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262 chapter 7: school contexts
It is clear from Exhibit 7.7 that the student-to-computer ratio has
improved since 2001. Every country that participated in PIRLS 2001 had
a greater percentage of students in 2006 in schools with fewer than five
students per computer—most notably the Slovak Republic (an increase
of 72 percentage points) and Bulgaria (a 56-point increase). A number of
countries also made good progress in reducing the percentage of students in
schools without any computers, especially the Slovak Republic (a 66-point
decrease), the Russian Federation (a 65-point decrease), and Bulgaria (a
58-point decrease), but also Macedonia (34-point decrease) and Romania
(30-point decrease).
What Is the Level of Home-School Involvement?
To provide information on parents’ involvement with their children’s school
and on the degree of communication between the home and the school,
PIRLS 2006 created an Index of Home-School Involvement. As described in
Exhibit 7.8, the index is based on principals’ responses to seven questions,
including four questions about frequency of communication from the school
to the home (teacher-parent conferences; letters, newsletters, etc., sent home;
written reports of child’s performance; events at school to which parents are
invited) and three questions about the percentage of students with parents
who participate in the life of the school (volunteer regularly to help in the
classroom or school; attend teacher-parent conferences; attend cultural,
sporting, or social events at the school).
Students were assigned to the high level of the index if they attended a
school that, at least four times a year, held teacher-parent conferences and
school events that were attended by more than half the parents; sent home
written report cards of the child’s performance at least four times a year; and
sent home letters, calendars, newsletters, etc., with news about the school at
least seven times a year. Students were assigned to the low level of the index
if their school never held a teacher-parent conference, or if it did, no more
than 25 percent of parents attended; held school events no more than once
a year that were attended by no more than 25 percent of parents; sent home