The Reading for Success – Small-Scale Experimentation (RFS-SSE) activity, a component of a broader USAID initiative, was designed to reflect ongoing collaborations between USAID/Morocco and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MOEVT) to improve reading instruction in Morocco. Conceived as a learning activity, RFS-SSE developed an evidence base of effective approaches that improve reading skills in targeted primary schools. RFS-SSE began when the MOEVT was developing a 15-year education reform called Vision 2030 as well as a set of medium-term activities for the period 2015-2020. Reform efforts addressed a key weakness in the Moroccan educational system: poor reading skills at the primary level. The RFS-SSE intervention helped to inform the revisions to the existing curriculum and the design of the reformed curriculum by providing data and evidence to support the envisioned changes.

To assess the impact of the RFS-SSE reading program, RFS-SSE selected a longitudinal evaluation design which included reading assessments of two cohorts of students. Cohort 1 was assessed at four different times - the middle of Grade 1 and throughout Grade 2: Baseline (January 2016), Midline 1 (May 2016), Midline 2 (September 2016), and Endline (May 2017). Cohort 2 was assessed twice – the beginning and end of Grade 1: Midline 2 (September 2016) and Endline (May 2017). A stratified cluster random sampling method was used to assure that (1) an equal number of boys and girls in urban and rural schools would be assessed and (2) that the results of the study would be generalizable to the entire population of intervention schools in each of the eight delegations selected for intervention. Schools were first stratified by geographic location and urban/rural environment. Within schools, students were stratified by gender. All students in Grades 1 and 2 were assessed with the same EGRA instrument.

Read To Succeed Project (RTS) was a five-year project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ). With Zambia exhibiting the lowest student achievement scores among the South African Development Community – SADC, RTS took a “whole school, whole teacher, whole child” approach to ensure that Government Basic Schools become centers of learning, care and support providing children with opportunities to learn and flourish. RTS aimed to improve early grade reading through school effectiveness in Government primary schools in six provinces: Eastern, Luapula, Northern, North Western, Western and the newly-created Muchinga. For each of the baseline, midline and endline evaluations, RTS tested grade 2 and 3 students’ reading ability in the four local languages Icibemba, Chinyanja, Kiikaonde and Silozi in government primary schools. A representative sample of students was randomly selected from schools across 16 districts (12 intervention and 4 control districts) within the 6 provinces. The 4 control districts were selected based on 4 local languages in which EGRA was conducted. The selection of schools was stratified by language and clustered by location, specifically by zone, district, and province.

This statistic represents a breakdown of public opinion regarding the benefits of reading in France in 2021. It shows that almost all respondents considered that reading was a hobby which contributed to enjoy oneself. However, they were more divided regarding reading as a way to success in your professional life.

Abstract

The PIRLS 2011 aimed to generate a database of student achievement data in addition to information on student, parent, teacher, and school background data for the 57 areas that participated

Geographic coverage

In 2011, nationally representative samples of students in 49 countries participated in PIRLS and prePIRLS. Forty-five countries assessed fourth grade students, and some countries participated in one or more of the other available options initiated in 2011 to permit wider participation at the end of the primary school cycle: four countries assessed their sixth-grade students; and three countries participated in prePIRLS, a less difficult version of PIRLS inaugurated in 2011 to be a stepping stone to PIRLS. In addition, PIRLS 2011 included nine benchmarking participants, mostly regions of countries that also participated in PIRLS, including three Canadian provinces, two Emirates, the Andalusian region of Spain, and the US state of Florida. Malta and South Africa used benchmarking to collect information relevant to their language of instruction policies.

Analysis unit

Units of analysis in the study are schools, students, parents and teachers

Universe

PIRLS is a study of student achievement in reading comprehension in primary school and is targeted at the grade level in which students are at the transition from learning to read to reading to learn, which is the fourth grade in most countries. The formal definition of the PIRLS target population makes use of UNESCO's International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) in identifying the appropriate target grade:

"…all students enrolled in the grade that represents four years of schooling, counting from the first year of ISCED Level 1, providing the mean age at the time of testing is at least 9.5 years. For most countries, the target grade should be the fourth grade, or its national equivalent."

