Classroom Instruction

Exhibit 9.9 presents teachers’ reports about the extent to which their fourth grade classroom instruction in reading was limited by students’ preparedness and readiness to learn (i.e., lacking skills, sleep deprived, poor nutrition, absent, disruptive, uninterested, or with learning impairments). The results have been summarized on the Classroom Instruction Limited by Student Attributes scale described under “About the Scale.” On average, across the PIRLS countries, about one third (34%) of the fourth grade students had classroom teachers who reported Very Little impact on their teaching due to students’ lack of preparedness or readiness to learn. Most of the rest of the students (63%) had teachers who reported that these student attributes led to Some limitations in their teaching. Unfortunately, 4 percent of students were in classrooms where teachers reported instruction was limited A Lot. As would be anticipated, there was a direct relationship between the degree that teaching was limited and average reading achievement, with successively lower achievement for each category of increased impact on teaching (528, 504, and 473, respectively). On average, reading achievement was 55 points higher for students whose teachers reported that teaching was limited Very Little compared to students whose teachers reported their teaching was limited A Lot.