Reclaim reading: How to motivate more student reading across K–12

Last month, Renaissance released the latest edition of What Kids Are Reading, the world’s largest annual study of K–12 student reading habits. Drawing on data from more than five million US students, the new report shows you popular print and digital books at each grade level. It also highlights new releases, favorite series, teacher recommendations, and more.

Amid this celebration of student reading, we also have to acknowledge some troubling trends. The Education Recovery Scorecard reports that students in grades 3–8 are, on average, half a year behind in reading—due, in part, to the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When you add in the fact that many teens spend 4–5 hours per day on social media but less than 10 minutes per day reading, it becomes clear that we have a reading crisis that requires urgent attention from school and district leaders.

Understanding widening gaps in student reading performance

In K–12 education, we often turn to the data to understand what’s happening. Specifically, we might examine “trailing indicators” to determine what has already occurred, and “leading indicators” to determine what is likely going to happen in the future.

When it comes to trailing indicators on student reading performance, the picture is bleak. I don’t believe anyone escaped coverage of the latest round of NAEP data, which showed continuing declines in students’ performance. But NAEP—known as the Nation’s Report Card—isn’t the only test raising concerns.

Chad Aldeman recently analyzed data from three leading assessments:

1. NAEP, which assesses US students in reading and math.
2. TIMSS, an international assessment of math and science.
3. PIRLS, an international assessment of reading.

Aldeman found expanding achievement gaps across subject areas. The highest scores ever achieved on most tests occurred primarily between 2011 and 2018, with steady declines since then. In other words, student performance peaked a few years before the pandemic but was already in decline when the pandemic hit.

These assessments also reveal a widening range of performance—that is, expanding gaps between higher and lower achievers. At Renaissance, we’ve seen similar trends in our Star Assessments data, and I shared insights on this widening achievement gap in a blog about an earlier round of NAEP data.

So, the trailing indicators do not look good. Let’s now turn to the leading indicators and what they might reveal.

Understanding declines in student reading motivation

The idiom “canary in a coalmine” represents a type of leading indicator. In 1895, a Scottish physiologist proposed the use of canaries to detect carbon monoxide and other harmful gases in mines. He subsequently designed a cage to allow miners to easily take canaries into the mines with them.

After the pandemic-related disruptions, many commentators anticipated a rebound in performance once students returned to school buildings. But do any leading indicators suggest this? I believe that the canary in the coalmine may well be shifts in the amount of independent reading done by students. On this front, the canary is not faring well.

Students who take the NAEP assessment are surveyed on topics related to their holistic schooling experience. One question asks them how often they read for pleasure:

• In 2012, more than 50 percent of eighth graders indicated reading daily or weekly.
• In 2023, that number had declined to just 36 percent. Further, an alarming 31 percent of eighth graders reported that they never read outside of school.

Consider this decline in reading in relation to decades of data collected by Renaissance, which show that students who read less than fifteen minutes per day consistently fail to keep up with rising expectations. In contrast, students who read more than fifteen minutes per day consistently progress at or above national norms.

Beyond these data, survey responses from educators also raise concerns. Education Week recently reported that 83 percent of teachers feel that students’ reading stamina in grades 3–8 has decreased since 2019.

To sum up, multiple leading indicators tell us that:

1. Students are reading less.
2. When students are reading, they likely don’t have the stamina to engage with longer or more challenging texts.

Why is this happening?

Digital distractions and student reading motivation

While the decline in reading performance is likely due to a combination of factors, one potential cause is consistently noted: digital distractions. Aldeman, in his analysis of the assessment data, asserts that “the rise of smartphones and social media, and the decline in reading for pleasure, could be contributing to [the] achievement declines” we are witnessing.

This is echoed in a growing number of books and articles by cognitive scientists, who ask:

• Is the decline in reading performance tied to the decline in reading for pleasure?
• Might students’ declining stamina be tied to their constant consumption of short-form media presented in highly stimulating and addictive ways?

While establishing a causal relationship is difficult, I think we can assume that so long as students fail to adequately practice reading, it’s highly unlikely that we will see their reading performance improve.

On this front, other recent narratives suggest we may be approaching a tipping point.

The tipping point: Loss of student reading stamina

Articles on the state of education come out continually. However, only a handful truly touch a nerve, placing a finger precisely on something that we might have suspected but not yet vocalized. Such is the case with an article by Rose Horowitch published in The Atlantic last year.

