Performance of Iranian students from the view Point of Progress in International Reading Literacy

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) is a study conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) which aims to evaluate fourth grade students' reading achievement. The study is repeated every five years, therefore PIRLS 2001 and PIRLS 2006 have been completed and preparations are being done for PIRLS 2011.PIRLS was first administered in 2001 and included 35 countries, and was administered again in 2006 to students in 45 educational systems. PIRLS assesses the reading literacy of children in their fourth year of formal schooling.. Literacy performance of  Iranian students in PIRLS2001, (414) and 2006 (421) was  below the international mean (500) respectively. But the trend in the performance of students in 2006  rather than PIRLS 2001 was improved(7 points). The progress in literary texts have been better. The most important factors in improving the literacy of students, were  parents  educational activities, changing the content of textbooks and teaching methods .