An evaluation of factors influencing reading literacy across Italian 4th grade students

Questionnaire data from the PIRLS 2006 study in Italy provided a number of indices in order to summarize factors of educational context influencing reading achievement. The aim of the present paper is to study the relationships between school factors, teacher factors, family factors, student factors and reading achievement by means of multilevel regression analysis. Results show that pupils’ attainment in reading is significantly related to: (1) home educational resources (home/student level effect); (2) parents’ attitudes toward reading (home/student level effect); (3) students’ attitudes toward reading; (4) students’ reading self-concept; and (5) teacher career satisfaction (school/teacher level).