An interesting report just came out at the end of 2014, titled “What Kids are Reading and Why it Matters” and distributed by Renaissance Learning. The study includes data from 9.8 million students across America who read over 330 million books last year. It gives loads of information regarding fiction and non-fiction book preferences by young people at every level, from grades 1-12.
The study finds that “On average, students read the most books in grades 2 and 3 (about 57 and 51 per year, respectively), and the fewest in grades 11 and 12 (about 5 per year).” While this could be explained by the fact that children’s books are much shorter than those read by high schoolers, another interesting statistic offers additional insight: “The average number of words students read in books per year...rises each year until its peak at about 436,000 in grade 6, and then decreases to the low 300,000s by the end of high school.” Therefore, as students get older, and presumably smarter, they are actually reading much less. As a college professor, I consider this a major problem that speaks to the overwhelming evidence (to which I will refer again in subsequent posts) of high school students’ lack of preparedness for college, particularly in reading and writing skills. Students need to be reading much more the older they get.
Another interesting discovery described in the report is that the “data indicate that girls typically encounter about 761,000 more words in books than boys by the time they finish the 12th grade—a 25% difference. The advantages in vocabulary exposure and practice enjoyed by girls may help explain their superior performance on a number of reading-achievement tests.” Girls are reading much more than boys, and thus are outperforming boys in most high school and college measurements, such as GPA, high school and college graduation rates, and even graduate degree attainment. We as educators need to do a better job of helping boys get more excited about reading. As the report shows, boys tend to like non-fiction books more than fiction, and based on the lists provided, it’s easy to see why. The non-fiction lists tend to include works about sports, the military, or other dangerous or adventurous activities. Boys even like three different books by the Duck Dynasty gang. However, when examining the grade 9-12 fiction lists (excluding those works probably required by teachers, such as The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, The Scarlet Letter, etc.), it’s easy to see a dearth of male-oriented books. Many of the most popular books chosen by students outside the classroom are written by females and have female lead characters (e.g. Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games series) or have relationship-themed plots, like those of John Green. We need to do a better job of writing fiction for guys. I know that is very un-PC, but if we want boys to get more excited about English, that’s what probably needs to happen. Creating male characters who are tough, smart, and adventurous (in other words, those who look more like the non-fiction personalities boys prefer) should be the goal of emerging YA authors.
Author Andrew Clements, in a brief essay within the report, writes about the importance and ultimate purpose of reading: “Reading has always been about the freedom to think for oneself. Teaching a slave to read in the Old South was considered a crime, but brave people broke those laws. Historically, reading has always been a critical step along the path to moral, physical, and intellectual freedom—and it still is. Reading matters.”
This is an interesting report for future or current teachers who are seeking ways to grow the love of reading in their classrooms. What trends do you see among young readers?
The study finds that “On average, students read the most books in grades 2 and 3 (about 57 and 51 per year, respectively), and the fewest in grades 11 and 12 (about 5 per year).” While this could be explained by the fact that children’s books are much shorter than those read by high schoolers, another interesting statistic offers additional insight: “The average number of words students read in books per year...rises each year until its peak at about 436,000 in grade 6, and then decreases to the low 300,000s by the end of high school.” Therefore, as students get older, and presumably smarter, they are actually reading much less. As a college professor, I consider this a major problem that speaks to the overwhelming evidence (to which I will refer again in subsequent posts) of high school students’ lack of preparedness for college, particularly in reading and writing skills. Students need to be reading much more the older they get.
Another interesting discovery described in the report is that the “data indicate that girls typically encounter about 761,000 more words in books than boys by the time they finish the 12th grade—a 25% difference. The advantages in vocabulary exposure and practice enjoyed by girls may help explain their superior performance on a number of reading-achievement tests.” Girls are reading much more than boys, and thus are outperforming boys in most high school and college measurements, such as GPA, high school and college graduation rates, and even graduate degree attainment. We as educators need to do a better job of helping boys get more excited about reading. As the report shows, boys tend to like non-fiction books more than fiction, and based on the lists provided, it’s easy to see why. The non-fiction lists tend to include works about sports, the military, or other dangerous or adventurous activities. Boys even like three different books by the Duck Dynasty gang. However, when examining the grade 9-12 fiction lists (excluding those works probably required by teachers, such as The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, The Scarlet Letter, etc.), it’s easy to see a dearth of male-oriented books. Many of the most popular books chosen by students outside the classroom are written by females and have female lead characters (e.g. Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games series) or have relationship-themed plots, like those of John Green. We need to do a better job of writing fiction for guys. I know that is very un-PC, but if we want boys to get more excited about English, that’s what probably needs to happen. Creating male characters who are tough, smart, and adventurous (in other words, those who look more like the non-fiction personalities boys prefer) should be the goal of emerging YA authors.
Author Andrew Clements, in a brief essay within the report, writes about the importance and ultimate purpose of reading: “Reading has always been about the freedom to think for oneself. Teaching a slave to read in the Old South was considered a crime, but brave people broke those laws. Historically, reading has always been a critical step along the path to moral, physical, and intellectual freedom—and it still is. Reading matters.”
This is an interesting report for future or current teachers who are seeking ways to grow the love of reading in their classrooms. What trends do you see among young readers?