What Kids Are Reading

Transcription

2016 Edition
What Kids Are Reading
And the Path to College and Careers
What’s inside: Lists of popular texts in grades 1–12; data-driven insights and analyses on student reading practice;
and author commentary from Judith Viorst, Alyssa Satin Capucilli, Jeannette Walls, and Jay Asher.
© 2015 by Renaissance Learning, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. All logos, designs, and brand names for Renaissance
Learning’s products and services, including but not limited Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Reader 360, AR, AR BookFinder, ATOS, Learnalytics, and
STAR Reading, are trademarks of Renaissance Learning, Inc., and its subsidiaries, registered, common law, or pending registration in the United States and
other countries. All other product and company names should be considered the property of their respective companies and organizations.
Why read? Why write?, a foreword © 2015 by Judith Viorst.
Why read? Why write? © 2015 by Alyssa Satin Capucilli.
Why read? Why write? © 2015 by Jeannette Walls.
Why read? Why write? © 2015 by Jay Asher.
This publication is protected by US and international copyright laws. It is unlawful to duplicate or reproduce any copyrighted material without authorization
from the copyright holder. For more information, contact:
RENAISSANCE LEARNING
P.O. Box 8036
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495-8036
(800) 338-4204
www.renaissance.com
answers@renaissance.com
11/15
Visit www.learnalytics.com/wkar
for additional insights
on what kids are reading.
Contents
ii Why read? Why write?, a foreword by Judith Viorst, author of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
1
Introduction by Eric Stickney, Director of Educational Research, Renaissance Learning
3
Section I: Overall reading
4
An analysis of reading practice
8
Why read? Why write? by Alyssa Satin Capucilli, author of the Biscuit series
10 Top 25 books, grades 1–12
23 Section II: Nonfiction reading
24 An analysis of nonfiction reading
27 Why read? Why write? by Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle
28 Top 25 nonfiction articles, grades 1–12
41 Section III: Exposure to complex texts
42 An analysis of reading challenge
46 Why read? Why write? by Jay Asher, author of Thirteen Reasons Why
47 Top 25 fiction and nonfiction books by text complexity grade bands
53 Appendix: About the report
Insights
4
Time spent reading is a long-term investment in vocabulary exposure
5
Students reading 15+ minutes/day with comprehension are on track to meet CCR benchmarks
5
Closing achievement gaps: Struggling readers surge ahead with high-quality daily reading practice
6
Students who meet goals set for independent reading practice read more and achieve better outcomes
24
As new standards sweep the nation, nonfiction reading increases in all states (school years 2008–09 to 2014–15)
25
Boys read more nonficton than girls yet fall short of NAEP targets
25
Books with STEM topics are lacking from students’ reading diets
42
Beyond the middle grades, few students read texts within text complexity grade bands
43
The complexity of texts students read may fall short of what is expected post-high school
44
9% of students in grades 9–12 read at least one book with a text complexity level of 9.0+
Tables
41
Table 1. Grade bands provide guidelines for exposure to complex texts
53
Table A1. Students, books, nonfiction articles, and words by grade
54
Table A2. Study sample demographics compared to national percentages
Figures
55
Figure A1. Accelerated Reader 360 quiz results
56
Figure A2. Highlighting and tagging text evidence in Accelerated Reader 360
i
Why read? Why write?
A foreword by Judith Viorst
I once, stretched out on my living-room couch, laughed so long and hard at what I was
reading that I laughed myself right off the couch and onto the floor.
I once locked myself in my bathroom and sobbed for maybe twenty minutes because,
quite unexpectedly, the hero of the book I was reading had died, and I was
devastated—I just couldn’t bear it.
I once got so excited by the ideas in the book I was reading that I called up
four friends to say that they had to stop what they were doing and read
it—immediately!
And like many a passionate reader, I more than once kept reading straight on
through the night because I couldn’t sleep—how could a person possibly
sleep?—till I knew how it ended.
Books can stir us, move us, grab us, own us. Books can tap into our deepest,
most secret feelings. They can mirror, confirm, and legitimize our personal
experiences, reminding us that, yes, I’ve felt that way too, that the very same
thing has happened to me. They can offer us reassurance that virtually
everyone—not just unfortunate us—will sometimes slip, trip, cut their lip, say and do dumb things,
and make utter fools of themselves.
Books also can introduce us to people and places and possibilities that vastly expand the boundaries of our lives.
For we each get one life to live here on earth and no matter how richly we live it, there is so overwhelmingly much that we can
never know about, unless we read books. Books let us live other lives and let us feel what it feels like to be a wizard, a spider,
a slave, a princess, a spy. Books take us back to the past of dinosaurs and ancient wars and forward into some often-alarming
futures. And with books we can travel anywhere in the world, and out of the world—to Narnia, Oz, and Where the Wild Things
Are—comforted by the fact that, when we finally come back from our journeys, our supper will be waiting and still hot.
Experiencing—through the books we read—these other lives, these other times and places, can open our hearts and minds
to greater empathy, respect, and understanding. Learning—through the books we read—about other roads to take, other
dreams to pursue, can help to light our way as we seek to find a place for ourselves in the wider world.
…
P.S. As one of those lucky people who gets to write books that other folks read, I want to say a few words about why I write: I
write because, though I started writing when I was seven years old and though, until my late thirties, no one ever published a
single word that I wrote, I kept on writing because I couldn’t stop. I kept on writing and writing because I had to write—I didn’t
know how to stop writing, because I just wasn’t able not to write.
Judith Viorst was born and brought up in New Jersey, graduated from Rutgers University, moved to
Greenwich Village, and has lived in Washington, DC, since 1960, when she married Milton Viorst, a
political writer. They have three sons and seven grandchildren. Viorst writes in many different areas:
children’s picture books—including the beloved Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,
science books, adult fiction and nonfiction, poetry for children and adults, and musicals. Her new book of
poetry for children, What Are You Glad About? What Are You Mad About?, will be published in February 2016.
© 2015 by Judith Viorst. Photo by Milton Viorst.
ii
Introduction
Welcome to What Kids Are Reading: And the Path to College and Careers. The 2016 edition
is based on data for 9.8 million students in grades 1–12 from 31,327 US schools who read
over 334 million books and nonfiction articles during the 2014–2015 school year.
In addition to reporting the top texts students in all grades are reading, this year’s report
delves even further into the data. On the pages that follow, we explore key characteristics
of student reading practice, examine the state of nonfiction reading in the United States,
and investigate how student reading compares to new text complexity expectations.
Why does it matter what and how much students read?
The makeup of student reading practice matters a lot—for improving achievement, for
meeting the goals of new college- and career-readiness standards, and ultimately for
helping students become well-rounded and successful adults.
For instance, this year we learned that:
• Students who begin the year well behind their peers yet meet high standards
by the end of the year read much more than students who do not make this leap.
• Nationwide, the rate of nonfiction text reading has steadily increased since
new standards have been adopted.
• A
lthough the difficulty level of texts high schoolers read nears what adults
typically consume, it falls far short of what may be required for college and career.
Eric Stickney is the
director of educational
research at Renaissance
Learning. He works with
external independent
researchers who conduct
evaluations of Renaissance
programs. He specializes
in analyzing reading
and mathematics data
collected from millions of
students in North America
and the UK.
The Renaissance Learning database of reading practice and achievement data is arguably
the largest in the world, thanks to widespread use of our Accelerated Reader 360 and STAR
Reading assessment solutions.
Reading practice matters a lot—for
improving achievement, for meeting
the goals of new college- and careerreadiness standards, and ultimately
for helping students become wellrounded and successful adults.
In each section of this report, you’ll find lists of popular texts,
moving author commentary, and Accelerated Reader 360
database analyses that answer fundamental questions about
how student reading behavior in the United States influences
achievement and growth.
After reading the report, visit www.learnalytics.com/wkar,
where you can access the full set of student reading data
for the 2014–2015 school year and customize popular book
lists by grade, gender, reading level, interest level, state, fiction/
nonfiction, language, and keyword. On Learnalytics, we strive to provide insights into the power of learning analytics and how
they can reveal to us what kids know, what kids like, and how they learn. What Kids Are Reading is one in a collection of tools
on the site, all of which are powered by our aggregated and anonymized data sets on student learning.
Regards,
1
2
What kids are reading
The importance of student reading practice cannot be overstated. With nearly 175,000 quizzes available, Accelerated Reader
360 makes the essential student practice component of any reading curriculum more effective by helping teachers monitor
and guide students’ independent reading practice while providing support for the close reading of nonfiction articles.
The lists that begin on page 10 rank the top 25 books read in grades 1–12,
based on the Accelerated Reader 360 hosted database, which for the
2014–2015 school year includes reading records for 9.8 million students
from 31,327 schools nationwide who read over 334 million books and
nonfiction articles. To compare readership of these books to past school
years, view each title’s two prior-year rankings.
How do boy and girl reading
choices differ? Explore
www.learnalytics.com/wkar
to learn more.
What the data show
To read well and become well read—as is emphasized in college- and career-readiness (CCR) standards—students must
dedicate time and effort to practicing this critical skill.
On page 4, explore an analysis of reading practice, which explores these questions:
1. How does daily reading practice impact exposure to vocabulary over time?
2. What combination of reading-practice characteristics is likely to contribute to college and career readiness in reading?
3. D
o any struggling readers manage to catch up to peers and reach high college- and career-readiness standards? What
role might reading practice play in their success?
4. Does meeting goals set for independent reading practice help students read more and read better?
Author commentary: Why read? Why write?
Learn why reading and writing matter to guest essayist Alyssa Satin Capucilli (author of the Biscuit series) on page 8.
For additional insights on what kids are reading, visit www.learnalytics.com/wkar.
3
An analysis of reading practice
Cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham notes, “It is virtually impossible to become proficient at a mental task without extended
practice” (2009, p. 81). This is certainly true of reading. Regardless of whether students’ reading materials are assigned to them
or are self-selected, the reading students do each day represents a form of self-guided practice. Over the past decade we have
leveraged massive data sets to better understand student reading practice and what makes it impactful or not.
Specifically, we have discovered that three characteristics of daily student reading practice independently and significantly
shape the extent to which reading practice will drive annual achievement growth (Renaissance Learning, 2012). The most
powerful of these characteristics is comprehension, that is, the extent to which students understand the main points of the
books and articles they read. We also know that volume (the time students spend reading each day) and challenge (the
difficulty or complexity level of the text they encounter) are meaningful.
