Examining Student and School Factors Predicting Reading Literacy in Saudi Arabia: Evidence from PISA 2022

Abstract

This study investigated student- and school-level factors associated with reading literacy among Saudi Arabian students using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022. The sample comprised 6,928 15-year-old students nested within 193 schools. Two-level hierarchical linear modeling was used to partition variation in reading literacy between students and schools and to estimate the independent associations of six student-level and five school-level predictors. At the student level, higher economic, social, and cultural status, higher expected occupational status, and greater availability of information and communication technology resources at home were positively associated with reading literacy, whereas male students scored lower than female students. Duration in early childhood education and sense of belonging were not statistically significant. At the school level, school type was the only statistically significant predictor: students in private independent schools had higher adjusted reading literacy scores than those in public schools. School location, school size, and perceived shortages of educational materials and staff were not statistically significant. Although the measured predictors substantially reduced between-school variation, a significant school-level effect remained. The findings highlight the importance of socioeconomic and cultural inequalities, gender differences, occupational expectations, access to ICT resources, and school-sector disparities in understanding reading literacy in Saudi Arabia, while underscoring that the observed relationships are predictive rather than causal.