Concern over worldwide literacy rates prompted the United Nations to establish the UN Literacy Decade (2003-2012) with one area of focus being to provide support to schools to develop effective literacy programs (UNESCO, 2005). This study addressed the area of providing support to schools to develop effective literacy programs by exploring the relationship between an instructional reading framework (the Interactive Reading and Learning from Text instructional framework) (Singer & Donlan, 1989) and reading achievement on a fourth grade reading assessment (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2006). This study created a construct of the Interactive Reading and Learning from Text instructional framework using variables in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) database (Mullis et al., 2007). Through initial and follow-up exploratory analyses, factor, discriminant, and regression analyses along with analysis of variance techniques were used to explore the relationship between the instructional framework and reading performance on the fourth grade assessment. The initial core analyses investigated five countries (USA, England, Scotland, New Zealand, and Singapore) individually and combined and found that while the instructional framework discriminated well at the top end and at the lower end of the benchmark scale, it did not discriminant well in the middle categories, the overall classification ability was low and the amount of variance explained was low. The follow-up exploratory analyses investigated two educational systems (USA and British made up of England, Scotland, and New Zealand), collapsed the benchmark categories from five to three and created a Singer-like program implementation index. The exploratory analyses found that the best overall conceptualization of the instructional framework was when reading instruction occurred early and frequently, and involved word recognition instruction, comprehension instruction, and motivation to read activities. This conceptualization also found that the instructional framework worked best in particular situations such as with below average readers in urban settings in the USA. Five topics from the major findings are discussed: 1) what the results indicate about interpreting international literacy benchmark scores between countries; 2) the predictive power of the ten instructional variables; 3) the variability of the performance profiles by subgroup combinations; 4) what the results indicate about the elements of reading instruction; and, 5) the use of international literacy assessments in policy decisions. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]