Drilling into data on daily independent reading practice and achievement from millions of students who use Accelerated
Reader 360 allows us to address important questions about these and other key factors, and about how children become
successful readers.
1. How does daily reading practice impact exposure to vocabulary over time?
Time spent reading is a long-term investment in vocabulary exposure
16,000,000
Average daily reading time
A typical first grader reads about 15
minutes/day. At this pace, the student
is on track to encounter about 5.7
million words by the end of grade 12.
If reading time increases
to 30+ minutes/day, the
student will read, on
average, 13.7 million
words by the end of
grade 12.
Average cumulative words read
14,000,000
12,000,000
10,000,000
8,000,000
On average, students
who read less than 15
minutes/day are likely to
encounter only 1.5
million words
during the
course of their
schooling.
30+ minutes
18%
of students
15–29 minutes
28%
of students
6,000,000
<15 minutes
4,000,000
54%
2,000,000
of students
K
1
2
3
4
5
7
6
8
9
10
11
12
Grade
Source: Renaissance Learning™ Accelerated Reader 360™ database, 2014–2015 school year.
One of the reasons we care about the time students spend reading per day is that it is an indicator of vocabulary exposure. In
order for students to build and strengthen their vocabularies, they need repeated exposure to words in a variety of contexts
(Stahl,The
2005).
How students
that exposure
is largely
through
reading—every day. Of course, independent reading is not the
complexity
of textsget
students
read may
fall short
of what
New YorkExamining
Times articlesthe
only way
students
get
multiple
word
exposures,
but
it
is
an
important
one (Nagy, Anderson, & Herman, 1987).
is expected post-high school
USA
Today
articles
data, we found that the cumulative impact of spending a few extra minutes per day reading can be startling over the
Time magazine articles
long term:
College and Career Ready: Sample Career Documents
Huffington Post articles
• The majority of students read
minutes
perYear
day;College
however,
kids
who
Sample
New
York spend more than
Collegeless
and than
Career 15
Ready:
Sample First
Texts the data show
Best Sellers
30 minutes reading each day are exposed to millions more words over the courseTimes
of their
schooling.
Nonfiction 2013–2014
Assigned summer reads for new college freshmen
ge ATOS™ level
15 are exposed to the most vocabulary in grade 6, when the texts they
• Students
readNew
reveal
Sample
York about 440,000 words to them.
13.8
Best
This is a marked increase from the 26,000 words they encounter
in texts in Times
grade
1.Sellers
After the peak at grade 6, word
Fiction 2013–2014
exposure
12 decreases to just shy of 300,000 by the end of high school (see Appendix, p. 53).
10.6
9
6
Articles
8.8
9.5
7.6
7.3
4.2
5.2
4
5.7
10.0
10.2
10.6
Avera
<15 minutes
4,000,000
54%
2,000,000
of students
K
1
2
3
4
5
7
6
8
9
10
11
12
2. What combination of reading-practice characteristics is likely to contribute to college and career
Grade
readiness in reading?
Source: Renaissance
Learning™
Accelerated
Reader 360™ database,
school year. are on track
Students
reading
15+ minutes/day
with2014–2015
comprehension
to meet CCR benchmarks
Struggling readers:
Within
New York Times articles
subpopulations,
USA Today articles
more likely
kids with
Reading 15+
Typical
min/day with
students
learners:
high-quality HuffingtonEnglish
Post articles
comprehension
College and Career
Ready: Sample Career Documents
reading
practice
Sample
New
York
College and Career Ready: Sample First Year College Texts
Times Best more
Sellers likely
are more likely
to be college and Free/reduced lunch:
Sample New York
13.8 career ready
Times Best Sellers
Fiction 2013–2014 more likely
than others:
15
Percent of students
scoring proficient
The complexity of texts students read may fall short of what
Average ATOS™ level
12
10.6
9
8.8
Articles
9.5
10.0
10.2
10.6
7.6
7.3
6
5.7
5.2
Using a combination of4.2the proficiency standards set via the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia and the Partnership for
3
Assessment of Readiness
for College and Career (PARCC), we can estimate a benchmark for college and career readiness and
1.8
Books
assess how many students will reach
that benchmark as a function of their daily reading practice. This study of reading
0 (Renaissance Learning, 2015) involved over 2.8 million students from 12,000 districts across the United
practice outcomes
States. The control group
consisted
of students not using Accelerated
Reader
daily
reading
practice.
Only about
Grades
1 through 12
College and
career 360 for Best
sellers,
articles,
etc.
39% of those students met CCR benchmarks for their grade, which is on par with expected rates of proficiency as set by
What students read
Postsecondary
What adults read
Smarter Balanced and PARCC. In contrast, 66% of students who engaged in a fair amount of daily reading practice (15 or more
minutes) atSource:
a relatively
high average comprehension level (85%+) were far more likely to reach the CCR benchmarks. These
Renaissance Learning™ Accelerated Reader 360™ database, 2014–2015 school year.
results also held true for populations of interest (struggling readers, English learners, and students in free or reduced lunch
programs) and rose with the level of program use.
3. Do any struggling readers manage to catch up to peers and reach high college- and career-readiness standards?
What role might reading practice play in their success?
Closing achievement gaps: Struggling readers surge ahead with high quality daily reading practice
These students began
and ended the year in
the bottom quartile.
These students rose from the bottom quartile
to meet high CCR benchmarks (on average,
the 50th percentile).
Grade 8
Grade 5
Average words read
142,619
Average minutes
reading per day
14.3
Average
comprehension level
72%
Average words read
Average words read
190,320
341,174
Average minutes
reading per day
Average minutes
reading per day
9.9
19.0
Average
comprehension level
Average
comprehension level
71%
80%
5
Average words read
494,560
Average minutes
reading per day
16.3
Average
comprehension level
82%
While it is true that high-performing students tend to do a lot of reading, it is also true that when we examine less skilled or
struggling readers, we see that those who read a lot of appropriately challenging books with high comprehension tend to
experience accelerated growth throughout the school year, and thus close gaps. This is consistent with other studies
(Biancarosa & Snow, 2006; Gersten et al., 2008), which point out that while high-quality instruction and other factors are
essential for helping struggling readers close achievement gaps, making sure students spend enough time with engaging
and appropriately challenging text must be part of the solution.
Each school year represents a new opportunity for learning. Students who begin the year below their peers are not destined
to stay there. Students who start low but who receive high-quality instruction, read books that are of interest to them, spend
more time reading, encounter more words, and demonstrate comprehension on their daily reading can surge ahead and
catch up to their peers on the path to college and career readiness.
4. Does meeting goals set for independent reading practice help students read more and read better?
Students who meet goals set for independent reading
practice read more and achieve better outcomes
(vs. those without set goals)
39%
Read more
difficult
Read
more books
books
Read at a
Read
higher
level
49%
more minutes
per day
of comprehension
Read
more
books
Scored
8%
higher
on reading
comprehension
quizzes
higher
Experienced
reading achievement growth
Earned
52%
more AR
points
Achieve
greater
growth
than students
without
AR goals
It is a well-confirmed finding in various research literatures (e.g., psychology, sports, business) that meeting established goals
is associated with improved performance (Harrison, 2013; MacNamara, Holmes, & Collins, 2006). Reading is no different.
Students who meet goals set for independent reading practice read more and achieve better outcomes than students without
set goals. They are likely to read more books, experience higher success/comprehension rates, and ultimately make greater
gains in reading achievement. In fact, the data show that students who strive to reach individual goals, on average, tend to
perform better than students without set goals.
6
References
Biancarosa, G., & Snow, C. E. (2006). Reading next—A vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy: A report to Carnegie Corporation
of New York (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellence in Education. Retrieved from
https://www.carnegie.org/media/filer_public/b7/5f/b75fba81-16cb-422d-ab59-373a6a07eb74/ccny_report_2004_reading.pdf
Gersten, R., Compton, D., Connor, C. M., Dimino, J., Santoro, L., Linan-Thompson, S., & Tilly, W. D. (2008). Assisting students struggling with reading: Response to Intervention and multi-tier intervention for reading in the primary grades. A practice guide. (NCEE 2009-4045). Washington, DC: US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. Retrieved from
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practice_guides/rti_reading_pg_021809.pdf
Harrison, G. (2013). Psychological skills, coaching, and performance of cyclo-cross athletes (Unpublished thesis). University of Wisconsin–La Crosse.
MacNamara, A., Holmes, P., & Collins, D. (2006). The pathway to excellence: the role of psychological characteristics in negotiating the challenges of musical
development. British Journal of Music Education, 23(03), 285–302.
Nagy, W. E., Anderson, R. C., & Herman, P. A. (1987). Learning word meanings from context during normal reading. American Educational Research Journal,
24, 237–270.
Renaissance Learning. (2012). Guided independent reading. Wisconsin Rapids, WI: Author. Available online from
http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/005577721AC3667.pdf
Renaissance Learning. (2015). Special report: Trends in student outcome measures: The role of individualized reading practice. Wisconsin Rapids, WI: Author. Available online from http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R0058148398DA353.pdf
Stahl, S. A. (2005). Four problems with teaching word meanings (and what to do to make vocabulary an integral part of instruction). In E. H. Hiebert & M. L. Kamil (Eds.), Teaching and learning vocabulary: Bringing research to practice (pp. 95–114). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Willingham, D. T. (2009). Why don’t students like school? A cognitive scientist answers questions about how the mind works and what it means for the
classroom. San Francisco, CA: Wiley.
7
by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
“Bed in Summer,” by Robert Louis Stevenson, was just one of the poems I read, re-read, and
re-read again. But more than just an early memory of reading, this poem in particular remains one
of my earliest memories of connecting with a character—a character whose life I envisioned and
ruminated over, a character whose world filled my imagination. Entering his
seemingly small and familiar bedtime ritual, I could see ‘the birds still hopping
on the tree’; I could hear the sound of ‘grown-up people’s feet’ in the lines that
followed. Perhaps that is one of the things I’ve loved most about reading.
Reading allowed me to enter worlds familiar and unfamiliar. Reading invited me
to converse with characters. One promised I might someday go to the moon.
Another used her wit, courage, and copper kettle to protect her family on the
prairie. Still another carried a found dog home in a large cardboard box, giving
hope to this young reader who so longed for a dog. Who knew that years later,
that seed of shared glory with a beloved character would fuel the creation of a
small, yellow puppy. To this day I thank Beverly Cleary for creating Henry and
Ribsy—in Henry, I found my soulmate!
Like many young children who are able to fluidly move between the real and
imagined world, reading allowed me to take each story, each encounter with a character
and make it my own, for my own needs. Literature transcended the covers of a book, made
its way into my imagination, and kept my dreams alive.
