Reading matters

Just as the number of words a pre-schooler hears before the age of five is important, so too is the amount of reading a student does.

In 2009, Kelly Gallagher, English teacher and writing project director in California, noted that “by providing a wide and deep reading experience, we actually help students raise their test scores.” This makes sense. We know that when adults read more, they know more. The same holds true for children, even for test taking.

For example, in a reading study of fifth graders conducted in 1998, researchers found a strong connection between time spent reading and student performance on standardized reading tests. Fifth graders who spent 90 minutes of reading per day ranked at 98% on the tests and read almost 5 million words a year. Other fifth graders who read almost 13 minutes a day, ranked at 50% with about 600,000 words read a year.

This strong correlation between reading and test scores also holds true for 12th graders. In a 2007 study by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), researchers discovered that students who read the most for fun scored the highest on standardized reading tests. Those high school students who read for fun almost every day made the highest averages while those who hardly read for pleasure scored the lowest.

We know that reading, then, is important at every grade level in school, from pre-school to senior year. However, according to the NEA study, too many students spend about two hours or more a day watching TV or playing video/computer games but read less than seven minutes a day. Although our culture says that being able to read well is important, this message does not seem to be getting through to many in school.

What is a parent to do?

Well, for starters, parents should read every day to their pre-school children for 15 to 20 minutes at least. For K-3 pupils, parents can continue reading aloud and can ask their children to read to them as well, even if it is “reading” the pictures in a book. For students in grades 4-12, parents can set aside at least 20 minutes a day at home for reading for pleasure.

Anything that encourages children to read will help to build a lifelong reading habit. This habit will hold our children in good stead as they become citizens who know how to read and write well.