Performance at International Benchmarks

Exhibit 2.2 presents the description of ePIRLS students’ achievement at the Low International Benchmark. Essentially, students could locate and reproduce information from webpages with a variety of dynamic and navigable features.

Exhibits 2.2.1 through 2.2.3 contain three example items. Each exhibit shows the webpage the item is based on together with the item. The exhibit shows the achievement results for the countries that participated in ePIRLS, with up and down arrows indicating a significantly higher or lower percentage of success than the international average. The reading comprehension process and scale anchoring description are provided above the item. For multiple-choice items, the correct response is indicated. Constructed response questions were worth 1, 2, or 3 points. Each constructed response item is shown with an illustrative student response and the amount of credit awarded the response is shown across the bottom of the exhibit, usually full credit.

Example Items 2.2.1 (multiple-choice) and 2.2.2 (constructed response) from the “Mars” task about space exploration show that students at the Low International Benchmark demonstrated that they could retrieve explicitly stated details from text and from a pop-up window. Students also were able to make an inference to select the correct search result to learn about Doctor Elizabeth Blackwell (Example Item 2.2.3).