Linking the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading to the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)

This paper describes a statistical linking between the 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Grade 4 reading and the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) in Grade 4 reading. The primary purpose of the linking study is to obtain a statistical comparison between NAEP (a national assessment) and PIRLS (an international assessment). By expressing both assessments in the same metric, the linking study can provide international benchmarks for the NAEP Grade 4 reading achievement levels. At each level, the linking shows that the NAEP Grade 4 reading achievement levels are higher than the PIRLS international benchmarks. This finding provides one piece of validity evidence that NAEP results are internationally competitive.