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168 chapter 5: school curriculum and organization for teaching reading
25 countries and 3 provinces either introduced a new curriculum or were
in the curriculum revision process (or both). Most of the PIRLS 2006
participants considered the reading curriculum to be part of the language arts
curriculum. Those with reading as a separate curriculum area included the
Canadian province of Ontario, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, and
Sweden. In the United States, the structure of the reading curriculum varied
by state. There was substantial variation across participants in the grade-tograde
structure of the reading curriculum, depending on the structure of the
primary school system.
Exhibit 5.6 shows principals’ reports about the emphasis schools place
on the reading curriculum. Four fifths of students, on average internationally,
were taught in schools that had informal initiatives to encourage students
to read. Nearly half of the fourth-grade students were in schools with
school-based programs for teachers to improve reading instruction, and the
same percentage were in schools with guidelines that coordinated reading
instruction among teachers within a grade, or across grades.
Reading, writing, and oral language are the most prominent literacy
skills included in language arts curricula. The greatest percentages of students
were in schools that placed comparatively more emphasis on reading than on
other school subject areas. Almost three fourths of the fourth-grade students,
on average internationally, were in schools that placed more emphasis on
reading compared to other areas. More than 90 percent of students were in
such schools in all five Canadian provinces, Iceland, Latvia, New Zealand,
Norway, and the United States.
To obtain some information about the alignment of the PIRLS 2006
assessment with their reading curricula, PIRLS asked the participants about
the curricular emphases placed on the reading purposes and processes
that provided the foundation for the assessment. As shown in Exhibit 5.7,
the purposes specified in the PIRLS 2006 Framework and Assessment
Specifications—reading for literary experience and to acquire information—
received major emphasis in 25 of the participants’ reading curricula. Countries
with a major emphasis on reading for literary experience but less emphasis