As a new initiative in 2011, prePIRLS was developed as a less difficult version of PIRLS to provide more assessment options for developing countries where students may not be prepared for the demands of PIRLS. prePIRLS is based on the same view of reading comprehension as PIRLS but is designed to assess basic reading skills that are a prerequisite for success on PIRLS. Botswana, Colombia, and South Africa administered prePIRLS to their fourth grade students. Colombia also administered PIRLS to the same fourth grade students, providing the basis for a link between the PIRLS and prePIRLS scales.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The basic sample design used in PIRLS 2011 was a two-stage stratified cluster design, with the first stage consisting of a sample of schools, and the second stage consisting of a sample of intact classrooms from the target grade in the sampled schools. Intact classes of students are sampled rather than individuals from across the grade level or of a certain age because PIRLS pays particular attention to students’ curricular and instructional experiences.

Each country participating in PIRLS 2011 needed a plan for defining its national target population and applying the TIMSS and PIRLS sampling methods to achieve a nationally representative sample of schools and students. The development and implementation of the national sampling plan is a collaborative exercise involving the country’s National Research Coordinator (NRC) and the PIRLS sampling experts.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

• PIRLS Background Questionnaires By gathering information about children’s experiences together with reading achievement on the PIRLS test, it is possible to identify the factors or combinations of factors that relate to high reading literacy. An important part of the PIRLS design is a set of questionnaires targeting factors related to reading literacy. PIRLS administered four questionnaires: to the tested students, to their parents, to their reading teachers, and to their school principals.

• Student Questionnaire Each student taking the PIRLS reading assessment completes the student questionnaire. The questionnaire asks about aspects of students’ home and school experiences – including instructional experiences and reading for homework, selfperceptions and attitudes towards reading, out-of-school reading habits, computer use, home literacy resources, and basic demographic information.

• Learning to Read (Home) Survey The learning to read survey is completed by the parents or primary caregivers of each student taking the PIRLS reading assessment. It addresses child-parent literacy interactions, home literacy resources, parents’ reading habits and attitudes, homeschool connections, and basic demographic and socioeconomic indicators.

• Teacher Questionnaire The reading teacher of each fourth-grade class sampled for PIRLS completes a questionnaire designed to gather information about classroom contexts for developing reading literacy. This questionnaire asks teachers about characteristics of the class tested (such as size, reading levels of the students, and the language abilities of the students). It also asks about instructional time, materials and activities for teaching reading and promoting the development of their students’ reading literacy, and the grouping of students for reading instruction. Questions about classroom resources, assessment practices, and home-school connections also are included. The questionnaire also asks teachers for their views on opportunities for professional development and collaboration with other teachers, and for information about their education and training.

• School Questionnaire The principal of each school sampled for PIRLS responds to the school questionnaire. It asks school principals about enrollment and school characteristics (such as where the school is located, resources available in the surrounding area, and indicators of the socioeconomic background of the student body), characteristics of reading education in the school, instructional time, school resources (such as the availability of instructional materials and staff), home-school connections, and the school climate.

Response rate

For a full table of school participation rates, which vary by country, please see Appendix C on page 262 of the PIRLS 2011 Report.

Reading books remains a popular pastime for U.S. adults, with ** percent of respondents to a 2021 survey saying that they had read a book in any format within the last year. Despite online media formats now being the preferred option for many consumers when it comes to television, music, and gaming, print books are by far the most popular format among readers in the United States. Whilst almost double the share of adults now read audiobooks compared to 2011, only ** percent claimed to have read an audiobook in the last year compared to ** percent who said that they had read a print book. Book sales in the United States In 2020, bookstore sales in the United States amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars. Sales in 2019 and 2020 were the lowest recorded since the early *****, and the combined effect of the coronavirus outbreak, along with the growing appeal of online purchasing, will likely mean that bookstore sales will continue to drop. Bookstores tend to see most success in August, December, and January, and sales revenue often surpasses *********** U.S. dollars in those months each year. That said, monthly retail sales of bookstores in the U.S. are notably lower overall than in previous years and were particularly poor in spring 2020 as a result of national shutdowns to stem the spread of COVID-19. Influence of COVID-19 on reading habits The coronavirus pandemic led to increased media consumption in general, but not only among avid video and music streaming fans. Data from a survey in March 2020 revealed that ** percent of Millennials read more books due to the COVID-19 outbreak, making consumers in this group the most likely to have done so compared to ** percent of the total survey sample. Meanwhile, ** percent of Boomers said that their reading habits had not changed.

