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Released Assessment Questions

Prior to PIRLS 2016, some of the reading passages, the test questions (or items) accompanying these passages, and the scoring guides for the test questions were released by the IEA after each round of testing. These released items from PIRLS can be used by educators in any number of ways:

  • To inform discussions about their schools’ reading curriculum;
  • To explore the links between concepts they teach and how they can measure students’ understanding;
  • To design an assessment according to their own needs; and
  • To reflect on the performance of their students in comparison to the performance of students in other countries, including the United States.

To explore the passages and items from 2011 and from prior assessment years, click the links below.

For access to the passages, items, and scoring guides from 2016 and later, please fill out and submit a permission request form to the IEA. Some example passages and items for 2016 and 2021 can also be found in IEA publications.