Are our pupils less inclined to read books than in previous years? There is some evidence that this is the case, to which this report ('What and How Kids Are Reading: The Book-Reading Behaviours of Pupils 2024') adds. If so, should we be worried by this?
Yes, we should indeed be worried by this, as there is strong evidence that pupils who are good readers not only do better in other subjects in schools, but also have better life chances after leaving school.[1][2][3]
Basis of the report
The report investigates real book reading as measured by the Accelerated Reader (AR) program in relation to reading ability as measured by the STAR reading test. AR is a cloud-based program by Renaissance Learning that offers comprehension quizzes on over 40,000 real books and feeds back results immediately in terms of percent correct; 85% correct or more is recommended. STAR is a multiple-choice computerised adaptive reading test – a user's response to a question determines the next question offered. Thus, no two pupils take the same test.
This is the sixteenth year this report has been published in the UK. Since its first publication the number of students involved has increased by almost 43 times, the number of schools involved has increased by nearly 11 times, the number of books read has increased by almost 96 times and the average number of books read per pupil has almost doubled.