Abstract

PIRLS provides internationally comparative data on how well children read by assessing students’ reading achievement at the end of grade four. PIRLS 2016 is the fourth cycle of the study and collects considerable background information on how education systems provide educational opportunities to their students, as well as the factors that influence how students use this opportunity. In 2016 PIRLS was extended to include ePIRLS – an innovative assessment of online reading.

The results of PIRLS 2016 demonstrate a number of positive developments in reading literacy worldwide. For the first time in the history of the study, as many as 96 percent of fourth graders from over 60 education systems achieved above the PIRLS low international benchmark.

Geographic coverage

Nationally representative samples of approximately 4,000 students from 150 to 200 schools participated in PIRLS 2016. About 319,000 students, 310,000 parents, 16,000 teachers, and 12,000 schools participated in total.

Analysis unit

The unit of analysis describes:

• Schools

• Students

• Parents

• Teachers

Universe

All students enrolled in the grade that represents four years of schooling counting from the first year of ISCED Level 1, providing the mean age at the time of testing is at least 9.5 years.

All students enrolled in the target grade, regardless of their age, belong to the international target population and should be eligible to participate in PIRLS. Because students are sampled in two stages, first by randomly selecting a school and then randomly selecting a class from within the school, it is necessary to identify all schools in which eligible students are enrolled. Essentially, eligible schools for PIRLS are those that have any students enrolled in the target grade, regardless of type of school.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

PIRLS is designed to provide valid and reliable measurement of trends in student achievement in countries around the world, while keeping to a minimum the burden on schools, teachers, and students. The PIRLS program employs rigorous school and classroom sampling techniques so that achievement in the student population as a whole may be estimated accurately by assessing just a sample of students from a sample of schools. PIRLS assesses reading achievement at fourth grade. The PIRLS 2016 cycle also included PIRLS Literacy-a new, less difficult reading literacy assessment, and ePIRLS-an extension of PIRLS with a focus on online informational reading.

PIRLS employs a two-stage random sample design, with a sample of schools drawn as a first stage and one or more intact classes of students selected from each of the sampled schools as a second stage. Intact classes of students are sampled rather than individuals from across the grade level or of a certain age because PIRLS pays particular attention to students’ curricular and instructional experiences, and these typically are organized on a classroom basis. Sampling intact classes also has the operational advantage of less disruption to the school’s day-to-day business than individual student sampling.

SAMPLE SIZE

For most countries, the PIRLS precision requirements are met with a school sample of 150 schools and a student sample of 4,000 students for each target grade. Depending on the average class size in the country, one class from each sampled school may be sufficient to achieve the desired student sample size. For example, if the average class size in a country were 27 students, a single class from each of 150 schools would provide a sample of 4,050 students (assuming full participation by schools and students). Some countries choose to sample more than one class per school, either to increase the size of the student sample or to provide a better estimate of school level effects.

For countries choosing to participate in both PIRLS and PIRLS Literacy, the required student sample size is doubled-i.e., around 8,000 sampled students. Countries could choose to select more schools or more classes within sampled schools to achieve the required sample size. Because ePIRLS is designed to be administered to students also taking PIRLS, the PIRLS sample size requirement remains the same for countries choosing also to participate in ePIRLS.

PIRLS STRATIFIED TWO-STAGE CLUSTER SAMPLE DESIGN

The basic international sample design for PIRLS is a stratified two-stage cluster sample design, as follows:

• First Sampling Stage. For the first sampling stage, schools are sampled with probabilities proportional to their size (PPS) from the list of all schools in the population that contain eligible students. The schools in this list (or sampling frame) may be stratified (sorted) according to important demographic variables. Schools for the field test and data collection are sampled simultaneously using a systematic random sampling approach. Two replacement schools are also pre-assigned to each sampled school during the sample selection process, and these replacement schools are held in reserve in case the originally sampled school refuses to participate. Replacement schools are used solely to compensate for sample size losses in the event that the originally sampled school does not participate. School sampling is conducted for each country by Statistics Canada with assistance from IEA Hamburg, using the sampling frame provided by the country’s National Research Coordinator.

