Results from the latest cycle of the PIRLS assessment (that’s the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) show the literacy achievement of Year 4 students in Australia has improved. However, there are significant achievement gaps by gender, Indigenous status, socioeconomic status and school location. The Australian Council for Educational Research has just published the details in PIRLS 2016: Reporting Australia’s results and lead author of that report, ACER Deputy CEO (Research) Dr Sue Thomson, joins us now.