U.S. Idles on International Reading Test

Educational reforms aimed at improving reading achievement appear to be having an impact in Russia, Hong Kong, and Singapore, which rose from the middle of the pack to top rankings over the past five years on an international assessment of literacy skills, according to results released today.

American 4th graders, meanwhile, did not show progress, despite spending more time on reading lessons than their peers in most other countries. Still, they outscored children in 22 of 39 other nations that took part in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study , or PIRLS.

“The United States had a respectable showing in that they were outperformed only by seven countries, and the trend shows some stability in results,” said Ina V.S. Mullis, who co-directs PIRLS with Michael O....