Use and Impact of PIRLS
The Czech Republic first participated in PIRLS in 2001 and again in 2011. After the results were released in 2012, a national report was published and a set of seminars for teachers and experts was held throughout the country to familiarize language educational specialists with the PIRLS assessment framework. The national center published several secondary analyses and released PIRLS passages with questions/tasks, including scoring guides with methodical comments and an expert review of student performance. The publications were distributed to schools free of charge, and the electronic version is available on the Czech School Inspectorate’s website.22 The Czech School Inspectorate is developing new instruments to support and monitor the progress of reading literacy.
Assessments like TIMSS, PIRLS, and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) provide important information regarding student achievement in the Czech Republic to experts (e.g., researchers, teachers, nongovernmental organizations, the Czech School Inspectorate) and policymakers, as Czech schools do not participate in regular national assessment of reading achievement at the primary or lower secondary levels. Experts tend to use PIRLS survey results as a starting point when discussing the quality of reading literacy in the Czech Republic, especially when the results indicate a stable or even decreasing level of student achievement.