0.   Renate Valtin, Humboldt University, Berlin Children’s rights to literacy: How well are they realized in the United States? Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the International Reading Association, May , 2008

1. The perspective of children
1762 Rousseau „Emile or on Education“
“Childhood has its ways of seeing, thinking, and feeling that are proper to it” and need to be respected.

2. The recognition of children‘s rights
1924 Geneva Declaration of the
rights of the child
1989 United Nations: Convention on the

3. IRA: Children have a right to…
appropriate early reading instruction based on their individual needs.
reading instruction that builds both the skill and the desire to read increasingly complex materials.
well-prepared teachers who keep their skills up to date through effective professional development.

4. IRA: Children have a right to…
4. access a wide variety of books and other reading material in classroom, school, and community libraries.
5. reading assessment that identifies their strengths as well as their needs and involves them in making decisions about their own learning.
6. Children who are struggling with reading have a right to receive intensive instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach reading.

5. IRA: Children have a right to…
7. reading instruction that involves parents and communities in their academic lives
8. reading instruction that makes skilled use of their first language skills.
9. equal access to the technology used for the improvement of reading instruction.
10. classrooms that optimize learning opportunities.

6. Aims and topics of this presentation
Defining children’s rights to literacy on the basis of the “4 pillars of education for the 21st century“ (UNESCO)
Looking for empirical evidence if children’s rights to literacy education are upheld -
using indicators from the data bases of PISA and PIRLS for country comparisons

7. Nine rights of children referring to the pillars of “education for the 21st century”
“learning to know and learning to do”
Children have a right to favourable learning conditions at home and in school so that they are encouraged and supported to learning to know and to do.

8. “learning to live together”
Children have a right to favourable conditions in school to learn to live together in peace and harmony.
“learning to be”
Children have a right to favourable conditions in school fostering a full and harmonious development of their personality.

9. PIRLS – Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2001 / 2006
9-year-old students from 35/45 countries
Assessed reading comprehension for two major reading purposes – literary & informational
One-hour, paper-and-pencil literacy test
Student questionnaire - individual, home & school factors
Parent questionnaire – support & literary resources
Teacher questionnaire – individual factors, instruction & materials
School principal questionnaire - organization of teaching & learning

10. PIRLS – Best performing countries
Sweden (561), Netherlands (554) England (553)
(significantly better than the United States, 542)
PIRLS 2006:
Russ. Federation (565), Hong Kong (554),
Canada, Alberta (560)
(significantly better than the United States, 540)

11. 15-year-old students from 32 (41) participating countries
Programme for International Student Assessment PISA 2000 – focus on reading, focus on mathematics
15-year-old students from
32 (41) participating countries
Compared in their abilities to use literacy knowledge
Two-hour, paper-and-pencil literacy test
Student questionnaire - individual, home & school factors
School principal questionnaire - organization of teaching & learning

12. PISA –Best performing countries
Finland (546), Canada (534), New Zealand (529).
These countries were significantly better than the United States (504)
PISA 2003:
Finland (543), Korea (534), Canada (528).
Nine countries were significantly better than the United States (495)

13. Procedure Looking for indicators in the data bases
Identifying „top 2“ countries, comparing with score for USA
Comparing PIRLS and PISA
different countries
different data base
different measures
Caution: Self reports

14. 1) Children have a right to be supported by parents
Importance of parents
fostering early language and literacy activities
providing literacy role models
providing literacy and cultural resources and activities

15. 1) Children have a right to be supported by parents
Results from PIRLS 2001 (% of students)
High level of home educational resources
United States (37), Norway (33), England (27), intern. avg. 13

16. 1) Children have a right to be supported by parents
Indicators in PISA 2000
• cultural possessions in the home
• participation in cultural activities
• communication on aspects of culture

17. 1) Children have a right to be supported by parents
Results from PISA 2000
cultural possessions:
participation in cultural activities:
communication on aspects of culture: 
Iceland 0.67, Latvia 0.55
US -0.12, OECD average 0.00
Hungary 0.71, Czech Republic 0.60
US 0.20, OECD average 0.00
Italy 0.41, Hungary 0.33
United States 0.22, OECD average 0.00

18. 2) Children have the right to attend preschools or kindergartens
PIRLS 2006: Average reading achievement was lowest among students not attending preschool and highest among those who attended for 3 years and more.
Countries with high amount of children attending preschool for at least 3 years:
Hungary (85%), Belgium/F (85%),
Denmark (78%),
internat. average 45%
United States??