• Second Sampling Stage. The second sampling stage consists of the selection of one (or more) intact class from the target grade of each participating school. Class sampling in each country is conducted by the National Research Coordinator using the Within-School Sampling Software (WinW3S) developed by IEA Hamburg and Statistics Canada. Having secured a sampled school’s agreement to participate in the assessment, the National Research Coordinator requests information about the number of classes and teachers in the school and enters it in the WinW3S database.

Classes smaller than a specified minimum size are grouped into pseudo-classes prior to sampling. The software selects classes with equal probabilities within schools. All students in each sampled class participate in the assessment. Sampled classes that refuse to participate may not be replaced.

For countries participating in both PIRLS and PIRLS Literacy, students within a sampled class are randomly assigned either a PIRLS or PIRLS Literacy booklet through a booklet rotation system. This is done to ensure that PIRLS and PIRLS Literacy are administered to probabilistically equivalent samples. In countries taking part in ePIRLS, all students assessed in PIRLS are expected to participate in ePIRLS.

STRATIFICATION

Stratification consists of arranging the schools in the target population into groups, or strata, that share common characteristics such as geographic region or school type. Examples of stratification variables used in PIRLS include region of the country (e.g., states or provinces); school type or source of funding (e.g., public or private); language of instruction; level of urbanization (e.g., urban or rural area); socioeconomic indicators; and school performance on national examinations.

In PIRLS, stratification is used to:

• Improve the efficiency of the sample design, thereby making survey estimates more reliable

• Apply different sample designs, such as disproportionate sample allocations, to specific groups of schools (e.g., those in certain states or provinces)

• Ensure proportional representation of specific groups of schools in the sample School stratification can take two forms: explicit and implicit. In explicit stratification, a separate school list or sampling frame is constructed for each stratum and a sample of schools is drawn from that stratum. In PIRLS, the major reason for considering explicit stratification is disproportionate allocation of the school sample across strata. For example, in order to produce equally reliable estimates for each geographic region in a country, explicit stratification by region may be used to ensure the same number of schools in the sample for each region, regardless of the relative population size of the regions.

Implicit stratification consists of sorting the schools by one or more stratification variables within each explicit stratum, or within the entire sampling frame if explicit stratification is not used. The combined use of implicit strata and systematic sampling is a very simple and effective way of ensuring a proportional sample allocation of students across all implicit strata. Implicit stratification also can lead to improved reliability of achievement estimates when the implicit stratification variables are correlated with student achievement.

National Research Coordinators consult with Statistics Canada and IEA Hamburg to identify the stratification variables to be included in their sampling plans. The school sampling frame is sorted by the stratification variables prior to sampling schools so that adjacent schools are as similar as possible. Regardless of any other explicit or implicit variables that may be used, the school size is always included as an implicit stratification variable.

SCHOOL SAMPLING FRAME

One of the National Research Coordinator’s most important sampling tasks is the construction of a school sampling frame for the target population. The sampling frame is a list of all schools in the country that have students enrolled in the target grade and is the list from which the school sample is drawn. A well-constructed sampling frame provides complete coverage of the national target population without being contaminated by incorrect or duplicate entries or entries that refer to elements that are not

Dataset replaced by: http://data.europa.eu/euodp/data/dataset/Nm4G3Z3VaURgig9V3BTfg

Reading literacy focuses on the ability of students to use written information in situations which they encounter in their life. The data are coming from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which is an internationally standardised assessment that was developed by the OECD and administered to 15-year-olds in schools. In PISA, reading literacy is defined as understanding, using and reflecting written texts, in order to achieve one's goals, to develop one's knowledge and potential and to participate in society. Proficiency at Level 1 and below means that the pupils are not likely to demonstrate success on the most basic type of reading that PISA seeks to measure. Such students have serious difficulties in using reading literacy as an effective tool to advance and extend their knowledge and skills in other areas.