Who among us hasn’t experienced the awe of loving, losing, and celebrating life when
poring through the pages of Charlotte’s Web? Who hasn’t been inspired to wonder
alongside Jack and his magical beanstalk? Or to wander with Dorothy to the Land of Oz
and back home again? Reading, no matter what form it takes, fiction or nonfiction, promises a
safe harbor from which to learn, experience, experiment, hope, dare, and imagine. Indeed, we did go to the moon.
For those of us who work with young children, we may celebrate the first day of school, the first loose tooth, first friendships.
And when we celebrate the power a child feels when they learn to read all by themselves, what a magnificent celebration that
is. Readers have the privilege of entering myriad worlds, taking story, character, information, and letting it resonate within
themselves for their own needs. Perhaps a character helps navigate confusing feelings when a new baby arrives. Perhaps we
learn about life on a farm or a day in the big city. Perhaps he empowers us by showing that although we may be small, our
actions are meaningful; whether we are returning a lost duckling to its home, or a teddy bear to its rightful owner. If we are a
bit mischievous, it’s okay; someone will always be there to love us.
When the life and emotions a character imbues nurture or sustain the imagination of a young reader, we may even
discover a seamless transition from reading to writing! Yes, not only can we love reading with characters we are simpatico
with, but we can write, too. Young writers reinvent shared attributes and traits as their own. We can glean a small moment in
our own lives as a seed for a story. We can explore something we’re passionate about—be it dinosaurs or dragons—research
it thoroughly, and offer an informed perspective. The very act of writing asks us to think thoughtfully and mindfully. And while
through reading we learn the tenets of character, plot, setting, sentence structure, punctuation, intonation, and expression, it
Alyssa Satin Capucilli is the author of Biscuit, the popular best seller used to launch the My First I Can
Read series from HarperCollins. With over fifty titles in the series and over twenty million books in print,
Biscuit has been deemed a modern classic and has been translated into numerous languages worldwide.
Capucilli is the recipient of numerous awards including the Washington Irving Award, the Garden State
Award, the Bank Street College Best Book Award, the Oppenheim Portfolio Gold Award, and the American
Library Association Award. She is humbled and thrilled to celebrate Biscuit’s 20th anniversary this year.
© 2015 by Alyssa Satin Capucilli. Photo by Jeannie Newman.
8
is through writing that we are offered the time, place, and space to give an articulate voice to our thoughts with purpose and
intent. Writing asks us to wonder. Writing asks us to wander. It asks us to imagine. Whether we begin with a kernel of truth, a
speck of memory, or a completely invented wisp of words, writing gives us the power to create something tangible in a
growing world of intangibles.
When we read, when we write, we may be humbled to discover we are a strand of a great universal fabric and a shared
conversation; we are part of humanity. Whether books help us find our place in the world, or spur us to envision a world we
wish could be, the possibilities, like our imaginations, are limitless.
9
Top 25 books, grades 1–12
Grade 1
In total, 1,070,064 first graders read 45,827,822 books with 27,690,381,645 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average
number of words read was 24,383 for boys and 26,098 for girls. Approximately 12% of the books were read to students, 14% were
read with students, and 74% were read independently.
Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
1
1
Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss (1.5, LG)
2
2
2
The Foot Book, Dr. Seuss (0.6, LG)
3
3
3
Biscuit, Alyssa Satin Capucilli (1.4, LG)
4
7
17
Hi, Fly Guy!, Tedd Arnold (1.5, LG)
5
4
5
Biscuit Goes to School, Alyssa Satin Capucilli (0.9, LG)
6
8
6
Are You My Mother?, P.D. Eastman (1.6, LG)
7
6
4
Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss (1.5, LG)
8
5
7
Biscuit Finds a Friend, Alyssa Satin Capucilli (0.8, LG)
9
11
10
The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss (2.1, LG)
10
15
18
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy, Tedd Arnold (1.6, LG)
11
10
11
Go, Dog. Go!, P.D. Eastman (1.2, LG)
12
9
8
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Dr. Seuss (1.7, LG)
13
22
24
I Spy Fly Guy!, Tedd Arnold (1.5, LG)
14
12
9
Bathtime for Biscuit, Alyssa Satin Capucilli (1.1, LG)
15
26
35
Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl!, Tedd Arnold (1.4, LG)
16
19
12
If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Laura Numeroff (2.5, LG)
17
17
16
Biscuit’s Big Friend, Alyssa Satin Capucilli (0.8, LG)
18
13
13
Biscuit’s New Trick, Alyssa Satin Capucilli (1.0, LG)
19
23
27
Fly High, Fly Guy!, Tedd Arnold (1.4, LG)
20
27
26
Shoo, Fly Guy!, Tedd Arnold (1.7, LG)
21
14
14
Biscuit Wants to Play, Alyssa Satin Capucilli (0.9, LG)
22
25
22
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, Laura Numeroff (2.7, LG)
23
16
15
David Goes to School, David Shannon (0.9, LG)
24
32
34
Super Fly Guy, Tedd Arnold (1.7, LG)
25
33
42,913
Title, author (ATOS™ level, interest level)*
Fly Guy and the Frankenfly, Tedd Arnold (1.6, LG)
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by first graders was 1.4. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
difficulty reported on a grade-level scale. Interest levels refer to the sophistication/maturity of a text’s content, ideas, and themes: LG (lower grades, K–3), MG (middle
grades, 4–8), MG+ (middle grades plus, 6 and up), and UG (upper grades, 9–12).
10
Grade 2
In total, 1,447,961 second graders read 83,360,348 books with 120,471,242,145 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average
number of words read was 79,841 for boys and 82,605 for girls. Approximately 7% of the books were read to students, 7% were read
with students, and 86% were read independently.
Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
2
1
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Doreen Cronin (2.3, LG)
2
1
2
3
3
3
Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathmann (3.4, LG)
4
4
4
5
6
8
6
7
5
7
8
6
If You Give a Moose a Muffin, Laura Numeroff (2.4, LG)
8
9
7
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle (2.9, LG)
9
10
10
If You Take a Mouse to School, Laura Numeroff (2.4, LG)
10
5
9
11
15
21
12
12
11
If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, Laura Numeroff (2.1, LG)
13
19
20
Fly Guy vs. the Flyswatter!, Tedd Arnold (2.1, LG)
14
24
38
Diary of a Spider, Doreen Cronin (2.5, LG)
15
14
14
16
21
23
17
17
19
Henry and Mudge: The First Book of Their Adventures, Cynthia Rylant (2.7, LG)
18
11
13
19
18
15
If You Give a Pig a Party, Laura Numeroff (2.2, LG)
20
13
12
Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night, Cynthia Rylant (2.2, LG)
21
16
16
Diary of a Worm, Doreen Cronin (2.8, LG)
22
29
8
23
23
18
The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein (2.6, LG)
24
22
17
Miss Nelson Is Missing!, Harry Allard (2.7, LG)
25
26
30
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by second graders was 2.2. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
8 Title did not rank within report time frame. 11
Grade 3
In total, 1,527,923 third graders read 77,263,713 books with 289,186,446,221 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average
number of words read was 179,645 for boys and 187,728 for girls. Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
8
8
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, Jeff Kinney (5.4, MG)
2
3
9
Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White (4.4, MG)
3
5
6
Dogzilla, Dav Pilkey (4.2, LG)
4
2
2
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Jeff Kinney (5.2, MG)
5
12
12
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, Jon Scieszka (3.0, LG)
6
1
8
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Jeff Kinney (5.5, MG)
7
6
3
Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney (5.2, MG)
8
7
4
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, Jeff Kinney (5.2, MG)
9
13
17
Because of Winn-Dixie, Kate DiCamillo (3.9, MG)
10
34
30
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Judith Viorst (3.7, LG)
11
4
15
12
19
27
Tops & Bottoms, Janet Stevens (3.2, LG)
13
10
8
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever, Jeff Kinney (5.8, MG)
14
33
439
15
8
7
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth, Jeff Kinney (5.5, MG)
16
14
14
17
9
5
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw, Jeff Kinney (5.4, MG)
18
11
1
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel, Jeff Kinney (5.6, MG)
19
16
20
Wolf!, Becky Bloom (3.5, LG)
20
15
11
First Day Jitters, Julie Danneberg (2.4, LG)
21
29
85
A Fine, Fine School, Sharon Creech (3.3, LG)
22
18
28
23
26
21
24
24
24
25
28
25
Bad Kitty School Daze, Nick Bruel (3.3, LG)
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by third graders was 4.0. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
8 Title did not rank within report time frame.
12
Grade 4
In total, 1,485,096 fourth graders read 54,982,579 books with 462,731,351,524 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average
number of words read was 290,776 for boys and 315,028 for girls. Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
8
8
2
1
8
3
3
3
4
9
8
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume (3.3, MG)
5
5
4
6
7
7
7
4
2
8
2
1
9
8
6
10
6
5
11
10
9
12
8
8
Sisters, Raina Telgemeier (2.4, MG)
13
11
10
Stone Fox, John Reynolds Gardiner (4.0, MG)
14
12
16
Frindle, Andrew Clements (5.4, MG)
15
14
17
The Adventures of Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey (4.3, MG)
16
20
19
Shiloh, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (4.4, MG)
17
15
21
Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O’Dell (5.4, MG)
18
19
14
Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets, Dav Pilkey (4.7, MG)
19
22
47
I Survived: The Attacks of September 11, 2001, Lauren Tarshis (4.5, MG)
20
17
12
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson (5.1, MG)
21
198
263
Smile, Raina Telgemeier (2.6, MG)
22
18
18
My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Christine King Farris
(5.0, LG)
23
27
68
I Survived: The Shark Attacks of 1916, Lauren Tarshis (3.9, MG)
24
33
8
Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker, Rachel Renée Russell (4.2, MG)
25
25
23
Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl, Rachel Renée Russell (5.1, MG)
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by fourth graders was 4.8. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
13
Grade 5
In total, 1,424,880 fifth graders read 39,471,236 books with 578,704,665,788 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average
number of words read was 372,845 for boys and 421,227 for girls.
Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
8
8
2
1
8
3
4
4
4
2
1
5
3
2
6
5
3
7
7
6
8
6
5
9
8
7
10
9
8
Number the Stars, Lois Lowry (4.5, MG)
11
10
9
Hatchet, Gary Paulsen (5.7, MG)
12
13
94
Wonder, R.J. Palacio (4.8, MG)
13
11
10
14
8
8
15
12
12
The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare (4.9, MG)
16
116,294
8
Tales from a Not-So-Glam TV Star, Rachel Renée Russell (4.6, MG)
17
14
13
Holes, Louis Sachar (4.6, MG)
18
16
8
Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker, Rachel Renée Russell (4.2, MG)
19
94
120
20
8
8
Tales from a Not-So-Happily Ever After, Rachel Renée Russell (4.3, MG)
21
20
15
22
27
19
Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson (4.6, MG)
23
18
14
Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess, Rachel Renée Russell (4.5, MG)
24
19
23
Tuck Everlasting, Natalie Babbitt (5.0, MG)
25
25
17
Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life, Rachel Renée Russell (5.4, MG)
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by fifth graders was 5.0. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
14
Grade 6
In total, 973,394 sixth graders read 16,443,016 books with 428,334,687,061 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average
Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
8
8
2
2
4
3
1
8
4
6
11
5
3
1
6
18
23
The Giver, Lois Lowry (5.7, MG)
7
7
6
8
5
3
9
8
5
10
11
9
11
4
2
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (5.3, MG+)
12
14
14
The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan (4.7, MG)
13
10
7
14
12
8
15
15
12
16
96
130
The Maze Runner, James Dashner (5.3, UG)
17
9
129
Divergent, Veronica Roth (4.8, UG)
18
23
92
19
41
1,874
20
8
8
21
17
18
The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, Christopher Paul Curtis (5.0, MG)
22
16
15
23
27
21
Freak the Mighty/The Mighty, Rodman Philbrick (5.5, UG)
24
123,386
8
25
22
16
Where the Red Fern Grows, Wilson Rawls (4.9, MG)
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green (5.5, UG)
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by sixth graders was 5.2. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
Grade 7
In total, 720,902 seventh graders read 7,975,633 books with 295,636,932,135 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average
Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
4
5
2
8
8
3
2
3
The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton (4.7, UG)
4
6
261
5
38
49
6
3
31
7
5
1
8
1
8
9
14
15
Freak the Mighty/The Mighty, Rodman Philbrick (5.5, UG)
10
9
66
Insurgent, Veronica Roth (5.0, UG)
11
70
88
The Scorch Trials, James Dashner (5.0, UG)
12
11
13
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Rudyard Kipling (5.0, LG)
13
8
2
14
12
16
15
19
18
The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, Christopher Paul Curtis (5.0, MG)
16
15
9
17
17
10
18
20
11
19
10
6
20
499
639
21
18
8
22
7
4
Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins (5.3, MG+)
23
8
8
The Blood of Olympus, Rick Riordan (5.2, MG)
24
21
12
25
13
7
Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins (5.3, MG+)
If I Stay, Gayle Forman (5.3, UG)
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by seventh graders was 5.3. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
16
Grade 8
In total, 661,957 eighth graders read 6,341,757 books with 278,991,268,285 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average
Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
3
3
2
1
2
3
4
69
4
20
25
5
2
14
6
8
8
7
5
1
8
9
9
The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe (7.3, UG)
9
240
293
10
10
10
The Diary of Anne Frank, Frances Goodrich (3.1, MG)
11
7
40
12
55
60
13
6
8
14
8
8
15
15
13
Night, Elie Wiesel (4.8, UG)
16
74
79
The Death Cure, James Dashner (5.3, MG+)
17
14
6
18
18
17
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, John Boyne (5.8, UG)
19
17
20
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee (5.6, UG)
20
8
4
21
11
8
Allegiant, Veronica Roth (5.7, UG)
22
27
198
Looking for Alaska, John Green (5.8, UG)
23
66
545
Paper Towns, John Green (5.4, UG)
24
16
12
25
13
5
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by eighth graders was 5.3. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
Grade 9
In total, 159,000 ninth graders read 1,004,077 books with 48,928,051,287 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average number
of words read was 255,304 for boys and 345,224 for girls. Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
2
32
2
4
3
3
1
20
4
3
1
5
5
4
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck (4.5, UG)
6
27
28
7
6
5
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare (8.6, UG)
8
105
152
9
8
8
The Most Dangerous Game, Richard Connell (5.3, UG)
10
9
7
11
15
10
12
10
40
13
14
11
Animal Farm, George Orwell (7.3, UG)
14
20
81
15
11
9
16
48
243
17
61
69
18
7
2
19
12
6
20
8
8
21
24
76
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (5.2, UG)
22
13
12
A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive, Dave Pelzer (5.8, UG)
23
8
8
24
30
17
Lord of the Flies, William Golding (5.0, UG)
25
16
8
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by ninth graders was 5.5. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
18
Grade 10
In total, 122,204 tenth graders read 677,208 books with 37,394,415,600 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average number
of words read was 255,131 for boys and 346,430 for girls.
Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
3
21
2
2
3
3
1
14
4
6
5
5
5
4
6
26
38
7
4
1
8
83
106
9
8
6
Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare (10.8, UG)
10
7
42
11
14
43
12
12
9
13
10
8
14
31
183
15
18
16
Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe (6.2, UG)
16
40
31
17
68
83
18
9
2
19
11
7
20
15
8
21
13
10
22
17
25
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (5.2, UG)
23
8
8
24
24
18
Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher (3.9, MG+)
25
23
17
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by tenth graders was 5.5. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
19
Grade 11
In total, 94,938 eleventh graders read 471,248 books with 27,799,463,797 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average number
of words read was 245,584 for boys and 330,074 for girls. Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
1
1
The Crucible, Arthur Miller (4.9, UG)
2
2
3
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (7.3, UG)
3
5
18
4
4
5
5
3
13
6
26
33
7
90
112
8
6
2
9
8
39
10
9
7
The Scarlet Letter (Unabridged), Nathaniel Hawthorne (11.7, UG)
11
17
42
12
12
12
13
11
11
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Unabridged), Mark Twain (6.6, MG+)
14
43
53
15
35
159
16
10
6
17
78
93
18
14
8
19
7
4
20
16
15
21
15
10
22
310
328
Where She Went, Gayle Forman (5.1, UG)
23
20
17
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (4.7, UG)
24
61
47
The Best of Me, Nicholas Sparks (6.2, UG)
25
22
20
Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher (3.9, MG+)
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by eleventh graders was 5.6. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
20
Grade 12
In total, 70,309 twelfth graders read 360,015 books with 20,890,800,483 words during the 2014–2015 school year. The average number
of words read was 250,921 for boys and 326,647 for girls.
Overall
Rank
2013–14
Rank
2012–13
Rank
1
5
28
2
1
19
3
2
2
Frankenstein (Unabridged), Mary Shelley (12.4, UG)
4
4
4
Macbeth, William Shakespeare (10.9, UG)
5
28
45
6
3
1
7
111
141
8
7
44
9
8
8
10
20
43
11
15
16
12
12
10
13
14
11
Hamlet, William Shakespeare (10.5, UG)
14
11
6
15
19
17
1984, George Orwell (8.9, UG)
16
40
56
17
6
3
18
10
7
19
9
5
20
68
123
21
13
8
22
18
14
The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (5.2, UG)
23
50
39
The Best of Me, Nicholas Sparks (6.2, UG)
24
56
160
25
17
13
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 books read by twelfth graders was 6.5. ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text
21
22
Section II: Nonfiction reading
The majority of texts students encounter as they progress through college or move into the workforce are nonfiction,
yet as the lists on pages 10–21 show, much of students’ early reading is centered on fiction text. As college- and careerreadiness standards advise, it is “through wide and deep reading of literature and literary nonfiction of steadily increasing
sophistication, students gain a reservoir of literary and cultural knowledge, references, and images; the ability to evaluate
intricate arguments; and the capacity to surmount the challenges posed by complex texts” (National Governors Association,
2010, p. 35).
Accelerated Reader 360 provides independent book-reading practice
balanced with nonfiction reading and close-reading skills practice. For
instructional reading practice, Accelerated Reader 360 provides nonfiction
articles and built-in skills practice activities. The lists that begin on page 28
rank the top 25 nonfiction articles from the Accelerated Reader 360
collection that were read by kids in grades 1–12 during the 2014–2015
school year.1
For nonfiction book
ideas to whet students’
reading appetites, visit
www.learnalytics.com/wkar
What the data show
To be successful in life, in and outside of school, it is imperative that students are capable of reading a broad array of
materials, especially nonfiction text.
On page 24, explore an analysis of nonfiction reading, which examines these questions:
1. With the emphasis on nonfiction/informational text reading in college- and career-readiness standards, how has
nonfiction reading changed in each state over time?
2. How does nonfiction reading by grade and gender compare to the National Assessment for Educational Progress
(NAEP) reading framework?
3. Considering the push to encourage students to consider STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education
and careers, how actively are students reading books with STEM topics?
Learn why reading and writing matter to guest essayist Jeannette Walls (author of The Glass Castle) on page 27.
1N
ote: Nonfiction articles are a new feature in Accelerated Reader 360, released in January 2015. The results in this section reflect a half year’s data at pilot schools,
which included 157,828 kids who read 515, 998 nonfiction articles.
23
An analysis of nonfiction reading
College- and career-readiness standards emphasize that students read and comprehend a wide variety of text types
(literary, nonfiction, poetry, and so forth), and informational texts are increasingly seen as particularly important in new
English language arts standards. The rationale: as students prepare to move on to institutions of higher learning or into the
workforce, nonfiction and informational texts help broaden their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
1. With the emphasis on nonfiction/informational text reading in college- and career-readiness standards, how has
nonfiction reading changed in each state over time?
As new standards sweep the nation, nonfiction reading increases in all states (school years 2008–09 to 2014–15)
18%
18%
NH
VT
18%
18%
19%
MA
20%
20%
27%
17%
20%
16%
20%
21%
26%
24%
23%
23%
27%
NJ
27%
22%
27%
25%
29%
28%
29%
19%
CT
20%
21% 22%
25%
23%
RI
16%
19%
20%
21%
20% 20%
21%
16%
21%
20%
20%
16%
20%
18%
16%
21%
19%
24%
DE
20%
MD
17%
DC
Darker shades indicate
more positive change
0.1% - 1.4%
1.5% - 2.9%
3.0% - 4.4%
4.5% - 5.9%
6.0% - 7.4%
7.5% - 16.0%
Percentage on each
state shows current
nonfiction reading
Across the country, the impact of new expectations for college- and career-readiness can be seen as readership of nonfiction
text steadily increases. In the map, shading represents the percent of change in nonfiction reading from 2008–2009, before
the new standards were released, to the 2014–2015 school year—with darker shades representing more change. Current
percentage of nonfiction reading is also noted on each state (of all books read there)—ranging from a low of 16% to a high
of 29%.
