PIRLS and ePIRLS Results

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Figure 2. Change in PIRLS overall reading average scale scores of fourth-grade students, by education system: 2001 to 2016 and 2011 to 2016

Education system	2001 Average score	2001 ▼▲	2001 s.e.	2011 Average score	2011 ▼▲	2011 s.e.	2016 Average score	2016 ▼▲	2016 s.e.	Change in average score 2001-2016	2001- 2016 stat. sig.	Change in average score 2011-2016	2011- 2016 stat. sig.
Russian Federation	528	▲	4.3	568	▼	2.7	581	▼	2.2	53	*	12	*
Singapore1	528	▲	5.2	567	▼	3.3	576	▼	3.2	48	*	9	|
Hong Kong-CHN2,3	528	▲	3.1	571	▼	2.3	569	▼	2.7	41	*	-2	|
Ireland	—	|	†	552	|	2.3	567	▼	2.5	|	|	15	*
Finland	—	|	†	568	▼	1.8	566	▼	1.8	|	|	-2	*
Northern Ireland-GBR	—	|	†	558	|	2.3	565	▼	2.2	|	|	6	|
Chinese Taipei-CHN	—	|	†	553	|	1.8	559	▼	2.0	|	|	6	*
England-GBR	553	▼	3.5	552	|	2.6	559	▼	1.9	6	|	7	*
Latvia2	545	|	2.3	—	|	†	558	▼	1.7	13	*	|	|
Sweden	561	▼	2.2	542	▲	2.1	555	|	2.4	-6	|	13	*
Hungary	543	|	2.2	539	▲	2.8	554	|	2.9	11	*	15	*
Bulgaria	550	|	3.8	532	▲	4.1	552	|	4.2	1	|	20	*
Lithuania4	543	|	2.6	528	▲	2.0	550	|	2.8	6	|	22	*
United States3	542	|	3.8	556	|	1.6	549	|	3.1	7	|	-7	*
Italy	541	|	2.4	541	▲	2.2	548	|	2.2	7	*	7	*
Denmark2	—	|	†	554	|	1.7	547	|	2.1	|	|	-7	*
Netherlands3	554	▼	2.4	546	▲	2.0	545	|	1.7	-9	*	-1	*
Australia	—	|	†	527	▲	2.3	544	|	2.5	|	|	17	*
Czech Republic	537	|	2.3	545	▲	2.2	543	|	2.1	6	*	-2	|
Canada2,5	—	|	†	548	▲	1.6	543	|	1.8	|	|	-5	*
Slovenia	502	▲	1.9	530	▲	2.0	542	|	2.0	41	*	12	*
Austria2	—	|	†	529	▲	1.9	541	▲	2.4	|	|	12	*
Germany	539	|	1.9	541	▲	2.3	537	▲	3.2	-2		-4	|
Slovak Republic	518	▲	2.8	535	▲	2.7	535	▲	3.1	17	*	#	|
Israel1	—	|	†	541	▲	2.7	530	▲	2.5	|	|	-11	*
Portugal2	—	|	†	541	▲	2.5	528	▲	2.3	|	|	-13	*
Spain	—	|	†	513	▲	2.3	528	▲	1.7	|	|	15	*
New Zealand	529	▲	3.7	531	▲	1.9	523	▲	2.2	-6		-8	*
Norway (4)6	499	▲	2.9	507	▲	2.0	517	▲	2.0	18	*	10	*
France	525	▲	2.4	520	▲	2.7	511	▲	2.2	-14	*	-9	*
Belgium (French)-BEL2	—	|	†	506	▲	2.9	497	▲	2.6	|	|	-9	*
Georgia5	—	|	†	488	▲	3.1	488	▲	2.8	|	|	1	|
Trinidad and Tobago	—	|	†	471	▲	3.8	479	▲	3.3	|	|	9	|
Azerbaijan	—	|	†	462	▲	3.3	470	▲	4.4	|	|	8	|
Malta2	—	|	†	457	▲	1.4	452	▲	1.8	|	|	-5	*
United Arab Emirates	—	|	†	439	▲	2.2	450	▲	3.2	|	|	12	*
Qatar	—	|	†	425	▲	3.6	442	▲	1.8	|	|	17	*
Saudi Arabia	—	|	†	430	▲	4.3	430	▲	4.2	|	|	#	|
Iran, Islamic Republic of	414	▲	4.3	457	▲	2.9	428	▲	4.0	14	*	-29	*
Oman	—	|	†	391	▲	2.8	418	▲	3.3	|	|	28	*
Morocco	—	|	†	310	▲	3.9	358	▲	3.9	|	|	47	*
Benchmarking education systems	|	|	|	|	|	|	|	|	|	|	|	|	|
Quebec-CAN7	537	|	3.0	538	▲	2.2	547	|	2.8	10	*	10	*
Ontario-CAN	548	|	3.3	552	|	2.5	544	|	3.2	-4		-8	*
Andalusia-ESP	—	|	†	515	▲	2.2	525	▲	2.1	|	|	10	*
Dubai-UAE	—	|	†	476	▲	2.0	515	▲	1.9	|	|	39	*
Abu Dhabi-UAE	—	|	†	424	▲	4.7	414	▲	4.7	|	|	-10	|

