PIRLS 2001 Encyclopedia A Reference Guide to Reading Education in the Countries Participating in IEA’s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) International Association Edited by for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement Ina V.S. Mullis Michael O. Martin Ann M. Kennedy Cheryl L. Flaherty International Study Center September 2002 © 2002 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) PIRLS 2001 Encyclopedia / edited by Ina V.S. Mullis, Michael O. Martin, Ann M. Kennedy, and Cheryl Flaherty. Publisher: International Study Center, Lynch School of Education, Boston College Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2002109096 ISBN: 1-889938-26-2 For more information about PIRLS contact: PIRLS International Study Center Lynch School of Education Language and Manresa House Literacy Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 United States tel: +1-617-552-1600 Education fax: +1-617-552-1203 System e-mail: [email protected] http://pirls.bc.edu Teachers and Boston College is an equal opportunity, affirmative Teacher Education action employer. Printed and bound in the United States. Reading Curriculum and Instruction Literacy Programs Assessment CONTENTS iForeword 157 Kuwait Mansour G. Husain iii Preface 163 Latvia 1 Argentina Ieva Johansone Juan Arrieta, Verónica Parreño 171 Lithuania 7Belize Aiste Mackeviciute Rosalind Bradley 179 Republic of Macedonia 15 Bulgaria Bojana Naceva Nikolay Popov, Georgi Bishkov 185 Moldova 23 Canada Ilie Nasu Francine Jaques, Louis-Philippe Gaudreault 193 Morocco 35 Colombia Abdellah Belachkar Claudia Sáenz, Martha Rocha Guillermo García, Eliana Riveros 199 The Netherlands Mieke van Diepen, Cor Aarnoutse, 43 Cyprus Ludo Verhoeven Constantinos Papanastasiou, Mary Koutselini 209 New Zealand 51 Czech Republic Glenn Chamberlain Ivana Prochazkova 219 Norway 59 England Ragnar Gees Solheim Liz Twist 227 Romania 69 France Gabriela Nausica Noveanu, Dragos Noveanu Marc Colmant 233 Russian Federation 79 Germany Galina Kovalyova, Tamara Ignatieva Eva-Maria Lankes, Wilfried Bos, Renate Valtin 243 Scotland Liz Levy 89 Greece Costas Basbas, 251 Singapore Chrysa Sophianopoulou Siow-Chin Ng, Suchen Christine Lim, Zubaidah Bte A Ghani 99 Hong Kong, SAR Tse Shek Kam 261 The Slovak Republic Zuzana Lukacková 109 Hungary Péter Vári, Emese Felvégi 271 Slovenia Marjeta Doupona-Horvat 115 Iceland Einar Gudmundsson 279 Sweden Mona Lansfjord 125 Islamic Republic of Iran Fatemeh Faghihi 289 Turkey Yurdanur Atlioglu 133 Israel Elite Olshtain, Ruth Zuzovsky 295 United States George Rush, Barbara Kapinus 145 Italy Gabriella Pavan de Gregorio 309 National Research Coordinators FOREWORD The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has, since its inception, had a long-term interest in research on reading and the reading performance of students in the countries around the world. Reading comprehension, as one of the lynchpins of educational success, was included in the Six-Subject Survey (1970-71) and was again the focus of research in 1990-91 (Reading Literacy Study). With PIRLS, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, IEA is once again examining the reading performance of primary school students around the world. Conducted at the fourth grade in 35 countries around the world in 2001, the PIRLS results are scheduled for publication in the spring of 2003. The wealth of findings from research on the process of learning to read conducted over the past five decades has had a significant influence on the ways in which reading is taught around the world and has fueled debates about the research agenda in the area of reading. The present volume, an encyclopedia that describes the ways in which reading instruction in the early grades is organized around the world, is intended to complement the achievement results from PIRLS. The encyclopedia provides a description for each participating country of the policies and practices that guide school organization and classroom reading instruction in the lower grades. It further provides, in rich detail, the policy and | FOREWORD i organizational context in which reading takes place and as such, illustrates for the reader differences in both practice and performance among the participating countries. Therefore, we are confident that it will make an important contribution to the knowledge base that has been constructed about reading practices in the more than 30 countries that participated in the study. IEA is fortunate to have had the talented staff of professionals at the International Study Center based in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College lead this project. In particular I would like to express my thanks to Ann Kennedy, Eugene Gonzalez, and Cheryl Flaherty. Without the leadership