About PIRLS 2021

a boy sitting at a table with a open book.

In 2021, IEA’s PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), well-established as the “de facto” worldwide standard for monitoring reading comprehension achievement, will mark its 20th year. PIRLS 2021 provides data on trends in comparative reading achievement across countries over two decades. Since 2001, PIRLS has been conducted every five years at the fourth grade. ePIRLS, an innovative assessment of online informational reading, was introduced in 2016 as an optional component.

Reading literacy is the foundation for academic success, and PIRLS is a valuable vehicle for studying whether new or revised policies impact achievement. The PIRLS reading assessment is based on a comprehensive framework that covers major reading purposes — for literary experience, to acquire and use information, and to search for information on the internet.

PIRLS 2021: Transitioning to Digitally Based Assessment

PIRLS 2021 offers the PIRLS assessment of literary and informational reading in a digital format, presenting reading passages and items as an engaging and visually attractive experience that motivates students and increases operational efficiency.

two students sitting in front of a laptop computer.

Having PIRLS in an electronic environment enables joining it with the ePIRLS assessment of online informational reading. With PIRLS all electronic, countries can administer the full PIRLS reading assessment — PIRLS Literary and Informational as well as the ePIRLS Online Informational — as one seamless, digitally based endeavor. It is also possible for countries to administer the paper-based version of the PIRLS assessment of literary and informational reading.

As in previous cycles, PIRLS 2021 collects and reports an extensive array of policy relevant information about students’ home and school experiences in learning to read:

Home questionnaire
Student, teacher, and school questionnaires
PIRLS 2021 Encyclopedia: Education Policy and Curriculum in Reading

Benefits of PIRLS 2021

PIRLS enables countries to make evidence-based decisions to improve reading education. Countries use the achievement and questionnaire data to:

Monitor system-level achievement trends in a global context
Monitor the impact of new or revised educational policies
Pinpoint any areas of weakness and stimulate curricular reform
Improve teaching and learning through research and analysis of PIRLS data
Conduct related studies, such as monitoring equity or assessing students in additional grades
Obtain rich questionnaire data about the home and school contexts for teaching and learning reading

PIRLS 2021 for a Range of Participants

PIRLS 2021 employs a group-adaptive design. All countries administer the same reading passages and items, but the rate at which different test forms are distributed in a country will be tailored to the population. This innovative, adaptive design improves PIRLS’ measurement of reading at all levels of the distribution for countries with varying reading proficiency while also increasing student engagement.

Also, PIRLS has a benchmarking component whereby entities such as regions (e.g., states or provinces), additional grades (e.g, third or fifth grade), or additional language groups can participate in the same way as countries.