19. 3) Children have a right to favourable educational resources at school
Indicators in PIRLS
Students using a library at least weekly (teacher report)
Availability of computers for instructional purposes for fewer than 5 students
Principals’ view of the availability of school resources
Indicator in PISA
Principals’ view on the quality of educational resources at school

20. 3) Children have a right to favourable educational resources at school
Results from PIRLS 2006 (% of students)
Students using a library at least once or twice a week:
Availability of computers for instructional purposes for fewer than 5 students:
Canada, AL 93, Iceland, New Zealand (both 90), United States 83, international avg. 50
Canada, AL 100, Denmark 97,
United States 84 ( s.), international avg. 53

21. 3) Children have a right to favourable educational resources at school
PIRLS 2006 (% of students)
High level of availability of school resources:
Netherlands 93, Scotland 88
United States 81 ( n.s.), international avg. 52

22. 3) Children have a right to favourable educational resources at school
Results from PISA 2000
Index of the quality of schools’ educational resources:
Switzerland 0.51, Hungary 0.50
United States 0.40, OECD average 0.00

23. 4) Children have a right to appropriate instruction based on their individual needs
Due to the absence of observational data this is difficult to judge.
PIRLS assessed a wide range of teaching variables.

24. 4) Children have a right to appropriate instruction based on their individual needs
Indicators in PIRLS
Teacher report about instructional materials, strategies and activities
Cognitive stimulation: direct instruction, teaching strategies
Variety of methods and reading materials
Individual support
Results of a latent class analysis (Lankes)

25. Cognitive stimulation
LCA-Lösung
Cognitive stimulation
Variety of methods
Individual support
hier Datum eintragen (Ansicht/Master/Folienmaster)

26. Type 1: Teacher directed instruction in the whole class without individual support (30 %)
Type 2 : Individualized child-centred instruction, seldom whole class instruction (22 %)
Type 3: Whole class instruction with little cognitive stimulation and little variety in methods, without individual support (20%)
Type 4: Variety of methods with high individual support (16%)
Type 5: Highly stimulating whole class instruction with didactic materials (13%)

27. Distribution of types of reading instruction
Type 1: Teacher directed instruction in the whole class without individual support (30%)
Distribution of types of reading instruction
Type 2: Individualized child-centred instruction, seldom whole class instruction (22 %)
Type 4: Variety of methods with high individual support (16 %)
Type 3: Whole class instruction, little cognitive stimulation and little variety in methods, without individual support (20 %)
Type 5: Highly stimulating whole class instruction with didactic materials (13%) )

28. 5) Children have a right to be supported by teachers
PISA 2000: Perceived teacher support: teachers show an interest in every student’s learning, give students an opportunity to express opinions, help students with their work and continue to teach until students understand.
Countries with the highest index of perceived teacher support:
United Kingdom 0.50, Portugal 0.47,
United States 0.34, OECD average 0.00

29. 6) Children who are struggling with reading have a right to receive intensive instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach reading
Indicators from PIRLS 2006
Teachers report about
• availability of experts
• amount of students having reading difficulties receiving remedial instruction

30. 6) Children who are struggling with reading have a right to receive intensive instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach reading
Results from PIRLS 2006 (% of students)
• Availability of specialists:
Students receiving remedial instruction when needed:
Denmark 97, Iceland 95
United States 92, intern. avg. 59
Indonesia 86, Poland 83
United States 75, intern. avg. 71

31. 7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of social class, gender and nationality

32. • Difference between good and poor readers (equality) • Gender gap
7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of gender, social class, and nationality
Indicators:
• Difference between good and poor
readers (equality)
• Gender gap
• Social gap
• Gap between students with and
without migration background

33. United States 246, international 341
7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity (PIRLS 2006)
• Low gap between students from the 5th to the 95th percentile:
Netherlands 175, Belgium 186,
United States 246, international 341

34. United States 332, OECD average 341
7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity (PISA 2003)
• Low gap between students from the 5th to the 95th percentile:
Finland 266, Korea 267,
United States 332, OECD average 341

35. 7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of gender low gender inequality, difference females – males:
PIRLS 2006
• PISA 2003
Luxemburg 3, Spain 4,
United States 10, international 17
Netherlands, Korea, Mexico (all 21),
United States 32, OECD average 34

36. 7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of social class
PIRLS 2001: low performance gap between children from families with more vs. less than 100 books:
• low performance gap between children in schools with low vs. high numbers of students from economically deprived homes:
Hong Kong 7, Cypress 11,
United States 32, international 32
Romania 6, Kuwait 3,
United States 73, international 40

37. 7) Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of social class
PISA:slope of socio-economic gradient:
• effect of schools’ socio-economic background on reading performance:
Japan, Korea (both 21),
United States 48, OECD average 41
Iceland 5, Finland 8,
United States 28, OECD average 32

38. Children have the right to equal educational opportunity, regardless of nationality
For the United States it was found in PIRLS and PISA that adolescents and children with and without a background of migration differed in their reading performance
– but in the range of the OECD average.

