The 10 Steps to Success outlined below are designed to support your school’s appointed PIRLS School Coordinator (a member of school staff) to deliver the PIRLS assessment effectively. If you have any queries on any aspect of the study, please do not hesitate to contact the PIRLS Support Team.
The PIRLS Support Team will make initial contact with your school via a letter and welcome email addressed to the school’s Headteacher. Correspondence will request your participation in the study and allocate the school a PIRLS test date, please inform your Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and governors that the school has been selected. A member of the PIRLS Support Team will call the school to discuss the study and answer any questions.
Step 2: Registration and planning
To register for the study, complete the online PIRLS Main Study Registration Form linked in your welcome email, confirming key details, including school contact information and suitability of the proposed test date on the welcome letter. If the date is not suitable, please suggest alternative dates in the test window when you complete the Registration Form. The PIRLS Support Team will then confirm your alternative test date.
Depending on the size of your school, the total number of Year 5 pupils who attend the school and the sizes of your classes, one or more Year 5 classes will be selected to participate in PIRLS. The school will receive a Class List to populate with this information and the PIRLS Support Team will inform via email which class(es) have been selected.
Once the participating Year 5 classes have been selected, we’ll ask you to provide a list of the names and details of pupils within the selected classes. The School Coordinator will be sent a document to populate with the data, called a Pupil List. We will also ask the School Coordinator to work with the school’s SENCo to provide any relevant SEN information. The Pupil List document should be submitted to the PIRLS Support Team securely, who will then confirm the final list of pupils who will complete the PIRLS assessment on the test date.
We ask the school to run some simple IT checks ahead of the test date, to ensure the delivery of the PIRLS assessment is as seamless as possible. The School Coordinator will receive instructions via email to complete: 1) a School Readiness Diagnostic Check and 2) an Assessment Platform Check, with a log in to ensure pupils can access the test platform.
Step 6: Parent/guardian letters
The PIRLS Support Team will provide the School Coordinator with a letter template to inform the parents/guardians of the selected pupils about the PIRLS study and relevant data protection information. The letter can be shared via email or print. After an allotted time for parents/guardians to respond, inform the PIRLS Support Team of any parents/guardians who request their child to be opted out and the final total number of pupils participating.
An important purpose of PIRLS is to understand the community, school, and pupil factors that influence reading achievement.
A member of the School Leadership Team or the Headteacher/Principal is asked to complete a School Questionnaire as part of the PIRLS study to provide some information about the school context. Instructions and log in details will be provided via email, to be distributed to the relevant person.
The Year 5 teacher(s) of the assessed classes are also asked to complete a Teacher Questionnaire. The questionnaire asks about the teacher education, professional development, and teaching experience. It also asks about pedagogy, pupils’ readiness for instruction and assessment practices for reading.
At least two weeks before the test date, the PIRLS Support Team will confirm the name and email addresses of any Test Administrator(s) who will visit the school on the PIRLS test date to support its delivery. The Test Administrator will be the contact person for the School Coordinator to discuss test day arrangements, logistics and relevant safeguarding protocols ahead of time. Once details are finalised, participating pupils and their teachers should be reminded of assessment location and start time.
PIRLS assessment materials will be sent via post for the School Coordinator to check all is present and accurate and store in a secure location for use on the test day.
On the day of the PIRLS study, we ask that the School Coordinator is available to greet the Test Administrator(s) on arrival, accompany to and from the allocated room(s) and assist with confirming pupils’ attendance.
The delivery of assessment and pupil questionnaire should follow the planned schedule and every pupil should receive their certificate upon completion. Any important documentation used in the delivery of the test day should be photocopied and the original given to the Test Administrator.
Running order of the assessment day:
The PIRLS Support Team will send an online Honorarium Form, requesting the Finance Manager to provide school bank details to claim the school’s administration payment as a thank you for participating. A School Coordinator Survey will also be shared, to offer an opportunity to provide feedback about the PIRLS experience.
