The Reading Literacy of U.S. Fourth-Grade Students in an International Context (NCES 2008-017)

This report summarizes the performance of U.S. students on the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assessment, comparing the scores of U.S. fourth-graders to the scores of their peers internationally in 2006 and also examining the extent to which the reading literacy of U.S. students had changed from the first administration of PIRLS in 2001. In the latest assessment, 44 other countries and subnational educational systems (e.g., Canadian provinces) participated along with the United States and are collectively referred to in the report as jurisdictions. The results show that the average reading comprehension score of U.S. fourth-grade students in 2006 was higher than the average score of students in 22 jurisdictions. Ten jurisdictions had average scores higher than the scores of U.S. students; average scores of students in the remaining 12 jurisdictions were not significantly different from the scores of U.S. students. The performance of U.S. students on PIRLS in 2006 did not measurably differ from their performance in 2001. In addition to framing the reading literacy of U.S. students within an international context, the report shows how the reading literacy of U.S. fourth-graders varies by student background characteristics and contextual factors that may be associated with reading proficiency.