Use and Impact of PIRLS
The Slovak Republic has taken part in PIRLS since its first cycle in 2001. After each PIRLS assessment, a national report describing Slovak students’ achievement compared to their international peers has been released. The report also highlights important findings concerning the effects of home and school environments on students’ reading literacy. These results and findings can serve as inspiration and motivation for parents, teachers, and higher authorities.
The PIRLS national center, the National Institute for Certified Educational Measurements, has published electronic versions of released item blocks along with related excerpts from scoring guides that have been translated into Slovak and Hungarian on its website. Making the texts publicly available to teachers and parents was an effort to enhance students’ reading literacy.
Several professional development courses inspired by PIRLS have aimed to help teachers support student reading literacy. These courses provide basic information on reading literacy: what it entails, which key competencies it includes, which strategies and methods can be used to support reading comprehension, and how to evaluate and assess reading comprehension. They also train teachers to develop their own literary and informational texts and tests to supplement standard instruction and assessment methods.