24
2. How does nonfiction reading by grade and gender compare to the National Assessment of Educational Progress
(NAEP) reading framework?
Boys read more nonfiction than girls yet fall short of NAEP targets
Percent of students reading nonfiction
100%
90%
NAEP
80%
70%
55%
NAEP
50%
60%
50%
70%
NAEP
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Grade
The reading framework for NAEP (National Assessment Governing Board, 2012) is often cited as a desirable mix for students
of fiction and nonfiction reading. NAEP calls for an increasing shift to nonfiction reading over time, calling for 50% of student
reading in grade 4 to be nonfiction, and raising this target to 55% in grade 8 and 70% in grade 12.
Overall, boys read a greater percentage of nonfiction books at all grade levels compared to girls. Although nonfiction reading
peaks around grades 4 and 5 for both genders, reaching as high as 31% for boys and 22% for girls in grade 5, these levels are
still considerably lower than the NAEP reading goals of 50–70% nonfiction.2
3. Considering the push to encourage students to consider STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math)
education and careers, how actively are students reading books with STEM topics?
54%
of students
read at
least one
STEM book
STEM books are
of the total
books read
9%
2N
ote: We recognize that students may complete additional nonfiction reading from sources not captured in our database.
25
Books with STEM topics are lacking from students’ reading diets, even as these books are a natural fit for educators seeking to
nurture students’ nonfiction and informational text reading. Currently, the data show that only about half of students read a
book on a STEM topic in a given year (56% of boys read at least one STEM book last year, while 52% of girls did so), and STEM
books represent less than 10% of all book reading. As with nonfiction books overall, boys are more likely to choose books
with STEM topics than girls—11% of all books read by boys covered a STEM topic, versus 8% of books read by girls. Our data
also show that more books with STEM topics were read at the elementary grades versus middle and high school.
Popular books with STEM topics (and their ATOS Readability Formula3 challenge levels) include A Color of His Own (2.3) by
Leo Lionni, How Much Is a Million? (3.4) by David M. Schwartz, Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 (3.5) by Richard Paul Evans,
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment (4.6) by James Patterson, Ungifted (5.2) by Gordon Korman, Rocket Boys/October Sky
(5.9) by Homer Hickam, and Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon (6.9) by Steve Sheinkin.
References
National Assessment Governing Board. (2012). Reading framework for the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Washington, DC:
US Government Printing Office. Retrieved from https://www.nagb.org/publications/frameworks/reading/2013-reading-framework.html
ational Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language
N
arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from www.corestandards.org
3 For more on ATOS, see Appendix, p. 56.
26
by Jeannette Walls
When I sat down to write The Glass Castle I was certain that people would be appalled by the
story of my rough-scrabble childhood. What kept me going was the hope that at least one kid
from a well-to-do family would read the book, learn what it feels like to be poor, and become a
little more sympathetic toward kids from misfit families. Then I developed a grander, more
ambitious hope—that a kid facing some of the hardships I had gone
through would read my book and would get the same sort of inspiration
and sense of connection that I had gotten when I was ten years old and
read about the trials of Francie Nolan in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.
In the ten years since The Glass Castle was published, nothing has amazed
me more—or given me greater joy—than the way both those hopes have
been realized. Rich kids, poor kids, children of alcoholics, children of
immigrants, children from inner cities and from hollows have read the book,
often when it was assigned at school, and they have told me how it has
changed their thinking. Popular cheerleaders have said it made them more
sympathetic to the outcast girls. Kids from broken families have written me,
saying my story made them feel they were not alone and that if I survived,
they could too.
Not long ago, The Glass Castle was pulled from the reading list at an affluent
high school because a few of the parents worried that my story would be
too disturbing for their teenage children. The teachers and a vast majority of the parents—
bless their hearts—fought back, saying that these sometimes insulated students ought to learn
about kids with lives like mine and should be able to discuss ugly subjects in the safety of the
classroom. The Glass Castle was put back on the reading list and I went to visit the school. The
whole event was magical. Students not only got the book, they wanted to know more. Some
were shocked by the details of poverty, while others were moved by the unexpected tales of
love, hope, and resilience. Some privately shared stories with me about their families, stories
they’d never told anyone else, about drunks and addicts in their families, about mental illness
and lecherous relatives.
That, I believe, is why we write. And that is why we read. To share what we’ve gone through and learn what others have gone
through. When we do that, we take emotional and intellectual journeys with people—both fictional and real—we otherwise
never would have met. If we’re lucky, we come away from those journeys with a better understanding of others, and if we’re
truly lucky, we come to understand ourselves better.
“I used to think I hated books,” one student told me. “But after I read yours, I realized I just need to find books that were
written for people like me.” There is, I believe, no such thing as someone who doesn’t enjoy books. There are only people who
haven’t yet discovered the kind of books they love.
Let’s introduce them.
Jeannette Walls is the best-selling author of The Glass Castle, a novel that has been on the New York
Times best-sellers list for more than six years, has sold 4.5 million copies in the United States, has been
translated into 22 languages, and is being made into a movie by Paramount. Walls has since written Half
Broke Horses: A True Life Novel, which was an immediate best seller, and The Silver Star, a heartbreaking
and redemptive novel about a girl who challenges the injustice of the adult world. Walls lives in the
Virginia Piedmont with her husband, the writer John Taylor.
© 2015 by Jeannette Walls. Photo by Mark Regan Photography.
27
Top 25 nonfiction articles, grades 1–12
Grade 1
Nonfiction articles from Accelerated Reader 360™ collection
Rank
Title (ATOS™ level)*
Source
Topic
Skill area
1
Dog Is a Hero for Warning Deaf Boy About Fire (3.9)
AP
Social Studies
Main Idea and Details
2
Texas Dog Escapes Backyard, Travels Far (3.4)
AP
Culture
Inference and Evidence
3
Chocolate’s Story (4.1)
Youngzine
Social Studies
Compare and Contrast
4
What Do Astronauts Eat in Space? (4.6)
Youngzine
Culture
Sequence
5
Whale Poop Makes Boy Rich (3.8)
Youngzine
Money
6
Get Ready for Snack Bars Made from Bugs (3.7)
Smithsonian
Health
7
Goofy-Looking Dinosaur Found in Asia (4.4)
AP
Science
Sequence
8
5-Year-Old California Boy Gets to Be ‘Batkid’ (3.5)
AP
Education
9
New Jersey’s Beach-Lovin’ Seal Moving to a Zoo (4.3)
AP
Science
Cause and Effect
10
Cobra Captured in California (3.9)
AP
Social Studies
11
Glaciers: Melting That Can’t Be Stopped (4.3)
Youngzine
Science
Cause and Effect
12
Pollution: What Is It and What Can We Do About It? (3.9)
Rosen
Science
13
Plants That Eat Meat (4.1)
Rosen
Science
Word Meaning
14
The Mystery of Moving Rocks Is Solved (4.3)
AP
Money
15
Apple Will Pay $32.5M for Kids’ Purchases (4.2)
AP
Health
Cause and Effect
16
Kansas Girl Drives Mom’s Car in Emergency (3.7)
AP
Culture
17
This Bird Tricks Other Animals to Get Their Food (3.7)
Smithsonian
Science
18
Dolphins Can Copy Humans and Solve Problems (3.4)
AP
Science
19
Mom Wants Daughter’s Name to Be Awesome (3.9)
AP
Money
20
Alan Alda’s Contest Asks: What Is color? (4.9)
AP
Science
21
Kids Need More Exercise (3.5)
AP
Education
Cause and Effect
22
Lemonade Stands Teach Kids Business Lessons (3.9)
Nick News
Money
23
Hellen Keller Was an Amazing American (4.3)
Public Domain
Education
Author’s Purpose and
Perspective
24
First Lady Hosts Harvest (3.6)
AP
Health
Author’s Purpose
25
Harp Player Soothes Apes at Zoo (3.8)
AP
Science
Cause and Effect
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by or to first graders was 4.0. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
28
Grade 2
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
1
AP
Social Studies
2
AP
Social Studies
3
Youngzine
Social Studies
4
AP
Education
5
AP
Culture
6
Youngzine
Money
7
AP
Science
Sequence
8
AP
Money
9
Youngzine
Science
Cause and Effect
10
Youngzine
Culture
Sequence
11
AP
Science
12
New Tarantulas Found! (4.2)
Youngzine
Culture
Author’s Purpose
13
AP
Health
Cause and Effect
14
AP
Health
Author’s Purpose
15
Smithsonian
Health
16
AP
Science
Cause and Effect
17
Smithsonian
Science
18
AP
Culture
19
Are Ants Smarter Than Google? (5.5)
Youngzine
Culture
20
Kids Need More Exercise (3.5)
AP
Education
Cause and Effect
21
Fifth Grader Finds 14,000-Year-Old Hunting Tool (4.2)
Smithsonian
Social Studies
22
A Holiday About Trees (3.7)
Nick News
Culture
23
Public Domain
Education
Perspective
24
The Internet-Toothbrush That Helps You Brush Your Teeth (3.4)
AP
Tech
25
Clara Barton: Civil War Heroine (4.3)
Public Domain
Social Studies
Perspective
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by or to second graders was 4.0. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
29
Grade 3
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
