Polish school kids top European reading comprehension ratings
Poland has finished top in the EU and emerged as a leading global performer in an international index that evaluates reading comprehension among school pupils.
According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Poland ranks top in the EU alongside Finland.
Poland has finished top in the EU and emerged as a leading global performer in an international index that evaluates reading comprehension.
The PIRLS study, conducted every five years, involved a standardized reading comprehension test taken by approximately 4,000 fourth-grade students from 150 to 200 schools in each participating country.
The latest results, released earlier in the week but calculated in 2021, ranked Poland joint fifth out of 41 countries and two Chinese special administrative regions, with a reading score of 549.
In the EU, Poland was ranked top alongside Finland.
Singapore (587), Hong Kong (573), Russia (567), and England (558) were the only countries ahead of Poland.
Within the European Union, Poland and Finland achieved the highest rankings, both attaining a score of 549.
Poland has made remarkable progress in the rankings, steadily improving from 29th place in 2006 and 28th place in 2011.
They were followed by Sweden (544), Bulgaria (540), and the Czech Republic (540).
At the other end of the spectrum, the lowest-performing EU countries were Belgium (494 for French speakers and 511 for Flemish), Cyprus (511), and France (514).
Findings from the PIRLS study align with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
Lately, Poland has made remarkable progress in the rankings, steadily improving from 29th place in 2006 and 28th place in 2011 to sixth place in 2016 and now fifth place in 2021.
The PIRLS study also highlighted a significant gender disparity in all results, with girls outperforming boys. In Poland, girls achieved a score of 560, while boys scored 540 – one of the highest differences among all other countries and the highest in the EU.
The PIRLS study highlighted a significant gender disparity in all results, with girls outperforming boys.
Findings from the PIRLS study align with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), another major international assessment of educational achievement.
In the most recent PISA ranking conducted in 2018, Polish students excelled in maths and science and were rated third in Europe. They also performed strongly in reading comprehension, ranking fourth in the continent.
