Schools Where Students Enter the Primary Grades with Literacy Skills
Exhibit 5.3 presents principals’ categorizations of their schools according to the percentage of students entering the primary grades with early literacy skills (see “About the Scale”). There was considerable variation in the highest category—more than 75 percent entering with literacy skills—from 96 percent in Ireland where many students start preprimary school after their fourth birthday (see Exhibit 2) to 0 percent in Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Czech Republic, and Germany. On average, 22 percent were in schools where more than 75 percent of the students entered school with literacy skills, and another 47 percent were in schools where 25 to 75 percent entered with literacy skills. Both groups of students had higher average reading achievement than the 31 percent of students attending schools where less than 25 percent of the students entered with literacy skills (516 and 512 vs. 491).
