A study that includes several Latin American countries concludes that six out of ten vulnerable students in primary schools in Argentina do not reach the minimum reading level. On the other hand, among the students with the greatest resources, just over 25% remain at that same level. The data comes from the report “Reading and inequality. Comparisons between Argentina and Latin America” prepared by the Observatory of Argentines for Education, authored by Guillermina Tiramonti (FLACSO), Eugenia Orlicki y Martin Nistal (Observatory of Argentines for Education).
The study analyzes the results of the 2019 Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (ERCE) of Reading in third grade in Argentina in comparison with the rest of the Latin American countries and by socioeconomic level. In the ERCE test, coordinated by UNESCO, 16 countries of the region participated.
In Argentina, 46% of third grade primary school students are in the lowest reading level (level I) according to the ERCE regional test, but the figure rises to 61.5% among students in the lowest socioeconomic level tercile , while it drops to 26.3% among students in the tercile with the highest socioeconomic level.
According to the score obtained, the test groups students into four levels. When reading age-appropriate texts, students in levels II through IV are able to at least locate information or relationships presented literally and make inferences from suggested, highlighted, or repeated information. Students in level I are not able to do it. In Argentina, only 1 in 10 students (14%) is in the highest performance level (level IV) in reading. For the region, the average is 2 out of 10 students (21%) at that level. In Brazil (30%) and Peru (30.8%), 3 out of 10 students reach the highest level.
In all countries that participated in the test, students’ reading learning level is associated with socioeconomic status: students in the highest tercile outperform their peers in the lowest tercile. This does not mean that all students with higher resources obtain good results: in Argentina, only 26.4% of students in the highest socioeconomic tercile reach the best performance in reading (level IV). In countries such as Costa Rica (47.4%), Brazil (48.1%), and Peru (50.6%), about half of the students in the highest tercile achieve this level of performance.
“Third grade reading results illustrate the difficulties of all countries in the region to incorporate their entire population into the literate culture. Including this learning process is a task that requires a strong commitment from those who govern. In Latin America this effort is greater because in many cases boys from poorly educated populations are joining, very foreign to the school culture,” explained Tiramonti, co-author of the report, adding: “It is notable that a country like Argentina, which was built as a modern society based on its educational offer, today disbelieves the value of this factor and relegates part of its population to illiteracy”.
“The data shown in the report regarding the learning to read of boys and girls in our country are worrying and, especially, how this deepens in the most vulnerable sectors. It is a reality that we see in popular neighborhoods. After the pandemic, we had to create support spaces to accompany the boys and girls in this learning process. It also happens that many mothers and fathers do not have the tools to support them with their homework. It is necessary to attend to and put this topic as a priority on the agenda, and develop policies that make it possible to guarantee a better education, focusing on those who suffer the greatest inequalities,” he added for his part. grace zenasneighborhood reference and worker of the popular economy.
When compared with the previous test (TERCE 2013), only six countries managed to maintain or improve their position in third grade reading results between 2013 and 2019. The greatest advances were recorded in the average score of students from Brazil (+5.1%) and Peru (+4.7%). The biggest drops occurred in Argentina (-2%) and Guatemala (-3.2%). According to Irene Kit, president of the Education for All Civil Association, “it is hopeful to analyze the situation of countries in the region that, with a lower or similar range of GDP, achieve the same or better results. Brazil, a huge, varied country with a federal government like Argentina, has achieved a substantial improvement”.
In most countries there is a positive correlation between learning outcomes and the level of wealth measured by GDP per capita. However, with an average of 689 points on the test, Argentina performs worse than countries with similar levels of GDP per capita such as Brazil (748 points), Cuba (730) and Mexico (713 points). Several countries with lower GDP per capita perform better, such as Peru (753), Colombia (715), Ecuador (699), and El Salvador (697).
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