Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study 2011

The school background data files contain school principals' responses to the questions in the PIRLS 2011 school background questionnaires. Although school-level analyses where the schools are the units of analysis can be performed, it is preferable to analyze school-level variables as attributes of students. To perform student-level analyses with school data, the school background data files must be merged with the student background data files using the country and school identification variables.

The school background data files contain school principals' responses to the questions in the PIRLS 2011 school background questionnaires. Although school-level analyses where the schools are the units of analysis can be performed, it is preferable to analyze school-level variables as attributes of students. To perform student-level analyses with school data, the school background data files must be merged with the student background data files using the country and school identification variables.

The PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 student achievement data files contain the student responses to the individual achievement items in the PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 assessments. The student achievement data files are best suited for performing item-level analyses. Achievement scores (plausible values) for all of the PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 achievement scales are available in the student achievement data files, as well as in the student background data files and student-teacher linkage data files. Students who participated in PIRLS 2011 were administered one of 13 booklets and students in prePIRLS 2011 were administered one of 12 assessment booklets, each with two reading passages and their accompanying items. Some of these items were multiple choice items and some were constructed response items. The student achievement data files contain the actual responses to the multiple choice questions and the codes assigned to the constructed response items through the scoring guides.

Students who participated in PIRLS 2011 and prePIRLS 2011 were administered a background questionnaire with questions related to their home background, school experiences, and attitudes toward reading. The student background data files contain students' responses to these questions. They also contain students' reading achievement scores (plausible values) to facilitate analyses of relationships between student background characteristics and achievement. The student background data files also contain a number of identification variables, tracking variables, sampling and weighting variables, and derived variables that were used for producing exhibits in the international reports. These variables are described later in chapter 4 of the PIRLS 2011 User Guide.

The PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 student-teacher linkage data files contain information required to link the student and teacher data files. The student-teacher linkage data files contain one entry per student-teacher linkage combination in the data. For instance, if three teachers are linked to a student, there are three entries in the file corresponding to that student. The sole purpose of the student-teacher linkage data files is to link teacher-level data with student-level data to perform appropriate student-level analyses where teacher characteristics are considered as attributes of the students.

The teachers of the students who were sampled for PIRLS 2011 and prePIRLS 2011 were administered a questionnaire with questions pertaining to their background and their teaching practices in the classes of the sampled students. Each teacher was asked to respond to a questionnaire for each class taught that contained sampled students. The teacher background data files contain one record for each teacher and class combination. In the teacher background data files, each teacher has a unique identification number (IDTEACH) and a link number (IDLINK) that is specific to the class taught by the teacher and to which the information in the data record corresponds. The IDTEACH and IDLINK combination uniquely identifies, within a country, a teacher teaching a specific class. Thus, students linked to teachers identified by the same IDTEACH but different IDLINK are taught by the same teacher but in different classes. The teacher background data files cannot be merged directly with the student data files, and they do not contain sampling and weighting information, nor achievement scores.

It is important to note that the teachers in the teacher background data files do not constitute a representative sample of teachers in a country, but rather are the teachers who taught a representative sample of students. The teacher data, therefore, should be thought of as attributes of the students to which they are linked, and should be analyzed only in conjunction with the student-teacher linkage data files. Chapters 2 and 3 of the PIRLS 2011 User Guide describe student-level analyses combining the teacher data and the student-teacher linkage data files with the IEA IDB Analyzer software, as well as with SAS programs.

The PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 within-country scoring reliability data files contain data that can be used to investigate the reliability of the PIRLS and prePIRLS constructed response item scoring. The scoring reliability data files contain one record for each assessment booklet that was double scored during the within-country scoring reliability exercise (see Operations and Quality Assurance in Methods and Procedures in TIMSS and PIRLS 2011). For each constructed response item in the PIRLS and prePIRLS assessments, the following three variables are included in the scoring reliability data files:

• Original Score (score assigned by the first scorer);
• Second Score (score assigned by the second scorer); and
• Score Agreement (agreement between the two scorers). It should be noted that the second score data were used only to evaluate within-country scoring reliability and were not used in computing the achievement scores included in the International Database and presented in PIRLS 2011 International Results in Reading.

