Thirty-five countries participated in PIRLS 2001, IEA´s new state-of-the-art Progress in International Reading Literacy Study at the fourth grade (9- and 10-year-olds). With 150,000 students tested, PIRLS 2001 is the first in a planned 5-year cycle of international trend studies in reading literacy. Directed by the International Study Center at Boston College, PIRLS consists of a carefully-constructed test assessing a range of reading comprehension strategies for two major reading purposes - literary and informational. Countries´ reading achievement results are in the PIRLS 2001 International Report, together with data on students´ home and school experiences in learning to read. The PIRLS 2001 Encyclopedia contains information provided by each participating country about its reading education.