PIRLS 2021 International Results in Reading
School Composition, Resources, and Climate
The data in this section about School Composition, Resources, and Climate were collected from school principals via the PIRLS 2021 School Questionnaire. In countries where the assessment of the fourth grade cohort was delayed to the beginning of the fifth year of schooling, typically the schools had both fourth and fifth grades and principals were asked to answer in terms of the fourth grade cohort from the previous school year. The TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center conducted a series of analyses to establish that there was little or no discernable impact in the responses to the School Questionnaire due to COVID-19 or delayed testing.
Many of the PIRLS 2021 Context Questionnaire items were combined into scales measuring a single underlying latent construct related to reading achievement. This section provides results for three scales: Instruction Affected by Reading Resource Shortages, School Emphasis on Academic Success, and School Discipline.
PIRLS used item response theory (IRT) scaling methods, specifically the Rasch partial credit model (PCM), to place items on a scale and produce scale scores (see Chapter 15 in Methods and Procedures: PIRLS 2021 Technical Report). Each context questionnaire scale enabled students to be classified into regions corresponding to high, middle, and low values on the construct. The “About the Scale” tab associated with each exhibit contains the questionnaire items and describes how the three regions reported in the exhibit were defined in terms of combinations of response categories.
