Skilled Students and Effective Schools: Reading Achievement in Denmark, Sweden, and France

Abstract

This study investigates how reading achievement relates to student and school characteristics in countries with different reading scores at the fourth grade level. Data comes from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 for Denmark, Sweden, and France and the multilevel analysis includes two levels: student/home and schools. The school effectiveness and the home literacy models informed the selection of the independent variables. Results show that students' early literacy skills, home literacy practices and resources, and reading behavior are associated with reading scores in all countries. Furthermore, across different countries there are student/home universals and school particulars that explain variation in reading achievement. Educational policies should address home and school literacy skills and practices, school climate, and school composition to improve students' reading ability.

What makes a good reader? Worldwide insights from PIRLS 2016

“…For about half of the participating countries, an increase in one unit of the home resources for learning scale results in a modest increase of nine points in the PIRLS scale. On the other hand, this study confirms the results of an earlier analysis of PIRLS 2011 data from four European countries where student early literacy skills, home literacy practices, resources, and behaviors were strongly associated with PIRLS scores (Costa & Araújo, 2017). The association of home resources for learning and early literacy tasks (a toddler can only read or play with a book if a book is available at home, or preschool…) may result in possible suppression effects, although this was not a testable hypothesis in this study.…”

“…A related construct, reading self-concept, was identified as a significant explanatory variable of reading literacy in PIRLS 2001 for Hong-Kong SAR students (Tse et al, 2005), Australian students, and other 14 countries that participated in PIRLS 2011 (Guo et al, 2018). Similar effects have been observed in several European countries taking part in previous editions of PIRLS (Araújo & Costa, 2015;Costa & Araújo, 2017;Netten, Voeten, Droop, & Verhoeven, 2014). The effect of parents' expectations about their children's future education had a more modest effect across countries.…”

“…Most efforts to address this question using international large scale student assessments (ILSA) are based on TIMSS (mathematics and science literacies) and PISA (mathematics, reading and science literacies) data on a country or regional levels (see e.g., Karakolidis, Pitsia, & Emvalotis, 2016;Thien & Ong, 2015). A few PIRLS reports on reading literacy have surfaced, but once again limited to a country or a few countries analysis (Araújo & Costa, 2015;Costa & Araújo, 2017;Marôco, 2018;Park, 2008;Tse, Lam, Lam, Loh, & Westwood, 2005). Furthermore, a 2015 literature review on PIRLS data usage found out that despite PIRLS being a reading literacy study, its data is hardly used for reading research (Lenkeit, Chan, Hopfenbeck, & Baird, 2015).…”

O Bom Leitor: Preditores da Literacia de Leitura dos Alunos Portugueses no PIRLS 2016

“…Aliás, Portugal, a par com Macau, são os dois únicos participantes onde as diferenças de literacia de leitura entre rapazes e raparigas não são significativas (Mullis, Martin, Foy, et al, 2017). À semelhança dos resultados internacionais, o efeito de atividades precoces de literacia, como por exemplo a leitura frequente de livros em casa (Sénéchal, 2012), tem sido confirmada noutros estudos (Martini & Sénéchal, 2012) e edições do PIRLS, nomeadamente em países europeus (Araújo & Costa, 2015;Costa & Araújo, 2017;Netten, Voeten, Droop, & Verhoeven, 2014). As expectativas parentais relativamente ao sucesso académico dos seus educandos é também um preditor de melhores população escolar é devidamente considerada, as diferenças dos desempenhos dos alunos entre as duas naturezas administrativas (público/ privado) das escolas portugueses deixam de ser estatisticamente significativas.…”

Early Language Education in the United Arab Emirates

“…Metanalyses of international research confirm that successful literacy achievement at school has its foundation in effective early language and literacy practices in preschool settings, as well as within the home (Mitchell et al 2008;Costa and Araújo 2018). It must be emphasized from the outset that research and policy on early childhood education and care in the UAE are in their infancy.…”