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158 chapter 5: school curriculum and organization for teaching reading
In Luxembourg, because school administration is shared between the
Ministry of Education and the local town or city councils, primary schools
do not have principals and school background data are not available.
How Well Prepared Are Students to Learn to Read?
Preprimary education, in the form of preschool, kindergarten, or an early
childhood education center, plays an important role in preparing children for
primary school. According to the PIRLS 2006 Encyclopedia, many countries
have compulsory preprimary education, and enrollment rates are increasing
in countries where preprimary education is voluntary. In many countries,
Ministries of Education have published curriculum guidelines for preprimary
education, much as they do for primary education.
Exhibit 5.1 contains parents’ reports of the number of years their
children participated in preprimary education. Although attendance differed
dramatically from country to country, on average internationally, 45 percent
of fourth-grade students had at least 3 years of preprimary education. In
Belgium (Flemish) and Hungary, 85 percent of students had attended
at least 3 years of primary education, and 75–78 percent had in Belgium
(French), Denmark, and France. Interestingly, on average internationally,
reading achievement increased with the amount of time spent in preprimary
education, with students who had not attended preprimary school having an
international average reading score of 455, compared to 510 for those students
receiving 3 years or more of preprimary education.
Exhibit 5.2 presents parents’ responses to the question about the age at
which their children started formal primary school. Parents in New Zealand,
Scotland, and Trinidad and Tobago reported that 90 percent or more of their
children began school at age 5 or younger (parents’ reports were not available
for England, the other PIRLS 2006 country where students typically start
school at age 5). According to parents, age 5 also was the predominant school
entry age (63 to 91% of the students) in the five Canadian provinces. In 18
countries, parents reported age 6 as the predominant entry age (65 to 89%
of the students). The 12 countries where parents reported children started