The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is an international assessment administered every five years that measures trends in students' reading-literacy achievement and in policy and practices related to literacy. The target population for PIRLS is students in Grade 4, and the mean age at the time of testing is at least 9.5 years. This study is carried out under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), a consortium of research institutions in 60 countries.
Assessment
In the PIRLS context, reading skill is defined as “the ability to understand information presented in the written format required by society and favoured by the person, and the ability to use it.”
The purposes of the study are as follows:
- to assess the reading skills of nine-year-olds (Grade 4 students);
- to determine the contexts that influence reading development;
- to understand how young children learn to read;
- to improve teaching and learning methods in reading for all children; and
- to assess and understand differences among education systems in order to improve teaching and learning methods in reading throughout the world.
PIRLS focuses on three aspects of reading skills:
- the process of comprehension;
- the purposes of reading; and
- behaviours and attitudes toward reading.
Participation
The first PIRLS assessment took place in 2001. Thirty-five countries participated, and Ontario and Quebec were the only Canadian jurisdictions that participated in PIRLS 2001. The second assessment was administered in 2006. Forty countries and five Canadian provinces participated in PIRLS 2006: British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia. The third assessment was in 2011, involving 45 countries and nine Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick-French, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The countries and provinces that participated in all three assessments (2001, 2006, and 2011) are now able to identify trends in their students' performance by comparing the results across 10 years. The next assessment will be in 2016.
PIRLS is the only international program that assesses reading achievement of Canadian students in the early years of education.
PIRLS results
The results of the PIRLS assessment are valid at the Canadian and jurisdictional levels but are not included in a student's academic record. No results are attributed to individual students, and PIRLS data are used only for research purposes.
At the international level, Canadian students have generally performed very well in the previous PIRLS assessments.
- In PIRLS 2011, Canadian students showed higher reading achievement than most participants. Students in only seven countries showed significantly higher performance than Canadian students: Hong Kong SAR, the Russian Federation, Finland, Singapore, Northern Ireland, the United States, and Denmark. All Canadian provinces achieved higher average scores than the international centre point of 500.
- In PIRLS 2006, the Russian Federation, Hong Kong SAR, and Singapore were the three top-performing countries. Three Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario) were also among the highest-achieving participants.
- In PIRLS 2001, Sweden was the top-performing country, followed by the Netherlands, England, and Bulgaria. The results for Ontario and Quebec were significantly higher than the international average.
Some texts and items administered to Grade 4 students across all participating countries in 2011 have been released to the public along with the scoring guide. These can be found in the PIRLS 2011 international report or in the PIRLS 2011 Canadian report.