The project aims 1) to examine the place and inclusion of HK in the network of international reading assessment and promoting collaboration among governments of different countries and jurisdictions on reading assessment policies; 2) to measure the reading literacy attainment of students and comparing these against the attainment of counterparts in other countries / jurisdictions; 3) to compare teachers' instructional practices against those used by teachers in other countries/jurisdictions and investigating their effectiveness in nurturing students' reading ability; 4) to examine educational policies and practices against globally-defined reading literacy benchmarks; 5) to examine the effectiveness of elementary school education and early reading instruction in schools in promoting reading literacy among primary-age students; 6) to investigate the factors that affect students' literacy performance and how they affect reading literacy attainment; 7) to track changes in HK students' reading literacy in PIRLS 2001, PIRLS 2006 and PIRLS 2011; 8) to investigate local factors (including but not limited to pedagogical practices with regard to reading instruction and assessment, curriculum reform and other reform measures introduced by the Education Bureau) that have caused changes in students' reading literacy performance in 2011 compared with standards in PIRLS 2001 and PIRLS 2006; and 9) to propose measures to improve and foster students' reading literacy by making comparisons against students in high-performing countries/jurisdictions.