Multilevel analysis of PIRLS 2006 data for Italy

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 secondary study is to explore the relationship between these indices at school as well as pupil levels and the Rasch-scaled score for overall reading achievement. A multilevel analysis was conducted using two levels, the home/student level nested under the school/teacher level following a four-stage procedure. Results show that pupils’ attainment in reading is significantly related to home educational resources (home/student level effect), to the parents’ attitudes toward reading (home/student level effect), to students’ attitudes toward reading, to students’ reading self-concept and to teacher career satisfaction (school/teacher level).