An increasing number of studies have shown that there are resilient students (i.e., students that overcome adversities related with their low Socio-Economic Status (SES) by attaining high academic achievement) around the world. The existence of resilient students has increased interest in understanding the factors that explain the capacity of students from low SES background to attain high academic achievement (i.e., academic resilience). However, upon reviewing this literature, I observed that few studies have comparatively investigated the associations between academic resilience in reading and school climate characteristics such as, teaching practices, school discipline, teacher support, and educational resources. Additionally, I found that not many studies have researched whether student SES moderates the associations between high achievement in reading and these school climate characteristics. This paper contributes to fill these two gaps by estimating associations between high achievement in reading and the aforementioned school climate characteristics. Moreover, it examines whether student SES moderates these associations. To fill these two gaps, this research used logit models and heterogeneous choice models using representative samples of students from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of 2018. The results show that high achievement in reading is positively associated with certain teaching practices such as adapting instruction to students’ needs and perceived teacher enthusiasm during the instruction. Conversely, it is negatively associated with teacher feedback and teacher directed instruction. Furthermore, the findings indicate that high achievement in reading is negatively associated with the scarcity and low quality of educational material. Interestingly, the results show that student SES does not moderate these associations. In conclusion, these findings indicate that interventions targeting these areas of school climate may help to increase students’ probability to attain high achievement in reading, regardless of their SES. Likewise, these results suggest that if these interventions are focused in low SES schools, they may contribute to bridge the gap in reading skills between students from low and middle-high socioeconomic backgrounds.

The Impacts and Implementation of the i3-Funded Scale-Up of Success for All study examined the implementation and impacts of a whole-school reform model, Success for All (SFA), which seeks to increase reading proficiency among students in elementary schools serving low-income children, as this model was scaled up under an Investing in Innovation (i3) grant from the United States Department of Education. The impact evaluation used a cluster random assignment design in which 37 schools in five school districts were selected at random either to implement SFA (the program group schools) or to put in place their business-as-usual reading program (the control group schools). This collection contains Parts 1 to 7 for public use; and Part 8 for restricted use only. In Part 1: Primary Student Sample data, children who began kindergarten in sampled schools and remained in them through second grade were assessed using standardized assessments of phonics skills, reading fluency, and comprehension. In Part 2: Auxiliary Sample, additional analyses examined third-year impacts on reading skills for all second graders, whether or not they remained continuously enrolled in the study schools, and for students in grades 3 through 5. The analysis also examined impacts for subgroups defined by ethnicity, early literacy skills measured upon entry into kindergarten, and other variables. Part 3: School Achievement Snapshot Data contain implementation data for analysis using an instrument created by SFA's developers that measures the extent to which program elements were put in place at each program group at the end of each year. This instrument was utilized to assess fidelity to the program model. The implementation analysis was also informed by principal (Part 5: Principal Survey) and teacher surveys (Part 4: Teacher Survey) in all schools, as well by logs (Part 6: Teacher Log) that asked teachers to document their instructional practices in early reading classes. These data, collected in all three study years, make it possible to measure implementation over the study period and to compare program group schools and control group schools on a variety of dimensions. Part 7: Scale-Up Sample Data provided data on the schools that adopted SFA (and those which were approached, but did not adopt), and schools that adopted before the Investing in Innovations grant. Part 8 is the restricted version of Part 7, which retains geographic location variables.

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) from the National Center for Education Statistics and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Includes all data formats available."Since 1995, TIMSS has monitored trends in mathematics and science achievement every four years, at the fourth and eighth grades. TIMSS 2023 is the eighth such assessment, providing nearly three decades of trend data. TIMSS 2023 completes the transition to a fully digital administration, concluding a process that began in TIMSS 2019, and features new and interactive item formats.TIMSS Advanced studies achievement in advanced mathematics and physics for students in their final year of secondary school. TIMSS Advanced was conducted in 1995, 2008, and 2015." "PIRLS has monitored trends in reading achievement at the fourth grade every five years since 2001. PIRLS 2026, the sixth assessment cycle of PIRLS, will provide policymakers and researchers with data on 25 years of trends in student achievement in reading literacy.PIRLS 2026 completes the transition to a fully digital assessment, concluding a process that began with PIRLS 2021. ePIRLS, an innovative assessment of online informational reading, was introduced in 2016 as an optional component and is now integrated into the digital assessment."

