In this study we aim at evaluating the performance of students in 4th and 5th year of elementary school in the task of comprehension. The participants were 126 students of both sexes enrolled in a public school in Rio de Janeiro. We used two instruments to evaluate text comprehension: children should read the text and then answer questions related to it. It was observed that the students in 5th grade performed better than students in years 4 ° at all levels of text comprehension in the two instruments. Based on these results, we can say that students in the 5th year of elementary school reveal a better comprehension of texts than the students of 4th year. We perceive the importance of reading activities, in the school, since kindergarten. Besides, it is important to note the importance of teaching strategies necessary for proficient reading comprehension.
Reading comprehension; elementary education; academic achievement
