YESTERDAY, THE EDUCATIONAL Research Centre released details of how well Ireland’s second and sixth classes can read and do maths.

The results are largely positive, the research showed, as Ireland’s children surpassed targets that had been set for 2020.

Here are the graphs and charts that show we’re doing:

Second class students are getting better at reading:

As are sixth classes:

Everybody is getting better at maths:

Children in disadvantaged schools are doing better than five years ago, but are still lagging behind.

Sean O’Foghlu of the Department of Education said that the improvement is down to “teachers, parents and students” but acknowledged that there is work to be done, particularly in closing the gap between disadvantaged schools and their counterparts.

Last year, there were “significant but small” gender differences observed in second class, favouring girls on English reading and boys on mathematics.

But the report said that “gender differences at sixth class were not statistically significant”

Read: Our primary school pupils are getting better at reading and maths