The article has a provocative title: “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books.” In it, Horowitch profiles:

• A Columbia University professor who finds his students bewildered at the thought of reading multiple books across a semester. He also had a student tell him that, in high school, “she had been assigned excerpts, poetry, and news articles, but not a single book cover to cover.”
• A Princeton University faculty member who feels that his current students have a narrower vocabulary and less understanding of language than previous students.
• A professor at the University of Virginia who finds today’s students less able to persist through a challenging text.
• The chair of Georgetown University’s English department, who says his students have trouble staying focused on even a sonnet.

Horowitch remarks that “failing to complete a 14-line poem without succumbing to distraction suggests one familiar explanation for the decline in reading aptitude: smartphones. Teenagers are constantly tempted by their devices, which inhibits their preparation for the rigors of college coursework.”

Why is student reading stamina so critical?

To understand the profundity of these declines in student reading, we must acknowledge its many benefits. In our book Literacy Reframed, my co-authors and I contend that “wide independent reading holds significant, overlooked, and undervalued potential” for improving learning outcomes. We cite the work of David Share, who connects students’ reading to self-teaching:

• In the early grades, practice with reading contributes to fluency development and provides the necessary exposures to words that then facilitate more immediate recognition, thereby fostering comprehension.
• In later grades and across our lives, reading transitions into an activity that helps us to develop vocabulary and other critical elements of literacy, such as background knowledge.

In short, learning how to read well is one thing. Being well-read is another. Both are necessary to achieve high levels of literacy, and now we also have to be concerned with students’ reading stamina. Students might be able to read short pieces successfully, but can they handle longer-form texts?

In his book Raising Kids Who Read, Daniel Willingham remarks that “one source—probably the primary source—of positive reading attitudes is positive reading experiences.” He also asks us whether our students would, when describing themselves, self-identify as “readers.”

So, what steps can we take to promote positive reading experiences and make reading part of our schools’ culture?

4 strategies for increasing student reading motivation

When speaking about motivating reading, I often draw on Willingham’s work and present the following formula: T + L + C². The elements stand for Time (T) plus Libraries (L) plus Choice (C), all exponentially increased by Culture (C). Let’s consider each element.

#1: Reading time

Willingham suggests that schools “make reading expected and normal by devoting some class time to silent pleasure reading.” He recommends at least a 20-minute reading period daily.

He also suggests that “teachers set the duration dependent on the reading stamina of their students,” understanding that older students may be more capable of longer blocks of reading time than younger ones.

#2: School libraries

Once you’ve considered reading time, the next step is access to books. How well stocked is your library? How modern is your collection? Can students find books with characters they relate to? Does the library look and feel like a bookstore?

Because some schools have scaled back or even eliminated libraries, providing digital access to books can be a useful strategy. In The Reading Mind, Willingham remarks that “books should not just be available, but virtually falling into children’s laps.” He adds that “an e-reader is wonderful for instant access.”

In this context, he tells the story of a teacher who read a book’s first chapter aloud to his class, intending to spark students’ interest. Although multiple students pledged to finish the book on their own, not a single copy was checked out from the school library.

If students could have immediately accessed the book digitally and continued reading, the outcome likely would have been different.

#3: Student choice

Willingham notes that, as much as possible, students “must freely choose what they read” during independent reading time. While he notes that “choice is enormously important for motivation,” he acknowledges that there must also “be teacher guidance and teacher-set limits.”

For example, “teachers must not only monitor text difficulty, but also ensure that students are exposed to a variety of genres,” he explains. In other words, monitor your students’ reading practice, but not too rigidly. Give students opportunities to find authors they trust and genres they enjoy before encouraging them to choose more challenging texts.

#4: Reading culture

Finally, there comes the high and often overlooked bar of culture. Is there a culture of reading in your school? If not, why would someone be shocked when students do not describe themselves as readers?

When walking through school hallways, trophy cases and other cues suggest the importance of athletics. What suggests the importance of reading? Small steps such as placing posters on walls, launching a schoolwide reading challenge, and recognizing students’ reading accomplishments can make a real difference.

Increasing student reading motivation in the months ahead

Let’s be clear: encouraging all students to read widely has always been a battle for school and district leaders. Add in social media and other distractions, and it becomes even harder. However, it’s definitely worth the fight. Many students’ academic success may well depend on the actions we take on this front to reclaim reading in every school.

If you haven’t already, download the new edition of What Kids Are Reading. In addition to lists of new and popular books to capture students’ interest, you’ll find exclusive new research on the surprising impact of just fifteen minutes of daily reading to improve learning outcomes.