The school background data files contain school principals' responses to the questions in the PIRLS 2011 school background questionnaires. Although school-level analyses where the schools are the units of analysis can be performed, it is preferable to analyze school-level variables as attributes of students. To perform student-level analyses with school data, the school background data files must be merged with the student background data files using the country and school identification variables.

The school background data files contain school principals' responses to the questions in the PIRLS 2011 school background questionnaires. Although school-level analyses where the schools are the units of analysis can be performed, it is preferable to analyze school-level variables as attributes of students. To perform student-level analyses with school data, the school background data files must be merged with the student background data files using the country and school identification variables.

The PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 student achievement data files contain the student responses to the individual achievement items in the PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 assessments. The student achievement data files are best suited for performing item-level analyses. Achievement scores (plausible values) for all of the PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 achievement scales are available in the student achievement data files, as well as in the student background data files and student-teacher linkage data files. Students who participated in PIRLS 2011 were administered one of 13 booklets and students in prePIRLS 2011 were administered one of 12 assessment booklets, each with two reading passages and their accompanying items. Some of these items were multiple choice items and some were constructed response items. The student achievement data files contain the actual responses to the multiple choice questions and the codes assigned to the constructed response items through the scoring guides.

Students who participated in PIRLS 2011 and prePIRLS 2011 were administered a background questionnaire with questions related to their home background, school experiences, and attitudes toward reading. The student background data files contain students' responses to these questions. They also contain students' reading achievement scores (plausible values) to facilitate analyses of relationships between student background characteristics and achievement. The student background data files also contain a number of identification variables, tracking variables, sampling and weighting variables, and derived variables that were used for producing exhibits in the international reports. These variables are described later in chapter 4 of the PIRLS 2011 User Guide.

The PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 student-teacher linkage data files contain information required to link the student and teacher data files. The student-teacher linkage data files contain one entry per student-teacher linkage combination in the data. For instance, if three teachers are linked to a student, there are three entries in the file corresponding to that student. The sole purpose of the student-teacher linkage data files is to link teacher-level data with student-level data to perform appropriate student-level analyses where teacher characteristics are considered as attributes of the students.

The teachers of the students who were sampled for PIRLS 2011 and prePIRLS 2011 were administered a questionnaire with questions pertaining to their background and their teaching practices in the classes of the sampled students. Each teacher was asked to respond to a questionnaire for each class taught that contained sampled students. The teacher background data files contain one record for each teacher and class combination. In the teacher background data files, each teacher has a unique identification number (IDTEACH) and a link number (IDLINK) that is specific to the class taught by the teacher and to which the information in the data record corresponds. The IDTEACH and IDLINK combination uniquely identifies, within a country, a teacher teaching a specific class. Thus, students linked to teachers identified by the same IDTEACH but different IDLINK are taught by the same teacher but in different classes. The teacher background data files cannot be merged directly with the student data files, and they do not contain sampling and weighting information, nor achievement scores.

It is important to note that the teachers in the teacher background data files do not constitute a representative sample of teachers in a country, but rather are the teachers who taught a representative sample of students. The teacher data, therefore, should be thought of as attributes of the students to which they are linked, and should be analyzed only in conjunction with the student-teacher linkage data files. Chapters 2 and 3 of the PIRLS 2011 User Guide describe student-level analyses combining the teacher data and the student-teacher linkage data files with the IEA IDB Analyzer software, as well as with SAS programs.

The PIRLS and prePIRLS 2011 within-country scoring reliability data files contain data that can be used to investigate the reliability of the PIRLS and prePIRLS constructed response item scoring. The scoring reliability data files contain one record for each assessment booklet that was double scored during the within-country scoring reliability exercise (see Operations and Quality Assurance in Methods and Procedures in TIMSS and PIRLS 2011). For each constructed response item in the PIRLS and prePIRLS assessments, the following three variables are included in the scoring reliability data files:

• Original Score (score assigned by the first scorer);
• Second Score (score assigned by the second scorer); and
• Score Agreement (agreement between the two scorers). It should be noted that the second score data were used only to evaluate within-country scoring reliability and were not used in computing the achievement scores included in the International Database and presented in PIRLS 2011 International Results in Reading.