of the study Co-Directors, Drs. Ina Mullis and Michael Martin, this work would not have been completed and we are indebted to them for all of their efforts. José Nieto designed the volume. Mario Pita coordinated the production, with Sue Messner providing layout and production assistance. A project of this magnitude also requires considerable financial support. I would like to acknowledge and thank our major funding partners, the US National Science Foundation, the US department of Education through the National Center for Educational Statistics, the World Bank, and those countries that contributed by way of fees. Finally, a project such as PIRLS can be achieved only through the close cooperation of participating countries and dedication of a lot of individuals including teachers, students, policymakers, and researchers. I would like to thank in particular the National Research Coordinators from the participating countries who contributed to producing this volume and worked diligently to make PIRLS a success. FOREWORD | Hans Wagemaker Executive Director, IEA ii PREFACE The PIRLS 2001 Encyclopedia has been prepared to provide a rich context for interpreting the results from IEA’s 2001 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). Since its inception almost 50 years ago, IEA (the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) has been conducting cross-national studies of educational achievement, including periodic assessments of children’s reading literacy. Conducted at the fourth grade in 35 countries around the world, PIRLS 2001 is IEA’s most recent study to monitor progress in children’s reading literacy. It was a carefully constructed reading assessment, consisting of an innovative test of reading literacy and a variety of questionnaires to collect a wealth of information about fourth-grade children’s reading literacy performance and about their home and school experiences in learning to read. The PIRLS 2001 Encyclopedia is a collection of essays from participating countries describing how reading instruction takes place within their education systems. Each essay provides information about the organization and structure of the country’s education system. Focusing on primary/elementary schools, the essays also describe teacher education and training, reading curricula, classroom organization and instruction, and assessment practices. | PREFACE iii Participating Countries the framework, the passages contained authentic Thirty-five countries joined together to conduct literary and informational texts drawn from chil- the first PIRLS assessment in 2001. dren’s storybooks and informational sources. Pas- sages and items were arranged according to a complex linking scheme into nine student booklets Argentina Kuwait and the PIRLS “Reader,” an attractive, full-color, Belize Latvia magazine-style booklet. Bulgaria Lithuania Submitted and reviewed by the PIRLS coun- Canada Republic of Macedonia tries, the literary passages included realistic stories Colombia Republic of Moldova and traditional tales and the informational texts included chronological and non-chronological Cyprus Morocco articles, a biographical article, and an information- Czech Republic Netherlands al leaflet. Reading literacy was assessed using both England New Zealand multiple-choice and constructed-response items. France Norway Constructed-response items required students to Germany Romania construct their answers rather than select from Greece Russian Federation among possible answers. Hong Kong Scotland To ensure the widest possible understanding of the nature of the PIRLS 2001 assessment, half Hungary Singapore of the assessment materials were released into the Iceland Slovak Republic public domain after data collection, including the Islamic Republic Slovenia entire PIRLS Reader. The remaining half were of Iran Sweden kept secure and included in future PIRLS assess- Israel Turkey ments so that trends in reading achievement could Italy United States be measured. To provide a context for interpreting student reading achievement, an extensive range of ques- tionnaire information was collected from the stu- The Progress in International Reading dents, their parents, teachers, and school Literacy Study – PIRLS 2001 principals. By gathering information about chil- The PIRLS 2001 assessment framework1 defines dren’s experiences in learning to read together with reading literacy as “the ability to understand and reading achievement on the PIRLS test, it is possi- use those written language forms required by ble to identify factors or combinations of factors society and/or valued by the individual. Young associated with high levels of reading literacy. readers can construct meaning from a variety of Students taking the PIRLS 2001 reading