EDUCATION INDICATORS: An International Perspective
Reading literacy is a fundamental academic skill that students must possess before they can benefit from the rest of their education, participate effectively in labor markets that require increasingly sophisticated training, and meet their civic responsibilities. Measures of the reading proficiency of 9- and 14-year-old students provide an indication of the extent to which students can read, comprehend, and use written language. Since the overall scores reflect average performance within a country, they do not provide information about differences in literacy among subpopulations. For example, in the United States, differences in race and ethnicity, home language, urbanicity, sex, and the availability of books are all associated with differences in reading literacy scores.
*The three major domains or types of reading literacy materials assessed at both age levels (9- and 14-year-old students) were: narrative prose, expository prose, and documents. See Sources of Data for details on these domains of reading literacy.
Table 7a: Average reading literacy scale scores, by domain, age, and country: 1991-92 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average domain scale score -------------------------- Average overall score Narrative Expository Documents --------------------- --------- ---------- --------- Country Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 G-7* France 531 549 532 556 533 546 527 544 West Germany 503 522 491 514 497 521 520 532 Italy 529 515 533 520 538 524 517 501 United States 547 535 553 539 538 539 550 528 Other Belgium 507 481 510 484 505 477 506 483 Botswana - 330 - 340 - 339 - 312 British 500 522 502 526 499 516 500 522 Cyprus 481 497 492 516 475 492 476 482 Denmark 475 525 463 517 467 524 496 532 Finland 569 560 568 559 569 541 569 580 East Germany 499 526 482 512 493 523 522 543 Greece 504 509 514 526 511 508 488 493 Hong Kong 517 535 494 509 503 540 554 557 Hungary 499 536 496 530 493 536 509 542 Iceland 518 536 518 550 517 548 519 509 Ireland 509 511 518 510 514 505 495 518 Netherland 485 514 494 506 480 503 481 533 New Zealand 528 545 534 547 531 535 521 552 Norway 524 516 525 515 528 520 519 512 Portugal 478 523 483 523 480 523 471 523 Singapore 515 534 521 530 519 539 504 533 Slovenia 498 532 502 534 489 525 503 537 Spain 504 490 497 500 505 495 509 475 Sweden 539 546 536 556 542 533 539 550 Switzerland 511 536 506 534 507 525 522 549 Thailand - 477 - 468 - 486 - 478 Trinidad 451 479 455 482 458 485 440 472 Venezuela 383 417 378 407 396 433 374 412 Zimbabwe - 372 - 367 - 374 - 373 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Country did not participate at this age level. *No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
NOTE: Proficiency scores range from 0 to 1000. The mean proficiency score for all participating populations (9- to 14-year-olds taken together) is 500 and the standard deviation is 100. Characteristics of country populations are described in the supplemental note to Indicator 7.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education, 1994, Washington, D.C.: 1994, tables 16-1, 16-2, and 16-3.
