The Issue of the Criteria for Measuring Students’ Achievements in the PIRLS Survey

Dr. Bogomir Novak

Summary:  The article compares differences in the classi.cation of Slovenian pupils in the PIRLS international survey in 1991, 2001 and 2006 with the results of pupils from other countries and with Slovenian pupils in terms of longitudinal development. We analyse the literacy criteria and .nd that they encourage competitiveness between the participating countries, the self-evaluation of the results achieved and the need for the best possible quantitative classi.cation in the future. The reading literacy of children aged 9-10 is better the sooner parents start to develop it in the pre-school period. Parents (predominantly mothers) better achieve the target of reading literacy the more frequently they read to their children and if they have received a university education. Teachers also achieve better results if they themselves are quali.ed to teach reading literacy. Slovenia has improved its classi.cation since 1991, 2001 and 2006. We tried to interpret the qualitative meaning of this progress in reading literacy. The development of (reading and other) literacy depends on lifelong learning, and not only on the pre-school and school period of education. Reading literacy is a plural concept. In the widest sense, it is connected with different types of literacy. It is important which words are the means of communication. Therefore, we differentiated a different meaning of the concept of words in the table. It is also important which texts and cultural contexts are faced by pupils at primary school. The thesis of this article is that the PIRLS’ criteria for measuring reading literacy do not include these qualitative assumptions.