Author Description

The PIRLS 2011 Encyclopedia provides an overview of the national contexts for teaching and learning reading in the countries participating in PIRLS 2011. Nearly all of the PIRLS 2011 countries and benchmarking participants prepared a chapter summarizing the structure of their education systems, reading curricula and instruction in primary grades, teacher education requirements, and assessment practices. Together with selected introductory data about the countries collected via questionnaires, the chapters comprising the PIRLS 2011 Encyclopedia provide an important resource for helping to understand the various settings for reading education around the world, with particular emphasis on schooling through the fourth grade.