PIRLS 2016 :: US Fourth-Grade Students

Reading Achievement of

US 4th-Grade Students

Reading Achievement of U.S. Fourth-Grade Students in an International Context

First Look at the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

and ePIRLS 2016

NCES: December 2017

Selected Findings

The U.S. overall average reading score was 549 (table 1). This score was higher than the PIRLS scale centerpoint, which is set at 500 points. The U.S. overall average reading score was lower than the averages for 12 education systems, higher than the averages for 30 education systems, and not significantly different from the averages for 15 education systems.

In 2016, some 16 percent of U.S. fourth-graders performed at or above the Advanced (625) benchmark, and 53 percent of fourth-graders performed at or above the High (550) benchmark (figure 1).

The percentages of U.S. fourth-graders performing at or above the Advanced and High benchmarks were higher than the international median. Seven education systems (Singapore, the Russian Federation, Northern Ireland-GBR, Ireland, Poland, England-GBR, and Moscow City-RUS) had a higher percentage of fourth-graders performing at or above the Advanced benchmark than the United States.

For the Low (400) benchmark, 96 percent of U.S. fourth-graders performed at or above the benchmark, and 24 education systems had a smaller percentage of students performing at or above the benchmark.

In 2016, among U.S. fourth-graders, females scored higher on average on the overall reading scale than males (553 vs. 545) (figure 4). Compared to the U.S. overall average reading score, White and Asian fourth-graders scored higher on average, while Black and Hispanic fourth-graders scored lower on average.

Table 1, Page 8

U.S. fourth-graders in public schools with less than 50 percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch scored higher on average than the U.S. overall average reading score, while fourth-graders in public schools with more than 75 percent of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch scored lower on average than the U.S. overall average reading score (figure 4).

Performance over time

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There was no measurable change in the U.S. overall average reading scale score between 2001 (542) and 2016 (549) (figures 2 and 3). Between 2011 and 2016, the overall average reading score for U.S. fourth-graders declined from 556 to 549.  READ MORE >>