Table 7b: Standard errors for estimated averages in Table 7a ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average domain scale score -------------------------- Average overall score Narrative Expository Documents -------------------- --------- ---------- --------- Country Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 Age 9 Age 14 G-71 France 4.0 4.3 4.1 4.2 4.1 4.3 3.9 4.2 West Germany (former) 3.0 4.4 2.8 4.9 2.9 4.5 3.2 3.9 Italy 4.3 3.4 4.0 3.6 4.0 3.2 4.9 3.3 United States 2.8 4.8 3.1 4.9 2.6 5.6 2.7 4.0 Other Belgium 3.2 4.9 3.3 5.1 2.8 4.8 3.5 4.7 Botswana - 2.0 - 1.6 - 1.9 - 2.4 British Columbia, Canada3.0 3.0 3.5 3.1 2.7 3.1 2.8 2.7 Cyprus 2.3 2.2 2.4 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.1 2.0 Denmark 3.5 2.1 3.4 2.0 3.5 2.2 3.6 2.1 Finland 3.4 2.5 3.0 2.8 3.1 2.2 4.0 2.5 East Germany (former) 4.3 3.5 4.2 3.9 3.6 3.5 5.0 2.9 Greece 3.7 2.9 3.8 2.9 3.6 3.1 3.8 2.6 Hong Kong 3.9 3.7 4.1 3.7 3.4 3.8 4.2 3.8 Hungary 3.1 3.3 2.9 3.1 3.1 3.6 3.5 3.2 Iceland2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Ireland 3.6 5.2 3.7 5.3 3.2 5.3 3.8 4.9 Netherlands 3.6 4.9 3.3 4.8 3.4 4.7 3.9 5.3 New Zealand 3.3 5.6 3.5 5.7 3.1 5.7 3.3 5.3 Norway 2.6 2.3 2.8 2.1 2.3 2.4 2.8 2.4 Portugal 3.6 3.1 3.3 2.5 3.0 3.4 4.5 3.4 Singapore 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.2 1.0 1.1 Slovenia 2.6 2.3 2.7 2.6 2.5 2.2 2.5 2.2 Spain 2.5 2.5 2.4 3.0 2.3 2.6 2.7 2.0 Sweden 2.8 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.7 2.4 3.2 2.4 Switzerland 2.7 3.2 2.6 3.4 2.7 3.2 2.8 3.0 Thailand - 6.2 - 6.6 - 5.9 - 6.2 Trinidad/Tobago 3.4 1.7 3.6 1.7 3.4 1.8 3.3 1.7 Venezuela 3.4 3.1 3.2 2.9 3.3 3.3 3.7 3.0 Zimbabwe - 3.8 - 3.3 - 3.6 - 4.6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Not available.
1/ No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
2/ All students were tested in Iceland.
NOTE: See supplemental note to Indicator 7 for details on population exclusions.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education, 1994, Washington, D.C.: 1994, tables 16-1, 16-2, and 16-3.
Table 7c: Percentile scores for the narrative domain, by age and country: 1991 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Percentile scores --------------------------------------------------------------------- Age 9 Age 14 ---------------------------- ----------------------------- Country 1st 10th 90th 99th 1st 10th 90th 99th G-7* France 335 411 640 701 362 447 639 748 West Germany (former) 226 372 594 690 323 411 622 736 Italy 303 411 627 701 324 413 616 727 United States 330 420 655 708 324 410 673 764 Other Belgium 293 385 612 695 242 360 572 685 Botswana - - - - 121 247 411 452 British Columbia, Canada 186 389 619 697 290 394 635 750 Cyprus 283 373 601 686 282 378 601 705 Denmark 186 299 592 682 295 411 636 741 Finland 353 466 649 708 354 453 628 699 East Germany (former) 219 361 590 686 315 408 633 708 Greece 303 400 622 699 322 401 602 711 Hong Kong 273 383 601 677 343 434 621 718 Hungary 299 390 588 661 326 420 640 748 Iceland 297 390 627 700 316 413 660 748 Ireland 301 390 631 701 282 384 630 725 Netherlands 311 382 591 688 291 395 593 694 New Zealand 299 403 647 707 290 410 660 757 Norway 186 390 629 702 313 413 609 713 Portugal 300 386 587 670 341 429 606 698 Singapore 306 395 623 701 367 434 629 735 Slovenia 296 389 648 700 360 441 607 700 Spain 291 389 597 687 308 391 581 688 Sweden 239 406 644 706 324 420 637 749 Switzerland 237 391 602 696 307 412 632 722 Thailand - - - - 239 363 573 662 Trinidad/Tobago 232 343 567 696 255 358 600 729 Venezuela 186 220 474 554 220 330 526 629 Zimbabwe - - - - 139 291 453 551 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Not available.
*No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
NOTE: Characteristics of country populations are described in the supplemental note to Indicator 7.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education, 1994, Washington, D.C.: 1994, tables 16-1, 16-2, and 16-3.
Figure 7: Average reading literacy scale scores, by domain, age, and G-7 country:1,2 1991-92
1/ No data available for Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
2/ Countries are sorted in descending order by average domain scale score.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education, 1994, Washington, D.C.: 1994, Indicator 16.
See Supplemental Notes on Figure and Table