39.   “learning to live together” 8) Children have a right to favourable conditions in school to learn to live together in peace and harmony

40. “learning to live together”
Indicators from PIRLS 2006
Index of Student Safety in School
Principals‘ perception of school safety

41. “learning to live together”
Results from PIRLS 2006 (% of students)
• High level of Index of Student Safety in School
• High level of principals’ perception of school safety:
Norway 72, Sweden 70,
United States 48, intern. avg. 47
England 90, Hong Kong 88,
United States 77, intern. avg. 60

42. “learning to live together”
Indicators from PISA
Sense of belonging in school
Principals‘ report of student-related factors affecting school climate
Students feeling positive about learning in co-operative situations

43. “learning to live together”
Results from PISA 2000
• level of students’ sense of belonging in school:
• level of principals’ report of school climate:
• students feeling positive about learning in co- operative situations:
Sweden 527, Austria 526
United States 490, OECD average 500
Korea 0.92, Denmark 0.73
United States –0.23, OECD average 0.00
Denmark Portugal 2.98
United States 2.99, OECD average 2.70

44.   “learning to be” 9) Children have a right to learning environments that help them to develop positive self-related beliefs and confidence in their own learning abilities

45.   “learning to be” 9) Children have a right to learning environments that help them to develop positive self-related beliefs and confidence in their own learning abilities
Indicators from PIRLS and PISA
• self-concepts of reading
• reading for pleasure outside school daily
Indicators from PISA
• self-efficacy
• perception of students of how well school gave them confidence
okay

46. Index of students’ reading self concepts
“learning to be”
Index of students’ reading self concepts
• PIRLS 2006 (% of students with high level)
• PISA
Israel 63, Sweden, Austria (both 62),
United States 51, intern. average 49
Denmark 3.18, Italy 3.11,
United States 3.08, OECD average 2.92

47. Reading for fun outside school (% of students)
“learning to be”
Reading for fun outside school (% of students)
• PIRLS 2006: every day or almost every day
• PISA: daily for at least one hour
Russian Federation 58, Germany 53
United States 35 n.s. intern. avg. 40
Russian Federation 30, Greece 29
United States 12, OECD avg. 15

48. PISA 2000 • Self-efficacy Brazil 2.78, Mexico 2.76
“learning to be”
PISA 2000
• Self-efficacy
• “School helped give me confidence to make decisions” (% of students who agreed)
Brazil 2.78, Mexico 2.76
United States 2.56, OECD avg. 2.56
Indonesia 95, Thailand 95,
United States 79, OECD 72

49. Childrens` rights to literacy- how well are they realized?
United States belong to the top quarter in the country rankings regarding
● Home resources
● School contexts
Problem: lack of provisions for the 3- to 5-year- olds from low income families

50. Childrens` rights to literacy- how well are they realized?
Problems:
Motivation to read: attitude towards reading and reading for fun outside school should be fostered
School climate – safety in school

51. Problem: Students’ Attitudes Toward Reading7
Problem: Students’ Attitudes Toward Reading
Index based on students’ agreement with the following statements:
-          I read only if I have to (reverse code)
-          I like talking about books with other people
-          I would be happy if someone gave me a book as a
present
-          I think reading is boring (reverse coded)
-          I enjoy reading

52. Results for Students’ Attitudes Toward Reading
• PIRLS (2006)
High index
- internationally 51 (49) % of students
- United states 42 (40) % of students
• PISA 2000
- OECD average 0.00
- United States -0.13

53. Activities outside school PIRLS 2006
31% (40% in PISA) of the students reported that they never or almost never read for fun outside of school (18 % internationally)
18% of students watching TV or videos 5 hours and more (12% internationally)

54. Problems: achievement gaps
• Drop in achievement from elementary to secondary school
• Big achievement gap regarding the difference between 5th and 95th percentile (bigger in PISA than in PIRLS)
• Inequality of achievement between different socio-economic groups

55. UNESCO – Education for the 21st century
“Education is also an expression of affection for children and young people, whom we need to welcome into society, unreservedly offering them the place that is theirs by right therein” (Delors, 1998).

56. Thank you for your attention!

57. The power point tool of the PISA Task Force of IRA
National Reading Achievement: Using PISA/PIRLS Data for Informed Discussion
reports/pisa.html.
Members of the Task Force are Renate Valtin, Germany (chair), William Brozo, US, Maria Lourdes Dionisio, Portugal, Keith Topping, Scotland, Cathy Roller, IRA, Ann-Sofie Selin, Finland, Shlomo Alon, Israel, Lydia Dachkova, Bulgaria.