PIRLS 2021 Context Questionnaires
An important purpose of PIRLS 2021 is to study the home, community, school, and student factors associated with students’ reading achievement in the fourth grade. To accomplish this, data about contexts for learning are collected through questionnaires completed by students and their parents, teachers, and school principals. These datasets are all available in the PIRLS 2021 International Database. In addition, PIRLS National Research Coordinators provide information on the national contexts for learning through the Curriculum Questionnaire and their country’s chapter in the PIRLS 2021 Encyclopedia.
Download Questionnaires
Each of the PIRLS 2021 Context Questionnaires can be downloaded below in PDF format. The Student, Home, Teacher, and School Questionnaires are presented as paper questionnaire booklets, although countries may have administered these digitally. The Curriculum Questionnaire PDF is a recreation of the online questionnaire.
- Student Questionnaire
- Home Questionnaire (Early Learning Survey)
- Teacher Questionnaire
- School Questionnaire
- Curriculum Questionnaire
Student Questionnaire
Each student participating in PIRLS 2021 completed a Student Questionnaire. The questionnaire asked about aspects of students’ home and school lives, including basic demographic information, their home environment, school climate for learning, and attitudes toward reading.
Home Questionnaire (Early Learning Survey)
The parents or guardians of participating students completed the Early Learning Survey, often referred to as the Home Questionnaire. The questionnaire asked about home resources that support learning and information about parents’ highest level of education and employment situations, opinions about their child’s school, their child’s attendance in preprimary education programs, the emphasis on literacy activities in the home before the child attended school, and the level of their child’s literacy skills when beginning school. In PIRLS 2021, parents also provided information about their child’s learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teacher Questionnaire
Teachers of the assessed classes responded to a Teacher Questionnaire. The questionnaire asked students’ teachers about their education, professional development, and teaching experience. It also asked about students’ readiness for instruction, the frequency of various instructional activities, difficulties in providing instruction, assessment practices, and availability of digital devices for reading instruction.
School Questionnaire
The principal of each school that participated in PIRLS 2021 completed a School Questionnaire. Principals answered questions about their qualifications and experience, as well as the socioeconomic background of the students attending the school, the availability of instructional resources, the school’s emphasis on academic success, and discipline and school safety. For PIRLS 2021, principals also provided information about the school’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Curriculum Questionnaire
The PIRLS 2021 National Research Coordinator within each country was responsible for completing the Curriculum Questionnaire. Questions primarily centered on national curriculum policies and practices related to the countries’ education systems and the organization and content of language/reading curricula in their country.
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