Some eye-openers

Reading appears to be on the decline in our country. There are many possible causes, including yes, the availability of media. But there are also cultural issues. Our boys, especially, struggle with reading more than ever before, and part of this is a perception that just sitting and reading is a "girl thing" and not a masculine activity. 

Here are a few statistics to help illustrate the impact of reading on every part of life:

According to the literacy fast facts from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), literacy is defined as "using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential."
"One measure of literacy is the percentage of adults who perform at four achievement levels: Below Basic, Basic, Intermediate, and Proficient. In each type of literacy, 13 percent of adults were at or above Proficient (indicating they possess the skills necessary to perform complex and challenging literacy activities) in 2003. Twenty-two percent of adults were Below Basic (indicating they possess no more than the most simple and concrete literacy skills) in quantitative literacy, compared with 14 percent in prose literacy and 12 percent in document literacy."

Literacy statistics worldwide

• According to UNICEF, "Nearly a billion people will enter the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names and two thirds of them are women."

Literacy statistics and juvenile court

• 85 percent of all juveniles who interface with the juvenile court system are functionally illiterate.
• More than 60 percent of all prison inmates are functionally illiterate.
• Penal institution records show that inmates have a 16% chance of returning to prison if they receive literacy help, as opposed to 70% who receive no help. This equates to taxpayer costs of $25,000 per year per inmate and nearly double that amount for juvenile offenders.
• Illiteracy and crime are closely related. The Department of Justice states, "The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure." Over 70% of inmates in America's prisons cannot read above a fourth grade level.

Many of the USA ills are directly related to illiteracy. Just a few statistics:

• Literacy is learned. Illiteracy is passed along by parents who cannot read or write.
• One child in four grows up not knowing how to read.
• 43% of adults at Level 1 literacy skills live in poverty compared to only 4% of those at Level 5
• 3 out of 4 food stamp recipients perform in the lowest 2 literacy levels
• 90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts
• 16 to 19 year old girls at the poverty level and below, with below average skills, are 6 times more likely to have out-of-wedlock children than their reading counterparts.
• Low literary costs $73 million per year in terms of direct health care costs. A recent study by Pfizer put the cost much higher.
  
  Source: Begin to Read
  
  But wait, there's more:
  
  
  A great number of children and adults struggle with reading.
  
• Thirty-three percent of 4th grade public school students are at or below the “Basic” level on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading tests. Twenty-six percent of 8th grade public school students performed at or below the “Basic” level on the NAEP reading test (NCES, 2009).
• Among 4th graders, 53 percent of African American students, 52 percent of Hispanic students, and 48 percent of American Indian students scored below the “Basic” level on the NAEP reading test. Among 8th graders, 44 percent of African American students, 41 percent of Hispanic students, and 37 percent of American Indian students scored below the “Basic” level on the NAEP reading test (NCES, 2009).
• Forty-nine percent of 4th graders eligible for free and reduced-price meals finished below “Basic” on the NAEP reading test. Forty percent of 8th graders eligible for free and reduced-price meals scored below “Basic” on the NAEP reading test (NCES, 2009).
• The number of high school seniors who read at or above “Proficient” has been declining since 1992, according to the NAEP reading test (NCES, 2002).

Children of all ages need year-round access to books and increased reading motivation.

• Fifty-three percent of 4th graders report that they read for fun on their own “Almost Every Day.” Among 8th graders, only 20 percent report reading for fun on their own “Almost Every Day” (NCES, 2009).
• Fourth graders who reported reading for fun “Almost Every Day” scored 3 percent higher (215) on the NAEP reading test than peers who reported reading “Never or Hardly Ever” (195) (NCES, 2009).
• Fourth graders who reported having 25 books or more at home had higher scores on reading tests than children who reported they didn’t have that many books (NCES, 2003).
• During the summer break, low-income students lose more than two months of reading achievement (Cooper, 1996).
• About two-thirds of the 9th grade achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities during the elementary school years. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (Alexander et al., 2007).
• Parents consistently cite summer as the most difficult time to ensure that their children have productive things to do (Duffett et al., 2004).

