| Ranking 2016 (Ranking 2011) | Country | Average scale score |
| 1 (2) | Russia | 581 |
| 2 (4) | Singapore | 576 |
| 3 (1) | Hong Kong | 569 |
| 4 (10) | Ireland | 567 |
| 5 (3) | Finland | 566 |
| 6 (28) | Poland | 565 |
| 7 (5) | Northern Ireland | 565 |
| 8 (31) | Norway | 559 |
| 9 (9) | Taiwan | 559 |
| 10 (11) | England | 559 |
| 11 (-) | Latvia | 558 |
| 12 (15) | Sweden | 555 |
| 13 (20) | Hungary | 554 |
| 14 (22) | Bulgaria | 552 |
| 15 (6) | US | 549 |
| 16 (16) | Lithuania | 548 |
| 17 (16) | Italy | 548 |
| 18 (7) | Denmark | 547 |
| 19 (-) | Macao | 546 |
| 20 (13) | Netherlands | 545 |
Looking at the list, yes, a nation from the region make us proud again.
According to results released from PIRLS, a large-scale international assessment of 50 countries and 11 benchmarking regions, students in the Russian Federation and Singapore outshined their international peers in reading achievement at the fourth grade.
Other high performers included Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Finland, Poland, and Northern Ireland, according to the assessment directed by Drs. Ina V.S. Mullis and Michael O. Martin at IEA’s TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College.
Singapore also took top place among 14 countries in the inaugural ePIRLS assessment of online informational reading, followed by Norway and Ireland.
The electronic extension of PIRLS simulates an Internet environment and evaluates how well students read, interpret, and critique online information in an increasingly digital world.
“The world has seen a rapid increase in the use of digital media, both inside and outside the classroom,” said Mullis. “This is changing the way young people gather and process information.”
More than 319,000 students worldwide participated in 2016 in PIRLS, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study.
PIRLS has been administered every five years since its 2001 inception and is sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in Amsterdam.
Internationally, there are more good readers now than there were 15 years ago when PIRLS began.
Trends over time show more increases than decreases in achievement, both in the short term (2011-2016) and the longer term (2001-2016).
Almost all students demonstrated at least a basic level of reading achievement, with 96 percent reaching the PIRLS Low International Benchmark.
On the other end of the spectrum, more than one-fourth of students in the Russian Federation and Singapore reached the Advanced International Benchmark.
PIRLS helps participating countries to make evidence-based decisions to improve education.
Countries use PIRLS to monitor the effectiveness of their education system in a 3 global context, identify gaps in learning resources and opportunities, pinpoint areas of weakness, and measure the impact of new initiatives.
Source :TIMSS & PIRLS Official Website
