Life in contemporary society is based on acquiring new information and interpretation of the messages in our environment and the crucial activity that enables it is reading. The importance of this competency is illustrated by the fact that the biggest percent of financial resources for socio-humanistic disciplines is invested in the research of different reading processes (National Reading Panel, 2000). During the last decades research on reading competency has mainly been focused on reading as comprehension, usage and thinking about written materials for personal goal achievement as well as development of knowledge and potentials with the aim to participate in the society (Kirsch et al, 2002). That is to say, reading competency does not include only acquiring certain knowledge, but also the knowledge how to apply that knowledge (Pavlović-Babić & Baucal, 2009). This competency can be considered as educational capital that student needs in order to continue further schooling and to efficiently manage different role he/she will encounter in everyday world (Baucal, 2012). However, mastering the reading skill is strenuous, time-consuming and complex process.
One of the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) domains is precisely reading competency. This international study concerning education measures educational outcomes, specifically readiness of fifteen-year olds for life in the modern society (Baucal, 2012; OECD, 2010; Baucal & Pavlović-Babić, 2009). Findings of the last PISA cycle done in Serbia (2012) indicate that 33% of students in this country are functionally illiterate (Pavlović-Babić & Baucal, 2013). The average score that Serbian students achieved on the reading literacy scale was 442 points. This can be taken as very low result having in mind that the mean of this scale was 500 points. It is precisely this low student achievement that calls out for educational quality improvements and moves the focus away from simple knowledge transfer and on to its application.
The current research is a part of the international project, “REP-Synergy: Towards Improvement of Research Capacities Essential for Teacher Education and Practices in Serbia and Estonia”. The main focus of this paper is the relationship between teachers’ practice for classes of Serbian language (reading classes) and student achievement on PISA tasks. Specifically, in an effort to examine this relationship, we were concentrating on the association between students PISA achievements and strategies teaches use to engage students during reading tasks and in order to structure and scaffold the work on these tasks.

This two-part study used mix-methodology combining quantitative and qualitative analyses. In the quantitative study the sample was comprised of 115 high schools and gymnasiums that participated PISA 2009 cycle, which was the last PISA study that had reading literacy as the main domain. Student achievement on the reading tasks was taken as the dependent variable, while teaching practices for Serbian language classes as well as students’ and schools socioeconomic status were the independent variables. Assessment of teacher practices was done using two scales that were filled out by students. The first scale investigated strategies teachers use in order to encourage engagement in reading tasks (α=0,88), while the other explored practices employed in order to structure and scaffold reading (α=0,86). Within the second, qualitative, study two focus groups have been held, one with students and the other with the teachers both from eight grades from different primary schools in Serbia. It was decided to perform this part of the study with students and teachers in the last grade of primary school since students in the first grade of high school (PISA sample) only had couple of months with their high school teachers. In other words, we assumed that the base for student achievement has been made during the years they spent in primary school rather than during several months spent in high school. A trained interviewer led the focus groups using the guides developed based on the data obtained in the quantitative study. The themes that were covered in the student focus groups corresponded to those that were discussed with the teachers.

The data from the quantitative study has been analysed using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) with student and school level. Based on the obtained results we proposed a model with students’ socio-economic status on the student level. Whereas the significant factors on the school level were schools’ socio-economic status as well as both groups of investigated teacher practices in reading classes. The proposed model explained 25% of overall variance in student achievement, that is 24,26% on school level and 0,27% on the student level. These findings evidence the importance of teacher practices for reading engagement and work organization. Specifically, results indicated that students have the best achievements when teachers use a lot of practices for stimulation of reading engagement and sparingly those intended to structure and scaffold the work on reading tasks. The answers obtained during the focus groups will be analysed qualitatively. The focal point of this part of the study will be to verify the results obtained in the quantitative study. Moreover, we will investigate what are the strategies teachers and students indentify themselves and whether they recognize in their classes the strategies that were included in PISA questionnaires. The present study has important practical implications in that it could help in providing insights that could be used in devising trainings for teacher professional development.

Baucal, A. (2012). Ključne kompetencije mladih u Srbiji u PISA 2009 ogledalu. (Key competences of young people in Serbia in PISA 2009 mirror). Institut za psihologiju, Filozofski fakultet u Beogradu i Tim za socijalno uključivanje i smanjenje siromaštva Vlade Republike Srbije, Beograd. National Reading Panel Report (2000). Teaching children to read. An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instructions. Washington, DC: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. www.nationalreadingpanel.org Kirsh, I., de Jong, J., Lafontaine, D., McQueen, J., Mendelovits, J., Monseur, C. (2002): Reading for Change: Performance and Engagement across Countries, Paris: OECD Publications OECD (2010): PISA 2009 Results: What Students Know and Can Do, Paris: OECD. Pavlović Babić, D. & Baucal, A. (2009). Razumevanje pročitanog: određenje i testiranje. (Understanding Reading: Defining and Assessment). Ministarstvo Prosvete Republike Srbije, Zavod za vrednovanje kvaliteta obrazovanja i vaspitanja, Institut za psihologiju Filozofskog fakulteta u Beogradu.