| Blank cell.

▼ Score is higher than U.S. average score.

▲ Score is lower than U.S. average score.

— Not available.

† Not applicable.

# Rounds to zero.

* p<.05. Change in average scores is significant at the05 level of statistical significance.

1 National Defined Population covers less than 90 percent of National Target Population (but at least 77 percent).

2 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of the National Target Population.

3 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included.

4 Trend results for Lithuania do not include students taught in Polish or in Russian.

5 National Target Population does not include all of the International Target Population.

6 The number in parentheses indicates the grade level. For PIRLS 2016, Norway revised its assessed population to students in the fifth grade to obtain better comparisons with Sweden and Finland. However, in previous PIRLS cycles Norway assessed students in the fourth grade, which is similar to third grade in many other education systems because grade 1 in Norway is considered the equivalent of a year of kindergarten. To maintain trend with previous PIRLS cycles, in 2016 Norway also collected data from fourth-grade students, which is used in this trend table.

7 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates.

NOTE: Education systems are ordered by 2016 average scores. Italics indicate participants identified as a non-national entity that represents a portion of a country. Data are not shown for some education systems because comparable data from previous cycles are not available. All average scores reported as higher or lower than the U.S. average score are different at the05 level of statistical significance. The tests for significance take into account the standard error for the reported difference. Thus, a small difference between the United States and one education system may be significant, while a large difference between the United States and another education system may not be significant. Education systems that did not administer PIRLS at the target grade are not shown; see the international report for their results. In 2016, Iran and Morocco participated in both PIRLS and PIRLS Literacy. More detail on PIRLS Literacy is available at https://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/framework.html. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard error is abbreviated as s.e.

For 2001, Lithuania, Ontario-CAN, and Quebec-CAN had a National Target Population that did not include all of the International Target Population; England-GBR and the Russian Federation had a National Defined Population that covered 90-95 percent of the National Target Population; Israel had a National Defined Population that covered less than 80 percent of the National Target Population; England-GBR, the Netherlands, and the United States met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included; and Morocco nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included.

For 2011, Georgia and Lithuania had a National Target Population that did not include all of the International Target Population; Azerbaijan, Denmark, Canada, Lithuania, Qatar, Singapore, the United States, Belgium (French)-BEL, and Ontario-CAN had a National Defined Population that covered 90-95 percent of the National Target Population; Hong Kong-CHN and Israel had a National Defined Population that covered less than 90 percent of the National Target Population (but at least 77 percent); England-GBR, the Netherlands, Norther Ireland-GBR, and Belgium (French)-BEL met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included; Norway (4) nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included; in Oman there were reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low to estimate exceed 15 percent, though it was less than 25 percent; in Morocco there were reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low to estimate exceeded 25 percent.

SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), 2001, 2011, and 2016.