AP
Social Studies
1
2
Youngzine
Money
3
AP
Social Studies
4
Youngzine
Social Studies
5
Youngzine
Culture
Sequence
6
AP
Education
7
AP
Money
8
AP
Science
Sequence
9
AP
Culture
10
Youngzine
Science
Cause and Effect
11
AP
Health
Cause and Effect
12
AP
Science
13
Smithsonian
Health
14
AP
Science
Cause and Effect
15
AP
Health
Author’s Purpose
16
Youngzine
Culture
Author’s Purpose
17
Harp Player Soothes Apes at Zoo (3.8)
AP
Science
Cause and Effect
18
AP
Culture
19
Pollution: What Is It and What Can We Do About It? (3.9)
Rosen
Science
20
Smithsonian
Science
21
Youngzine
Culture
22
Public Domain
Education
Perspective
23
Mom Wants Daughter’s Name to Be Awesome (3.9)
AP
Money
24
Plane Crash Site Remembered as Historic (3.6)
AP
Social Studies
Cause and Effect
25
Alan Alda’s Contest Asks: What Is color? (4.9)
AP
Science
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by third graders was 4.0. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
30
Grade 4
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
1
Youngzine
Culture
Author’s Purpose
2
America Has a Wild Horse Problem (5.0)
Youngzine
Social Studies
Cause and Effect
3
McDonald’s Will Test New Fries (4.8)
AP
Health
4
Youngzine
Culture
5
AP
Social Studies
6
Bird Watchers Help Study Puffins (4.9)
AP
Nature
Cause and Effect
7
Youngzine
Money
8
4 out of 10 Homes Only Use Cell Phones (4.0)
AP
Money
9
Blind Girl One of the Best Pole Vaulters in Texas (4.9)
AP
Education
10
Youngzine
Social Studies
11
Getting Animals On-Screen Is a Wild Job (4.2)
AP
Culture
12
School Kids Urge Crayola to Recycle (4.8)
AP
Education
Summary
13
Latest Find in Search for Puppy Face That Never Fades (4.9)
AP
Social Studies
Author’s Purpose
14
AP
Social Studies
15
Bears Munch Ants and Help Plants (4.0)
Smithsonian
Science
Cause and Effect
16
Monarch Butterflies May Have a Compass Inside Them (4.9)
AP
Culture
Cause and Effect
17
Deep Sea Mining (5.4)
Youngzine
Culture
18
Captured Cobra Had Venom Glands (5.9)
AP
Science
19
13-Year-Old Finds Success as a Fashion Designer (5.4)
AP
Education
20
Ruby Bridges’s Life Story (4.8)
Public Domain
Social Studies
21
AP
Health
Cause and Effect
22
The Hard Truth About Sugar (5.3)
Youngzine
Health
Author’s Purpose
23
5-Year-Old California Boy a Smash Hit as ‘Batkid’ (4.6)
AP
Education
24
Some Students Swim to School in India (5.2)
AP
Education
Author’s Purpose
25
Kids and Caffeine (4.2)
AP
Health
Author’s Purpose
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by fourth graders was 4.6. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
31
Grade 5
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
1
Youngzine
Culture
2
Martin Luther King and Nonviolence (6.0)
Youngzine
Science
3
AP
Science
4
AP
Education
5
Dog Named a Hero for Alerting Deaf Boy to Fire (5.3)
AP
Culture
6
Teen Completes Forty Mile Walk While Carrying Brother (5.1)
AP
Social Studies
7
Eating Insects: Good for You and the World? (4.7)
AP
Culture
Argumentation
8
Alaska Mom Wants Daughter’s Name to Be Awesome (5.1)
AP
Money
Argumentation
9
Food Fit for an Astronaut! (5.2)
Youngzine
Science
Sequence
10
Eight-Year-Old Gets Rich on Whale Poop (5.6)
Youngzine
Science
Cause and Effect
11
Chocolate’s Bitter and Sweet Story (5.9)
Youngzine
Social Studies
12
Youngzine
Culture
Author’s Purpose
13
Youngzine
Money
14
Afghan Girl Who Lost Arm Paints with Artificial Limb (5.6)
AP
Education
Author’s Purpose
15
AP
Social Studies
16
Remembering Anne Frank (5.8)
Youngzine
Culture
17
Apple Will Refund $32.5M for Kids’ Purchases (5.7)
AP
Social Studies
Cause and Effect
18
New $100 Bills Are High-Tech (6.2)
AP
Money
Cause and Effect
19
Conjoined Twins Turn Eighteen (6.0)
AP
Science
20
Dolphins Can Solve Problems Like Humans (5.2)
AP
Science
Sequence
21
America Has a Wild Horse Problem (5.0)
Youngzine
Social Studies
Cause and Effect
22
Pizza That Lasts Years (5.5)
AP
Science
Cause and Effect
23
New Study Shows No Evidence of Bigfoot (5.7)
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
24
Food Labels: What Are You Eating? (6.1)
Youngzine
Social Studies
Author’s Purpose
25
Fifth Grader Finds 14,000-Year-Old Clovis Point on Beach (6.0)
Smithsonian
Social Studies
Summary
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by fifth graders was 5.4. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
32
Grade 6
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
Youngzine
Culture
NPR
Science
Author’s Purpose
AP
Health
Youngzine
Science
1
2
Do Parents Really Know What Their Kids Are Eating? (6.3)
3
McDonald’s to Test New Seasoned French Fries (5.8)
4
5
13-Year-Old Fashion Designer Finds Success (7.0)
AP
Education
6
4 in 10 U.S. Homes are Cell Phone Only, Skip Landline (6.6)
AP
Money
7
New Tarantulas Discovered! (5.8)
Youngzine
Science
Author’s Purpose
8
Dinosaur Found in Argentina May Shed Light on Huge
Beasts (7.0)
AP
Science
9
Doctors’ Recommendation for Schools: Later Start Times (6.9)
AP
Education
Cause and Effect
10
Teenage Malala Is Youngest Nobel Prize Winner (7.4)
AP
Culture
11
AP
Science
12
Getting Animals to Shine On-Screen Is a Wild Job (6.6)
AP
Culture
13
Blind Pole Vaulter One of the Best in Texas (6.3)
AP
Education
14
Bears Munching on Ants Help Plants (6.2)
Smithsonian
Science
Cause and Effect
15
AP
Education
16
AP
Money
Argumentation
17
Goodbye M&Ms, Hello to Granola Bars for School Snacks (6.8)
AP
Health
18
AP
Social Studies
19
Youngzine
Money
20
The Secrets of the Most Secure Prison in the World (6.1)
Youngzine
Culture
21
Your Garbage Is Polluting Even the Deepest, Most Remote
Oceans (6.7)
Smithsonian
Science
Cause and Effect
22
Youngzine
Culture
Author’s Purpose
23
Afghan Girl Who Lost Arm Paints with Artificial Limb (5.6)
AP
Education
Author’s Purpose
24
India’s Festival of Lights (6.5)
Youngzine
Culture
25
Government Plans to Make Cars Talk to Each Other (6.8)
AP
Culture
Argumentation
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by sixth graders was 6.0. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
33
Grade 7
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
NPR
Culture
Argumentation
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
Youngzine
Culture
1
Cool or Creepy? A Clip-On Camera Can Capture Every
Moment (7.5)
2
Bad Behavior on Social Media Can Prove Costly to Recruits (8.1)
3
4
Dog Escapes Texas Backyard, Somehow Gets To Ohio (7.2)
AP
Culture
5
Monkeys Take Selfies, Creating Copyright Dispute (8.1)
AP
Education
6
How Video Games Are Getting Inside Your Head—and
Wallet (7.5)
NPR
Social Studies
Author’s Purpose
7
Ants: Smarter Than Google? (7.2)
Youngzine
Culture
8
Eating Insects Is Good for You and the World (6.4)
AP
Culture
Author’s Purpose
9
Distracted Driving: We’re All Guilty, So What Should We Do
About It? (7.1)
NPR
Science
10
Bigfoot Hair Samples Mostly from Bears (7.7)
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
11
Anne Frank: A Legacy (7.5)
Youngzine
Social Studies
12
Youngzine
Science
13
Conjoined Twins Celebrate Eighteenth Birthday (7.7)
AP
Social Studies
14
AP
Science
15
Can Finishing a Big Bowl of Ramen Make Dreams Come
True? (7.5)
NPR
Culture
Author’s Purpose
16
AP
Money
Argumentation
17
Astronaut Who Walked On the Moon: “It Was Science Fiction
to Us” (6.9)
NPR
Science
18
AP
Education
19
Coffee Shop in North Dakota on Honor System (7.3)
AP
Money
Cause and Effect
20
The Great Escape of Georgia Slaves Ellen and William Craft (7.6)
Smithsonian
Social Studies
21
How Bloodsucking Vampire Bats Aim Their Bites (8.6)
NPR
Culture
Cause and Effect
22
Facial Recognition Technology Helps Find Lost Dogs (8.0)
AP
Science
Sequence
23
Will a Longer School Year Help or Hurt U.S. Students? (8.1)
AP
Education
Argumentation
24
The Girl Who Swims Among Sharks (7.2)
Smithsonian
Science
Cause and Effect
25
Facebook and Twitter Users Shy Away from Opinions (8.3)
AP
Health
Author’s Purpose
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by seventh graders was 7.1. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
34
Grade 8
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
Youngzine
Social Studies
1
Anne Frank: A Legacy (7.5)
2
Moment (7.5)
NPR
Culture
Argumentation
3
For Their Own Good? New Curfew Sends Baltimore Kids
Home Early (8.0)
NPR
Social Studies
Cause and Effect
4
Youngzine
Culture
5
Life After Ice Buckets: ALS Group Faces $94 Million
Challenge (8.5)
NPR
Health
6
Bad Behavior on Social Media Can Prove Costly to Recruits (8.1)
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
7
NPR
Culture
Cause and Effect
8
An Education Reporter Puts Himself to the (Standardized)
Test (7.7)
NPR
Health
Author’s Purpose
9
The Martin Luther King’s Way of Nonviolence (8.6)
Youngzine
Science
10
The Mysteries of Alcatraz (7.6)
Youngzine
Money
11
Monkeys Take Selfies, Creating Copyright Dispute (8.1)
AP
Education
12
Youngzine
Science
13
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
14
Facebook’s Privacy Policy: Things to Know (8.5)
AP
Culture
Perspective
15
Why Aren’t Teens Reading Like They Used To? (7.6)
NPR
Culture
16
Does Getting Angry Make You Angrier? (8.2)
NPR
Education
17
We Don’t Finish Anything Anym ... (8.2)
NPR
Culture
Author’s Purpose
18
AP
Money
Argumentation
19
Distracted Driving: We’re All Guilty, So What Should We Do
About It? (7.1)
NPR
Science
20
Parkour May Run, Flip, Dive and Slide Its Way into Olympics (8.4)
NPR
Money
21
How Video Games Are Getting Inside Your Head—and Wallet (7.5)
NPR
Social Studies
Author’s Purpose
22
Youngzine
Culture
23
Groups Ask Girl Scouts to End Partnership with Barbie (8.7)
AP
Social Studies
Argumentation
24
AP
Social Studies
25
Afghan Girl Lost Arm, Paints with Prosthesis (8.2)
AP
Education
Author’s Purpose
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by eighth graders was 7.6. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
35
Grade 9
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
NPR
Science
Cause and Effect
AP
Social Studies
Argumentation
NPR
Culture
Argumentation
1
Bad Behavior on Social Media Can Cost Recruits (9.0)
2
