By Dr.
Richard Allington, with Dorcas Hand
Research
supports self-selected reading as a predictor of reading improvement. We school
librarians know this, but our administrators don’t believe it. Dr. Richard
Allington’s two programs at TLA Annual 2015 Conference offer us the data we
need to take to our principals and district leadership. I have largely
reformatted one presentation to fit into this blog post; both power points will
be posted to the conference handouts. Check out his website for additional support: www.teachersread.net
Education
Week (August 15, 2007) offered this article: “Reading Curricula Don’t Make
Cut for Federal Review”: “A
long-awaited review by the federal What Works Clearinghouse found few
comprehensive or supplemental programs that have evidence of effectiveness in
raising student achievement… None of the most popular commercial core reading
programs on the market had sufficiently rigorous studies to be included in the
review by the clearinghouse.” That’s a powerful opening.
Allington went on to say
Reading
volume is critical to reading success.
Free
voluntary reading (FVR) activity [is the] best predictor.
Few
schools have active programs fostering FVR.
Some
classroom teachers foster FVR, but only some.
A study of adult readers shows that they do
an average of 4.5 hours of daily reading, more on weekdays, more on prose than
work documents, and mostly self-selected rather than assigned. Contrast this
with teens who spend large blocks of time in school sitting and listening,
completing low-level, literal recall tasks after reading pieces of short texts;
they rarely design, create, compose or READ anything. Teens report reading less
than any other age group, and less reading than they have reported
historically.
Why is there so little reading in and for
school? There is little use of school libraries; there is no time in the school
day set aside for FVR; few teachers read aloud to students after 2nd
grade; fewer teachers encourage reading every day. [Dorcas’ side analysis looks
to the emphasis on test taking skills as THE biggest reason students are not
encouraged to read for pleasure.] Steven Wolk wrote in 2010, “The status quo will only continue to teach
kids to hate reading… When seen cumulatively, the reading students do in school
appears designed to make reading painful, tedious, and irrelevant." (p.
10) And “readicide”, the systematic killing of the love of reading, often
exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools, is growing.
(Gallagher, 2009, p. 2)
An NEA survey
indicates that high school kids read roughly 30 minutes each day, in and out of
school; elementary kids read a little more, approximately 30 minutes during
school - not very much time to develop strong reading skills. Add this to the
fact that self-selection of reading material is powerfully related to the
development of reading proficiencies; access and choice foster reading
motivation. A one-size-fits-all curriculum may be the single greatest deterrent
to developing reading proficiency. But such curriculum are easier to create and
deliver, so that is what most schools provide.
Stephen Krashen
summarized in 2011 the research demonstrating that students who read more
have better vocabularies, read faster, write better, have greater grammatical
competence and know more about science and social studies topics. The number of
titles available to students was a significant predictor of reading
comprehension improvement.
Allington’s talks
were perfectly timed as we head to summer. How many books does your school
expect kids to read over the summer months? By grade 6 reading at least 6 books
during the summer stemmed summer reading loss. In grades 1 thru 3 kids need to
read 15 or more books each summer. [Dorcas: every chance we have to offer
students chances to self-select free reading is a step in the right direction.]
How many teachers have expertise with books to recommend titles to kids? [Some,
but how many librarians? LOTS!]
Talk
to your teachers, principals and parents about the direct link between summer
reading and maintaining reading fluency. 80% of the 3-year wide rich/poor
reading achievement gap at 9th grade accumulates during the summer
months, when school is out. White & Kim (2011) note that 4th
grade students who read 5-8 books over the summer gained 80 lexiles while
students who read 1 book or no books lost 50 lexiles. Allington & McGill-Franzen
(2010) found that simply supplying self-selected books for summer reading
produce growth equivalent to attending summer school. Dorcas: It’s not rocket
science. If we can keep students reading, they will improve academic
achievement.
Works Cited:
Allington, R. L.,
McGill-Franzen, A. M., Camilli, G., Williams, L., Graff, J., Zeig, J., et al.
(2010). Addressing summer reading setback among economically disadvantaged
elementary students. Reading Psychology, 31(5), 411-427.
Applebee, A. N.,
Langer, J. A., Nystrand, M., & Gamoran, A. (2003). Discussion-based
approaches to developing understanding: Classroom instruction and student
performance in middle and high school English. American Educational Research
Journal, 40(3), 685-730.
Fisher, D. (2004).
Setting the 'opportunity to read' standard: Resuscitating the SSR program in
one urban high school. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 48(2),
138-151.
Gallagher, K.
(2009). Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about
it. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Ivey, G. (2011).
What not to read: A book intervention. Voices from the Middle,19(2), 22-26.
Krashen, S.
(2011). Free voluntary reading. Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.
Lang, L.,
Torgeson, J., et al. (2009). Exploring the relative effectiveness of reading
interventions for high school students. Journal of Research on Educational
Effectiveness, 2(2), 149-175.
McQuillan, J.,
& Au, J. (2001). The effect of print access on reading frequency. Reading
Psychology, 22(3), 225-248.
Miller, D. (2009).
The book whisperer: Awakening the inner reader in every child. San
Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Nystrand, M.
(2006). Research on the role of classroom discourse as it effects reading
comprehension. Research in the Teaching of English, 40, 392-412.
Nystrand, M.,
& Gamoran, A. (1991). Instructional discourse, student engagement, and
literature achievement. Research in the Teaching of English, 25,
261-290.
White, T. G.,
& Kim, J. S. (2010). Can silent reading in the summer reduce socioeconomic
differences in reading achievement? In E. H. Hiebert & D. R. Reutzel (Eds.),
Revisiting silent reading: New directions for teachers and researchers.
(pp. 67-91). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Wolk, S. (2010).
What should students read? Phi Delta Kappan, 91(7), 9-16.
Worthy, J.,
Moorman, M., & Turner, M. (1999). What Johnny likes to read is hard to find
in school. Reading Research Quarterly, 34(1), 12-27.
“Another fabulous conference!
Thank you for all the great ideas, books, & posters!