Families play an important role in their children’s reading success.

• Forty-three percent of adults read at or below the “Basic” level. This accounts for roughly 93 million individuals (NAAL, 2003).
• Twenty-six percent of children who were read to three or four times in the last week by a family member recognized all letters of the alphabet. This is compared to 14 percent of children who were read to less frequently (NEA, 2009).
• Where parent involvement is low, the classroom mean average is 46 points below the national average. Where involvement is high, classrooms score 28 points above the national average—a gap of 74 points (NEA, 2009).
• Less than half of families read to their kindergarten-age children on a daily basis (West et al., 2000). 

Source: Reading is Fundamental 

I'm not done yet:

The following statistics and quotes from Dan Gioia, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, are from the 2007 NEA Report “To Read or Not To Read,” a comprehensive analysis of reading patterns of children, teenagers, and adults in the United States, which assembled data on reading trends from more than 40 sources, including federal agencies, universities, foundations, and associations. The compendium expands the investigation of the NEA’s landmark 2004 report, “Reading at Risk”:

“The fact that nearly one-third of American teenagers drop out of school is deeply connected to declining literacy and reading comprehension. With lower levels of reading and writing ability, people do less well in the job market. Poor reading skills correlate heavily with lack of employment, lower wages, and fewer opportunities for advancement. Significantly worse reading skills are found among prisoners than in the general adult population. And deficient readers are less likely to become active in civic and cultural life, most notably in volunteerism and voting…. The habit of daily reading overwhelmingly correlates with better reading skills and higher academic achievement. On the other hand, poor reading skills correlate with lower levels of financial and job success…. Regular reading not only boosts the likelihood of an individual’s academic and economic success—facts that are not especially surprising—but it also seems to awaken a person’s social and civic sense. Reading correlates with almost every measurement of positive personal and social behavior surveyed.” -– Dana Gioia, Chairman, NEA

* Children who read well do better in other subjects, and in all aspects of school and beyond.

* Reading skills correspond directly to one’s ability to…
- be an informed citizen
- communicate effectively
- earn a higher salary
- succeed in one’s chosen career, and
- achieve personal fulfillment * Literary readers are:
-  3 times as likely to attend a performing arts event
-  4 times as likely to visit an art museum
-  2 1/2 times as likely to do volunteer or charity work
-  1 1/2 times as likely to attend sporting events, and
-  1 ½ times as likely to participate in sports activities.

* Less than half (48%) of the adult [American] population now reads literature for pleasure. This decline in reading literature occurs across all ages, sexes and races. The decline is most pronounced among the young.
* The percentage of 17-year-olds who read nothing at all for pleasure has doubled over a 20-year period. Yet the amount they read for school or homework (15 or fewer pages daily for 62% of students) has stayed the same.

(National Endowment for the Arts – “To Read or Not to Read”; corroborated by “Adult Literacy in America” a report from the National Center for Educational Statistics)

Additional Statistics:

More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a fifth-grade level – far below the level needed to earn a living wage.
(National Institute for Literacy, Fast Facts on Literacy, 2001)

50 percent of American adults are unable to read an eighth grade level book.
(Jonathan Kozol, Illiterate America)

Children who have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 – 4 times more likely to drop out in later years.
(National Adult Literacy Survey, NCES, U.S. Department of Education)

It is estimated that the cost of illiteracy to business and the taxpayer is $20 billion per year.
(United Way, “Illiteracy: A National Crisis”)

By the time they become college seniors, one in three students read nothing at all for pleasure in a given week.
(National Endowment for the Arts, “To Read or Not to Read” )

 
 Source: Raising Bookworms

But wait, there's still more! 

Okay, now I've bombarded you with information on the state of reading in our country. 

Next up: Some things you can do about it.