- Kids who say they enjoy reading are more likely to score well on reading assessments than those students who identify themselves as nonreaders.
- Regular reading outside of prescribed “reading for school” has also been linked with higher test scores.
- Reading, more than any other skill, is associated with total academic success.
- Choice is motivating - not just in reading, but in all aspects of both academic and non academic life.
All of that said, what really irks me about this article is that by devoting time to the notion that SAT scores have been damaged by the pleasure reading habits of students, we ignore the REAL issues that are actually impacting student achievement. We (meaning our students) would be better served by a dialogue that focused on things like:
- Recent (and obscene) cuts to federal, state and local education budgets which have resulted in much bigger classes and far fewer resources.
- Disparities in available technology (and other) resources between poor/affluent schools.
- The recession and the resulting increase in students living in poverty coupled with...
- The lack of training teachers receive in how to deal with the impact of poverty on student learning/development.
- And, oh I don’t know, the virtual elimination of school library budgets/jobs in many districts – leaving kids with fewer options and less support in developing the very reading habits that have been proven time and time again to be essential in promoting student achievement.