Articles

Reading to Your Child

May 12th, 2010

Posted in Children

Importance of Reading Materials in the Home

Studies by the National Assessment of Educational Progress have consistently found that the more reading material available in the home, the better students’ reading levels are likely to be.

“Families, and parents in particular, play an important part in the [learning to read] process. For decades, research has shown that children whose parents read to them become better readers and do better in school.”  “In 1999, 26 percent of children who were read to three or more times in the last week by a family member recognized all letters of the alphabet compared to 14 percent of children read to less frequently.”

“Children who are read to frequently are nearly twice as likely as other children to show three or more skills associated with emerging literacy.”

(Home Literacy Activities and Signs of Children’s Emerging Literacy, 1993 and 1999, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education, 2000).

“The availability of books is a key factor in reading literacy. The highest scoring countries typically provide their students with greater access to books in the home, in nearby community libraries and book stores and in the school.” (How In the World Do Students Read, The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, 1992).

Posted in: Children