Garbage Mass Is Growing in the Pacific (8.8)
3
Teens Love Vacation Selfies (8.6)
4
Moment (7.5)
5
The Great Escape from Slavery of Ellen and William Craft (9.3)
Smithsonian
Social Studies
6
Jeans Face an Uncertain Future Amid Yoga Wear Rage (9.9)
AP
Social Studies
7
Bob Dylan’s Song Scribbles Sell for $2 Million (8.6)
AP
Science
8
AP
Money
Argumentation
9
Here’s a Water Bottle You Can Eat (8.5)
Smithsonian
Money
Summary
10
Youngzine
Culture
11
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
12
Youngzine
Culture
13
Utah Teens Shocked to See Altered Yearbook Photos (10.3)
AP
Money
Argumentation
14
The Great Depression and African Americans (6.8)
Public Domain
Social Studies
Sequence
15
Facial Recognition Technology Helps Find Lost Dogs (8.0)
AP
Science
Sequence
16
Monkeys Take Selfies, Sparking Copyright Dispute (9.9)
AP
Education
Argumentation
17
NPR
Culture
Cause and Effect
18
AP
Education
19
AP
Education
20
AP
Social Studies
21
The Bicycle Helmet That’s Invisible (Until You Need It) (9.7)
Smithsonian
Money
Summary
22
We Don’t Finish Anything Anym … (8.2)
NPR
Culture
Author’s Purpose
23
The Girl Who Swims with Sharks and Protects Them (8.9)
Smithsonian
Science
Cause and Effect
24
When Hackers Test for Flaws, They Might Earn Cash — or
Threats (8.7)
NPR
Science
Cause and Effect
25
Here’s a Water Bottle You Can Actually Eat (10.5)
Smithsonian
Money
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by ninth graders was 8.1. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
36
Grade 10
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
1
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
2
Facebook’s Privacy Update: Five Things to Know (9.4)
AP
Culture
3
NSA Spying on Virtual Worlds, Online Games (11.5)
AP
Culture
Author’s Purpose
4
Monkeys Take Selfies, Sparking Copyright Dispute (9.9)
AP
Education
Argumentation
5
Youngzine
Culture
6
Teens Love Vacation Selfies (8.6)
AP
Social Studies
Argumentation
7
Bob Dylan’s Song Scribbles Sell for $2 Million (8.6)
AP
Science
8
Argentine Dinosaur May Shed Light on Huge Beasts (10.0)
AP
Culture
9
Parkour May Run, Flip, Dive and Slide Its Way into
Olympics (8.4)
NPR
Money
10
Government Wants to Make Cars Talk to Each Other (11.0)
AP
Money
Argumentation
11
Utah Teens Shocked to See Altered Yearbook Photos (10.3)
AP
Money
Argumentation
12
Does Getting Angry Make You Angrier? (8.2)
NPR
Education
13
Malala, Satyarthi Win Nobel Peace Prize (10.4)
AP
Education
14
Flavors Fuel Food Industry, but Remain a Mystery (10.2)
AP
Health
Argumentation
15
Insights on Hummingbird Travel, Lifespan Revealed (9.7)
AP
Science
Connections and Relationships
16
Inventor Pushes Solar Panels for Roads, Highways (10.1)
AP
Money
17
Analysis: New Studies Weigh College Value and Cost (9.7)
AP
Social Studies
Argumentation
18
AP
Science
19
Bad Behavior on Social Media Can Prove Costly to
Recruits (8.1)
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
20
Canada Identifies Long-Lost British Explorer Ship (10.0)
AP
Social Studies
21
A Night in the Forest Capturing Bats (9.2)
Smithsonian
Science
Perspective
22
AP
Money
Argumentation
23
2 New Maya Civilization Centers Studied in Mexico (11.1)
AP
Education
24
Draw My Left! No, No, My Other Left! A Hidden Bias in Art
History Revealed (7.6)
NPR
Social Studies
25
Afghan Girl Lost Arm, Paints with Prosthesis (8.2)
AP
Education
Author’s Purpose
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by tenth graders was 9.1. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
37
Grade 11
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
1
AP
Culture
Author’s Purpose
2
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
3
Study: Social Media Users Shy Away from Opinions (10.8)
AP
Health
Author’s Purpose
4
2 New Maya Civilization Centers Studied in Mexico (11.1)
AP
Education
5
Girl Scouts Asked to End Partnership with Barbie (11.7)
AP
Social Studies
Argumentation
6
Google Building Fleet of Package-Delivering Drones (11.3)
AP
Money
Cause and Effect
7
AP
Social Studies
Argumentation
8
Moment (7.5)
NPR
Culture
Argumentation
9
Police Will No Longer Search Cell Phones Without
Permission (6.8)
AP
Culture
10
Facebook’s Privacy Update: Five Things to Know (9.4)
AP
Culture
11
NPR
Science
Cause and Effect
12
As Banks Open In Schools, A Chance For Students To Learn
To Save (8.8)
NPR
Culture
13
These Inflatable Modules Could Change Space
Exploration (10.8)
Smithsonian
Science
14
AP
Health
Argumentation
15
Bad Behavior on Social Media Can Prove Costly to
Recruits (8.1)
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
16
Life After Ice Buckets: ALS Group Faces $94 Million
Challenge (8.5)
NPR
Health
17
Your Garbage Is Polluting Even the Deep, Remote Reaches of
the Ocean (9.8)
Smithsonian
Science
Cause and Effect
18
First Media Tours of Holding Cells for Immigrant Kids (8.6)
AP
Science
Argumentation
19
Can This Toilet Save Millions of Lives? (10.9)
Smithsonian
Health
Perspective
20
Youngzine
Culture
21
Denver-area Seniors Protest New State Tests (10.8)
AP
Education
Summary
22
Five Health Benefits of Standing Desks (10.8)
Smithsonian
Health
Connections and Relationships
23
AP
Education
24
Spiders All Over the World Have a Taste for Fish (10.3)
Smithsonian
Science
25
AP
Social Studies
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by eleventh graders was 9.7. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
38
Grade 12
Rank
Source
Topic
Skill area
1
AP
Culture
Author’s Purpose
2
AP
Science
Author’s Purpose
3
NPR
Science
Cause and Effect
4
AP
Science
5
Air Pollution in China Is Spreading Across the Pacific to the
U.S. (12.0)
Smithsonian
Science
Author’s Word Choice and
Figurative Language
6
Study: Social Media Users Shy Away from Opinions (10.8)
AP
Health
Author’s Purpose
7
Spread of DNA Databases Sparks Ethical Concerns (11.8)
AP
Culture
Argumentation
8
Obama Calls for More Rights for Student Borrowers (11.5)
AP
Education
Author’s Word Choice and
Figurative Language
9
Youngzine
Culture
10
Government Wants to Make Cars Talk to Each Other (11.0)
AP
Money
Argumentation
11
Moment (7.5)
NPR
Culture
Argumentation
12
Canada Identifies Long-Lost British Explorer Ship (10.0)
AP
Social Studies
13
Where Did Dogs First Appear? DNA Points to Europe (10.3)
AP
Social Studies
14
A Sax Supreme: John Coltrane’s Saxophone Will Be Added to
the Collections of the American History Museum (8.2)
Smithsonian
Culture
Cause and Effect
15
The Uncertain Promise of Freedom’s Light: Black Soldiers in
the Civil War (10.1)
Smithsonian
Social Studies
Author’s Purpose
16
Police Will No Longer Search Cell Phones Without
Permission (6.8)
AP
Culture
17
AP
Social Studies
18
Why It’s Time to Respect Failure (8.7)
Smithsonian
Culture
19
Eating Insects Is Good for You and the World (6.4)
AP
Culture
Author’s Purpose
20
AP
Social Studies
Argumentation
21
The Golden Age of Jazz, an American Invention (8.5)
Public Domain
Culture
Perspective
22
This Desert Pit Has Been On Fire for More Than 40 Years (9.8)
Smithsonian
Science
Cause and Effect
23
One Man’s Epic Quest to Visit Every Former Slave Dwelling in
the United States (9.6)
Smithsonian
Social Studies
24
AP
Health
Argumentation
25
Google Building Fleet of Package-Delivering Drones (11.3)
AP
Money
Cause and Effect
* The average ATOS level of the top 25 nonfiction articles read by twelfth graders was 9.5. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale.
39
40
Section III: Exposure to complex texts
Enrollment in postsecondary programs is steadily increasing; however, many college students need remedial courses
(Radford, Berkner, Wheeless, & Shepherd, 2010). This difficult transition from high school to college may be exacerbated by
a substantial gap between text challenge levels at the secondary level versus postsecondary materials (National Governors
Association/Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010).
In 2012, as published in Nelson, Perfetti, Liben, and Liben’s study of text complexity measures, Renaissance Learning
developed recommended “text complexity grade bands” for the ATOS Readability Formula,4 which illustrate end-of-year
college- and career-readiness (CCR) reading comprehension goals achieved with scaffolded supports (see table 1).
Table 1. Grade bands provide guidelines for exposure to complex texts
Common Core State Standards
grade bands
New text complexity grade bands
(Recommended ATOS™ level ranges)
K–1
0.1–3.3
2–3
2.8–5.1
4–5
5.0–7.0
6–8
7.0–10.0
9–CCR/college and career readiness
9.7–14.1
The lists that begin on page 47 rank the top 25 fiction and nonfiction books read within these text complexity grade bands,
based on Accelerated Reader 360 data for 9.8 million students in grades 1–12 from 31,327 US schools who read over
334 million books and nonfiction articles during the 2014–2015 school year.
What the data show
Monitoring students’ exposure to and comprehension of complex texts can help educators ensure students are on the
pathway to college and career readiness.
On page 42, explore an analysis of reading challenge, which examines these questions:
1. To what extent do students meet new text complexity goals?
2. How does what students read compare to what adults read and to what may be expected in college and career?
3. How many high school students actually read high school level books?
Learn why reading and writing matter to guest essayist Jay Asher (author of Thirteen Reasons Why) on page 46.
4 For more on ATOS, see Appendix, p. 56.
41
An analysis of reading challenge
New academic standards are placing greater emphasis than ever on the level of challenge—or text complexity—presented by
the materials students read. Prior research (Williamson, 2006) has established a gap between the texts students typically
experience in high school and the complexity of material they are expected to handle in college and career. Subsequent
projects have attempted to close this gap by suggesting grade-by-grade text complexity goals that aim to put K–12 students
on a pathway to meet later challenges.