Leveraging achievement data measured in the fall and spring of kindergarten through 8th grade for 840,000 students attending 8,800 public schools, we report novel evidence on how achievement and growth patterns differ between rural and non-rural schools. Rural students start kindergarten slightly ahead of non-rural students but fall behind by middle school. The divergence is driven by larger summer losses for rural students. In both rural and non-rural schools, we provide additional evidence that Black-White achievement gaps widen during the school year. These findings highlight the importance of seasonal learning patterns in interpreting rural school performance.

Children’s ability to learn new words during their preschool years is crucial for further academic success. Previous research suggests that children rely on different learning mechanisms to acquire new words depending on the available context and linguistic information. To date, there is limited research integrating different paradigms to provide a cohesive view of the mechanisms and processes involved in preschool children’s word learning. We presented 4 year-old children (n = 47) with one of three different novel word-learning scenarios to test their ability to connect novel words to their correspondent referents without explicit instruction to do so. The scenarios were tested with three exposure conditions of different nature: (i) mutual exclusivity–target novel word-referent pair presented with a familiar referent, prompting fast-mapping via disambiguation, (ii) cross-situational–target novel word-referent pair presented next to an unfamiliar referent prompting statistically tracking the target pairs across trials, and (iii) eBook - target word-referent pairs presented within an audio-visual electronic storybook (eBook), prompting inferring meaning incidentally. Results show children succeed at learning the new words above chance in all three scenarios, with higher performance in eBook and mutual exclusivity than in cross-situational word learning. This illustrates children’s astounding ability to learn while coping with uncertainty and varying degrees of ambiguity, which are common in real-world situations. Findings extend our understanding of how preschoolers learn new words more or less successfully depending on specific word learning scenarios, which should be taken into account when working on vocabulary development for school readiness in the preschool years.

Shared book reading has been demonstrated to be an effective way to promote children’s language including preparation for literacy: children who are read to regularly, on average, enter school with better language skills and become more successful readers. However, evidence suggests that shared reading interventions are less effective for children from lower socio-economic background. One aspect of shared book reading that has not yet been investigated is its potential effect on phonological awareness (PA), an important skill in the early stages of phonics-based literacy development. The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of a shared reading intervention that emphasised the form of words (therefore targeting PA), and to explore its interaction with SES status.

This dataset is about books. It has 1 row and is filtered where the book is Successful dissertations : the complete guide for education, childhood and early childhood studies students. It features 7 columns including author, publication date, language, and book publisher.

International Averages of Reading Achievement in PISA Study

The Tusome Early Grade Reading Program involves a national effort in Kenya to scale up a proven model for improved results in early grade literacy. Based on positive findings during a rigorous impact evaluation of a pilot test of this intervention, the Government of Kenya (GOK) asked USAID/Kenya to assist with the nationwide rollout of an activity to improve reading skills and increase the capacity of educators and the GOK to deliver and administer early grade reading (EGR) programs modeled on the pilot activity’s success. Tusome, which means “Let’s Read” in Kiswahili, targeted 28,000 formal and nonformal public and low-cost private primary schools in the 47 counties in Kenya (nationwide). About 1,000 of these are informal schools that exist mostly in urban “slums,” while the vast majority of the remaining 27,000 schools are in rural areas. Roughly 5.4 million children who entered primary school between 2014 and 2017 are expected to benefit from this scaling-up initiative. Intermediate beneficiaries include: 1) approximately 60,000 class 1 and 2 teachers, 2) 28,000 primary school head teachers, 3) 1,052 Teacher Advisory Center (TAC) tutors, plus “coaches” for nonformal schools and 4) 300 senior education personnel. Tusome also assisted the GOK at the technical and policy levels to sustainably improve reading skills beyond the span of the activity.

As of October 2023, the most successful work of fiction in Germany was After You (in German Ein ganz neues Leben) by Jojo Moyes which spent 22 weeks at number one. Timur Vermes' satirical novel Look Who's Back (Er ist wider da in German) came in second place, having spent 18 weeks in first place on the bestseller list.