This article addresses the contentious issue of changes in literacy levels, by outlining the results obtained by New Zealand students in international surveys conducted by IEA over the past three decades. New Zealand students have traditionally achieved at high levels in these surveys, but the 1991 PIRLS survey seemed to suggest that standards were declining, because the country's ranking dropped to 13th place. While the media and some critics saw this as a cause for concern, the evidence shows that New Zealand reading standards have remained remarkably stable over the past 30 years, despite enormous increases in the numbers of immigrants and ESOL children in schools. It is argued that a nation's rank order can be misleading if certain technical assumptions are not met, and that the PIRLS survey had real difficulties in achieving good comparable samples in each country. Numerous findings in these surveys are quoted to indicate that the New Zealand tradition of teaching reading is effective. Nevertheless, the large gender and ethnic differences in literacy are a continuing cause for concern.