Publication of Socioeconomic Status in PIRLS 2021: Insights from Parent, Student, and Principal Reports

The latest report in the PIRLS 2021 Insights series, focused on home socioeconomic status (SES), is now available at pirls2021.org/insights.

Socioeconomic Status in PIRLS 2021: Insights from Parent, Student, and Principal Reports takes a closer look at fourth-grade students’ home SES by examining the Home Socioeconomic Status (Home SES) scale. Created from questionnaire items completed by students’ parents/guardians, and drawing on established SES indicators, the new scale has a strong positive relationship with reading achievement both internationally and within countries.

While the Home SES scale provides the most direct measurement of socioeconomic status in PIRLS 2021, additional variables in the PIRLS 2021 questionnaires can provide complementary insights into resources available to students or within schools. This Insights report examines the extent to which these variables align with and predict parent/guardian-reported SES, given the low response rate for the Home Questionnaire in some countries.

PIRLS Insights is an ongoing series of reports that use PIRLS achievement and contextual data to take a closer look at areas of interest in educational research. Two previous reports in the series, Aspects of Student Well-Being and Reading Achievement in PIRLS 2021 and COVID-19 Research Resources in PIRLS 2021, are also available at pirls2021.org/insights.