Less pleasure in reading

A new report from Common Sense Media finds that though American children spend part of their days reading, they spend less time reading for pleasure than decades ago, and have significant gaps in proficiency, writes Andrew Seaman for Reuters. The report analyzes information from several national studies and finds the percentage of nine-year-old children reading for pleasure once or more per week dropped from 81 percent in 1984 to 76 percent in 2013. A third of 13-year-olds and half of 17-year-olds reported they read for pleasure less than twice a year. Of those who read or are read to, children now spend on average between 30 to 60 minutes daily. The report also found only a third of fourth grade students are proficient in reading, but another third scored below basic reading skills. Yet scores among young children have improved since the 1970s, according to one test that measures reading ability. Reading scores among 17-year-olds remained relatively unchanged. About 46 percent of white children are proficient in reading, compared with 18 percent of black children and 20 percent of Hispanic. These gaps are relatively unchanged over the past 20 years. The report highlights behaviors tied to children being more frequent readers, which include parents setting aside time to read with children and reading themselves. More

Source:  Public Education News Blast

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