or types of reading literacy materials assessed at both age levels (9- and 14-year-old students) were: narrative prose, expository prose, and documents. See Sources of Data for details on these domains of reading literacy.
Table 7a: Average reading literacy scale scores, by domain, age, and country: 1991-92 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average domain scale score
--------------------------
Average overall score Narrative Expository Documents
--------------------- --------- ---------- ---------
Country Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14
G-7*
France 531 549 532 556 533 546 527 544
West Germany 503 522 491 514 497 521 520 532
Italy 529 515 533 520 538 524 517 501
United States 547 535 553 539 538 539 550 528
Other
Belgium 507 481 510 484 505 477 506 483
Botswana - 330 - 340 - 339 - 312
British 500 522 502 526 499 516 500 522
Cyprus 481 497 492 516 475 492 476 482
Denmark 475 525 463 517 467 524 496 532
Finland 569 560 568 559 569 541 569 580
East Germany 499 526 482 512 493 523 522 543
Greece 504 509 514 526 511 508 488 493
Hong Kong 517 535 494 509 503 540 554 557
Hungary 499 536 496 530 493 536 509 542
Iceland 518 536 518 550 517 548 519 509
Ireland 509 511 518 510 514 505 495 518
Netherland 485 514 494 506 480 503 481 533
New Zealand 528 545 534 547 531 535 521 552
Norway 524 516 525 515 528 520 519 512
Portugal 478 523 483 523 480 523 471 523
Singapore 515 534 521 530 519 539 504 533
Slovenia 498 532 502 534 489 525 503 537
Spain 504 490 497 500 505 495 509 475
Sweden 539 546 536 556 542 533 539 550
Switzerland 511 536 506 534 507 525 522 549
Thailand - 477 - 468 - 486 - 478
Trinidad 451 479 455 482 458 485 440 472
Venezuela 383 417 378 407 396 433 374 412
Zimbabwe - 372 - 367 - 374 - 373
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-Country did not participate at this age level. *No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
NOTE: Proficiency scores range from 0 to 1000. The mean proficiency score for all participating populations (9- to 14-year-olds taken together) is 500 and the standard deviation is 100. Characteristics of country populations are described in the supplemental note to Indicator 7.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education, 1994, Washington, D.C.: 1994, tables 16-1, 16-2, and 16-3.
Table 7b: Standard errors for estimated averages in Table 7a ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average domain scale score
--------------------------
Average overall score Narrative Expository Documents
-------------------- --------- ---------- ---------
Country Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14
G-71
France 4.0 4.3 4.1 4.2 4.1 4.3 3.9 4.2
West Germany (former) 3.0 4.4 2.8 4.9 2.9 4.5 3.2 3.9
Italy 4.3 3.4 4.0 3.6 4.0 3.2 4.9 3.3
United States 2.8 4.8 3.1 4.9 2.6 5.6 2.7 4.0
Other
Belgium 3.2 4.9 3.3 5.1 2.8 4.8 3.5 4.7
Botswana - 2.0 - 1.6 - 1.9 - 2.4
British Columbia, Canada3.0 3.0 3.5 3.1 2.7 3.1 2.8 2.7
Cyprus 2.3 2.2 2.4 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.1 2.0
Denmark 3.5 2.1 3.4 2.0 3.5 2.2 3.6 2.1
Finland 3.4 2.5 3.0 2.8 3.1 2.2 4.0 2.5
East Germany (former) 4.3 3.5 4.2 3.9 3.6 3.5 5.0 2.9
Greece 3.7 2.9 3.8 2.9 3.6 3.1 3.8 2.6
Hong Kong 3.9 3.7 4.1 3.7 3.4 3.8 4.2 3.8
Hungary 3.1 3.3 2.9 3.1 3.1 3.6 3.5 3.2
Iceland2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Ireland 3.6 5.2 3.7 5.3 3.2 5.3 3.8 4.9
Netherlands 3.6 4.9 3.3 4.8 3.4 4.7 3.9 5.3
New Zealand 3.3 5.6 3.5 5.7 3.1 5.7 3.3 5.3
Norway 2.6 2.3 2.8 2.1 2.3 2.4 2.8 2.4
Portugal 3.6 3.1 3.3 2.5 3.0 3.4 4.5 3.4
Singapore 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.2 1.0 1.1
Slovenia 2.6 2.3 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.2 2.5 2.2
Spain 2.5 2.5 2.4 3.0 2.3 2.6 2.7 2.0
Sweden 2.8 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.7 2.4 3.2 2.4
Switzerland 2.7 3.2 2.6 3.4 2.7 3.2 2.8 3.0
Thailand - 6.2 - 6.6 - 5.9 - 6.2
Trinidad/Tobago 3.4 1.7 3.6 1.7 3.4 1.8 3.3 1.7
Venezuela 3.4 3.1 3.2 2.9 3.3 3.3 3.7 3.0
Zimbabwe - 3.8 - 3.3 - 3.6 - 4.6
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-Not available.
1/ No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
2/ All students were tested in Iceland.
NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 7 for details on population exclusions.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education, 1994, Washington, D.C.: 1994, tables 16-1, 16-2, and 16-3.
Table 7c: Percentile scores for the narrative domain, by age and country: 1991 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percentile scores
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Age 9 Age 14
---------------------------- -----------------------------
Country 1st 10th 90th 99th 1st 10th 90th 99th
G-7*
France 335 411 640 701 362 447 639 748
West Germany (former) 226 372 594 690 323 411 622 736
Italy 303 411 627 701 324 413 616 727
United States 330 420 655 708 324 410 673 764
Other
Belgium 293 385 612 695 242 360 572 685
Botswana - - - - 121 247 411 452
British Columbia, Canada 186 389 619 697 290 394 635 750
Cyprus 283 373 601 686 282 378 601 705
Denmark 186 299 592 682 295 411 636 741
Finland 353 466 649 708 354 453 628 699
East Germany (former) 219 361 590 686 315 408 633 708
Greece 303 400 622 699 322 401 602 711
Hong Kong 273 383 601 677 343 434 621 718
Hungary 299 390 588 661 326 420 640 748
Iceland 297 390 627 700 316 413 660 748
Ireland 301 390 631 701 282 384 630 725
Netherlands 311 382 591 688 291 395 593 694
New Zealand 299 403 647 707 290 410 660 757
Norway 186 390 629 702 313 413 609 713
Portugal 300 386 587 670 341 429 606 698
Singapore 306 395 623 701 367 434 629 735
Slovenia 296 389 648 700 360 441 607 700
Spain 291 389 597 687 308 391 581 688
Sweden 239 406 644 706 324 420 637 749
Switzerland 237 391 602 696 307 412 632 722
Thailand - - - - 239 363 573 662
Trinidad/Tobago 232 343 567 696 255 358 600 729
Venezuela 186 220 474 554 220 330 526 629
Zimbabwe - - - - 139 291 453 551
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-Not available.
*No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
NOTE: Characteristics of country populations are described in the supplemental note to Indicator 7.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education, 1994, Washington, D.C.: 1994, tables 16-1, 16-2, and 16-3.
Figure 7: Average reading literacy scale scores, by domain, age, and G-7 country:1,2 1991-92
1/ No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
2/ Countries are sorted in descending order by average domain scale score.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education, 1994, Washington, D.C.: 1994, Indicator 16.
See Supplemental Notes on Figure and Table
[Achievement and Attainment]
[Indicator 8]