Washington, DC -- Today (November 19, 2007), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announces the release of To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence, a new and comprehensive analysis of reading patterns in the United States.

To Read or Not To Read gathers statistics from more than 40 studies on the reading habits and skills of children, teenagers, and adults. The compendium reveals recent declines in voluntary reading and test scores alike, exposing trends that have severe consequences for American society.

Conclusion:

Self-reported data on individual behavioral patterns, combined with national test scores from the Department of Education and other sources, suggest three distinct trends: a historical decline in voluntary reading rates among teenagers and young adults; a gradual worsening of reading skills among older teens; and declining proficiency in adult readers.

The Department of Education’s extensive data on voluntary reading patterns and prose reading scores yield a fourth observation: frequency of reading for pleasure correlates strongly with better test scores in reading and writing. Frequent readers are thus more likely than infrequent or non-readers to demonstrate academic
achievement in those subjects.

From the diversity of data sources in this report, other themes emerge. Analyses of voluntary reading and reading ability, and the social characteristics of advanced and deficient readers, identify several discrepancies at a national level:

• Less reading for pleasure in late adolescence than in younger age groups
• Declines in reading test scores among 17-year-olds and high school seniors in contrast to younger age groups and lower grade levels
• Among high school seniors, a wider rift in the reading scores of advanced and deficient readers
• A male-female gap in reading proclivity and achievement levels
• A sharp divide in the reading skills of incarcerated adults versus non-prisoners
• Greater academic, professional, and civic benefits associated with high levels of leisure reading and reading comprehension

Longitudinal studies are needed to confirmandmonitor the effects of these differences over time. Future research also could explore factors such as income, ethnicity, region, and race, and how theymight alter the relationship between voluntary reading, reading test scores, and other outcomes. Critically, further studies should weigh the relative effectiveness and costs and benefits of programs to foster lifelong reading and skills development. For instance, such research could trace the effects of electronicmedia and “screen reading” on the development of readers in early childhood.

Recent studies of American time-use and consumer expenditure patterns highlight a series of choices lurking in the question “To read or not to read?”se future of reading rests on the daily decisions Americans will continue to make when confronted with an expandingmenu of leisure goods and activities.se import of these national findings, however, is that reading frequently is a behavior to be cultivated with the same zeal as academic achievement, financial or job performance, and global competitiveness.

Download To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence

PDF format, 3.4MB, 98Pages.

• Americans are spending less time reading.
• Reading comprehension skills are eroding.
• These declines have serious civic, social, cultural, and economic implications.

Visit To Read or Not To Read Official Download Website

About the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Arts Endowment is the largest national funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases.

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