Kids &amp; Family Reading Report™. 5th Edition
Author: Scholastic Inc.
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Childhood Attitudes,Student Attitudes,Parent Attitudes,Reading Attitudes,Reading Aloud to Others,Reading Habits,Recreational Reading,Independent Reading,Socioeconomic Influences,Parent Child Relationship,Children,Adolescents,Reading Materials,Surveys,Attitude Measures,Predictor Variables,Educational Environment,Family Environment,Reading Skills,Reading Material Selection,Electronic Publishing,Individual Characteristics,Age Differences,Gender Differences,Racial Differences,Ethnic Groups,Marital Status,Family Income,Educational Attainment,Parents,Elementary Secondary Education

This report presents the 5th Edition of Scholastic's biannual study of children's and parents' attitudes and behaviors about reading. The latest research touches on reading aloud to children of all ages, the impact of reading independently for fun at school and at home, the importance of frequent reading, and the books children want most to read. Frequent readers are defined as children who read books for fun 5 or more days a week, compared to infrequent readers, who read less than one day a week. Children who read frequently say they enjoy reading, have parents who are frequent readers, and strongly believe that reading for fun is important. Among older frequent readers, this can lead to reading up to eight times as many books annually as infrequent readers, and, to stronger results in school. Independent reading is supported widely by teachers. The research found that 33% of children ages 6 to 17 say their class has a designated time during the school day to read independently, but only 17% do this every or almost every school day. This opportunity is particularly important for children from lower-income homes who are more likely than their higher-income peers to read books for fun in school and far less likely to read books outside of school. While both children and parents agree that reading skills are the most important skills kids can have, children are reading somewhat less often than they did four years ago. In the home, especially for older children, reading competes with games on smartphones or computers, while at school, the majority of kids do not have a dedicated time for independent reading. It is known that reading aloud to a young child is a wonderful bonding moment, but the research also shows that reading aloud to children all the way up to age 11 is a powerful predictor that children will become frequent readers. While 73% of parents with children ages 0 to 5 say they started reading aloud to their children before age one, only 30% say they began before the age of 3 months, in accord with the recent recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics that parents read aloud to children starting at birth. Kids love it: 83% of children of all ages surveyed say they loved or liked a lot being read aloud to and 40% of kids ages 6 to 11 whose parents have stopped reading aloud to them say they wish their parents had continued. Kids ages 6 to 17 report that they want books that make them laugh (70%), and 91% agree &quot;my favorite books are the ones that I have picked out myself.&quot; For Scholastic, it is encouraging that many children in the study rate school book clubs and school book fairs as important ways to find books they want to choose, read, and own--second only to finding books though the library. The following are appended: (1) Methodology; (2) Demographics of the Sample; (3) Subgroup Sample Sizes; and (4) Expanded Survey Responses. [For &quot;Kids &amp; Family Reading Report™. 4th Edition,&quot; see ED562674.]