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Children from minority backgrounds improved in Norwegian reading tests: agency

The Local Norway
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Children from minority backgrounds improved in Norwegian reading tests: agency
File photo: Berit Roald / NTB scanpix

The performance of children from immigrant backgrounds in Norwegian national reading tests has improved, but is still below the overall level.

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Children who have moved to Norway from other countries achieve the worst results in the country's national reading tests, news agency NTB reports. But an improvement for children within the category did take place between 2016 and 2017, according to figures published by Statistics Norway.

In 2016, 43 percent of children with immigrant backgrounds scored within the lowest range on the test. That proportion fell to 39 percent in 2017, according to the figures.

The statistics are based on reading tests take by children aged 12-13 years, or in the fifth grade of the Norwegian school system.

Norwegian-born children with parents who are immigrants also showed a year-on-year improvement in scores, with the proportion in the lowest range falling from 39 to 36 percent.

For all other children, the percentage was 23 points in 2016 and 22 points in 2017.

For English reading tests, the difference was smaller between the groups as well as being almost unchanged compared to 2016.

37 percent of children with immigrant backgrounds scored in the lowest range for English, while 21 percent of other children fell into that category.

According to Statistics Norway, the education level of parents is an important factor in the performance of children in the reading tests.

Children of parents with higher education levels achieve higher average scores in the test, the agency found.

READ ALSO: Norwegian teens over the hump in global school rankings

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