1. To what extent do students meet new text complexity goals?
Beyond the middle grades, few students read texts within text complexity grade bands
Students reading
in grade bands
100%
Students with independent
book reading practice within
textcomplexity grade bands
80%
Students with instructional
article reading practice within
text complexity grade bands
60%
40%
20%
0%
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Grade
In 2012, Nelson et al. conducted a study resulting in new more rigorous text complexity grade bands, which was prompted
by research that suggests students do not graduate high school prepared for difficult levels of text they encounter in
college and career settings. Under the researchers’ direction, Renaissance participated in the study and computed
text complexity grade bands for grades 1–12 using ATOS (see table 1, p. 41). To do so, Renaissance researchers first started
with estimates of college and career text complexity and then worked backwards to the early grades to create a pathway for
college and career readiness.
The new text complexity grade bands are rigorous and beyond what most students are likely to encounter in their
independent reading practice, particularly after elementary school. Consequently, we find that the percentage of students
reading books and articles within the text complexity grade bands generally decreases as grade level increases.
Our data show:
• N
early all elementary students read at least one book in their target grade band, but this readership declines over
time. From sixth grade through high school, less than 15% of students, on average, read one or more books in their
target range.
• The nonfiction articles that students are assigned to read are generally more challenging than the books students
select, thus article reading in most grades is more likely to meet goals for the text complexity grade bands. Because of
the way the grade bands are defined, at certain points the percentage of students reading a book or article in the bands
jumps up or drops down. Grades 4, 6, and 9 are starting points for the bands, and as such, the percentage of students
reading within the bands tend to decrease in those grades. The grades following these starting points then see a
subsequent increase as students spend more time exposed to more challenging text.
42
2. How does what students read compare to what adults read and to what may be expected in college and career?
The complexity of texts students read may fall short of what
New York Times articles
USA Today articles
Huffington Post articles
College and Career Ready: Sample Career Documents
Sample New York
Times Best Sellers
College and Career Ready: Sample First Year College Texts
15
Sample New York
Times Best Sellers
Fiction 2013–2014
13.8
Average ATOS™ level
12
10.6
9
6
3
8.8
Articles
9.5
1.8
10.2
10.6
7.6
7.3
5.7
5.2
4.2
10.0
Books
0
Grades 1 through 12
College and career
Best sellers, articles, etc.
What students read
Postsecondary
What adults read
Comparing the complexity level of texts read by students throughout their K–12 experience reveals persistent gaps between
high school and postsecondary life.5 By the time students exit high school, they are typically reading books in the 5–6 range,
which is on par with the level of typical fiction best sellers of around 5.7. However, their book choices fall about two grade
levels below the demands of books commonly assigned to incoming college freshman (7.3) and nonfiction best sellers (7.6).
Closing achievement gaps: Struggling readers surge ahead with high quality daily reading practice
Book reading is only part of the story. Nonfiction article reading is another important dimension. On average, the nonfiction
articles students are assigned to read are 2–3 grade levels higher than the books they read (which are often self-selected). In
high school, the most
commonly
assigned
range,
averaging
in the
grade
12. That
puts students
These
students
began articles tend to be in the 7–10
These
students
rose8.8
from
bottom
quartile
on a trajectory somewhat
consistent
with
Time,
Post,
Today, and the
and ended
the year
in articles in popular publicationstosuch
meetashigh
CCRHuffington
benchmarks
(onUSA
average,
New York Times, whose
to be in the 9–11 range. However, at 13.8, the complexity
demands of college textbooks
thearticles
bottomtend
quartile.
the 50th percentile).
are quite a bit more advanced than what many high school students are exposed to.
5 Source of example postsecondary and adult reading materials:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Fiction_Best_Sellers_of_2013;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Fiction_Best_Sellers_of_2014
Grade 5
Grade 8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Non-Fiction_Best_Sellers_of_2013;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times_Non-Fiction_Best_Sellers_of_2014
Average words read
142,619
Average words read
Average words read
190,320
Ten most popular articles as of Sept. 16, 2014: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/mostpopular/;
Ten articles appearing on the Front Page, Oct. 9, 2015: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
341,174
Average words read
494,560
Ten articles appearing in Time magazine, Sept. 22, 2014, Vol. 184, No. 11; Ten articles appearing in Time magazine, Oct. 19, 2015, Vol. 186, No. 15
Ten most popular/top stories from USA Today, Sept. 16–17, 2014; Ten most popular/top stories from USA Today, Oct. 12, 2015
Average
minutes
Average
Average
minutes
minutes
Ten Average
most viewed
articles in last 24 hours from New
York Times
as of Sept. 16, 2014; Ten Trending
articles
from New York Times as of Oct. 12,
2015 minutes
reading per day
reading per day
reading per day
9.9
reading per day
16.3
Assigned summer reads: Beach Books: 2012–2013, What Do Colleges and Universities Want Students to Read Outside Class:
http://www.nas.org/articles/beach_books_2012_2013; Beach Books: 2013–2014, What Do Colleges and Universities Want Students to Read Outside Class:
https://www.nas.org/articles/beach_books_2013_2014_what_do_colleges_and_universities_want_students_to_re
14.3
19.0
College and Career Ready: Nelson, J., Perfetti, C., Liben, D., & Liben, M. (2012). Measures of text complexity: Testing their predictive value for grade levels and student
performance. Technical
Report to the Gates Foundation.
Retrieved from http://achievethecore.org/page/321/measures-of-text-difficulty-detail-pg
Average
Average
Average
Average
comprehension level
72%
comprehension level
comprehension level
80%
43
71%
comprehension level
82%
As students are encouraged to read increasingly complex texts, it will also be very important to assess comprehension. Using
information about how well students understand what they are reading, educators will be able to guide reading choices and
provide instructional supports in order to expose students to a level of text complexity that is as challenging as possible
without crossing the line to being frustrating.
3. How many high school students actually read high school level books?
9%
of students
in grades
9-12 read at least
one book with a text
complexity level of 9.0+
The top five books with an ATOS level of 9.0+ read by students in grades 9–12 last year were Macbeth by William Shakespeare
(10.9), Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (12.4), Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare (10.8), The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel
Hawthorne (11.7), and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (10.5). Based on what we found while exploring student reading in
comparison to text complexity grade bands and to adult reading materials (both for pleasure and college/career) on pages
42 and 43, discovering that such a small percentage of high schoolers read books above 9.0 is unsurprising.
In considering how to help more students successfully read challenging material, it is important to bear in mind that pushing
students to read more difficult texts at the expense of comprehension could be detrimental. Findings from prior research have
detected a tipping point around a comprehension level of about 85% (i.e., students averaging 85% or higher on Accelerated
Reader 360 quizzes taken after reading a book or article). Students who maintain this level of success over a quarter, semester,
or school year are likely to experience above-average achievement growth. Of course, students attempting to read
complex text that stretches their current ability level will need instructional supports to reach this level of comprehension.
44
References
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards Appendix A: Research
supporting the key elements of the standards, Glossary of terms. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from www.corestandards.org
Nelson, J., Perfetti, C., Liben, D., & Liben, M. (2012). Measures of text complexity: Testing their predictive value for grade levels and student performance.
Technical Report to the Gates Foundation. Retrieved from http://achievethecore.org/page/321/measures-of-text-difficulty-detail-pg
Radford, A. W., Berkner, L., Wheeless, S. C., & Shepherd, B. (2010). Persistence and attainment of 2003–04 beginning postsecondary students: After 6 years.
First look (NCES 2011-151). US Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011151.pdf
Williamson, G. L. (2006). Aligning the journey with a destination: A model for K–16 reading standards. Durham, NC: MetaMetrics, Inc.
45
by Jay Asher
“Everything…affects everything.”
That’s a line from my first YA novel, which I think sums up that novel fairly well. When I
autograph books, that’s what I often write below my name. It’s another way of saying,
“You never know what things will lead you where,” but in three succinct words. (Economy!)
For example, I might not have ever written that YA novel, or had the opportunity to write a
second YA novel with one of my favorite authors, had I not read The Secret Life of the
Underwear Champ by Betty Miles.
Or The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Katling.
Or The Mad Scientists’ Club by Bertrand R. Brinley.
Or Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith.
Those four books are the ones I re-read more than any other in elementary school. Literary books?
Most people would say no. (To which I would argue, “That’s right, because they’re not boring!”)
Instead, they were the perfect books for me at that time. They were perfect every time I read them. I
first discovered them in the Arcadia Public Library in California, which my parents referred to as my
second home. Then I was given them as gifts so we didn’t incur late fees when I couldn’t find them in
my room.
“Or maybe they’re in my desk at school. Wait, let me check in the bathroom!”
I would read one of those books, feel so energized about reading, and then read a brand new book. If that book was good, I’d
read another new book. If that book was not good (or, not perfect for me at the time), I’d go back to one of my favorites, and that
would get me excited about reading another new book.
Which books will connect with which readers? There’s no way to know. So we’d better make sure we publish all types and
stock all types. Is this or that book an important book? I would say that depends on the reader and the time in their life that
they read it.
After all, underwear, mad scientists, and chocolate turned me into a reader.
Those books, and parents willing to bring me to the library, and librarians strategically pointing me in various directions, affected
everything. It led to new books and new favorites. As an adult, that fostered love of reading led to a love of writing humorous
middle grade novels (forever to be unpublished). That led to a writing conference where I first heard Chris Crutcher speak. At the
time, I had never read a YA novel, but he seemed cool and fascinating, so I grabbed his book Stotan!
Wow. A new favorite!
And that led to…everything.
Jay Asher’s debut YA novel, Thirteen Reasons Why, has spent over three years on the New York Times
best-sellers lists, becoming an anti-bullying anthem. In the 2014–15 school year, he completed a “50 States
Against Bullying” campaign, speaking at one school in every state about this issue. His second YA novel,
The Future of Us, was co-authored with Carolyn Mackler. His books have sold to over 30 foreign markets,
and both were optioned by major Hollywood studios.
© 2015 by Jay Asher. Photo by Rita Crayon Huang.
46
Top 25 fiction and nonfiction books by text complexity grade bands
ATOS™ Book Levels 0.1–3.3
Fiction
Nonfiction
Rank
1
2
3
Fly Guy Presents: Sharks, Tedd Arnold (2.8, LG)
4
The Tiny Seed, Eric Carle (2.7, LG)
5
Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, Doreen Cronin (2.3, LG)
Fly Guy Presents: Space, Tedd Arnold (3.3, LG)
6
Abe Lincoln’s Hat, Martha Brenner (2.6, LG)
7
If You Give a Moose a Muffin, Laura Numeroff (2.4, LG)
From Head to Toe, Eric Carle (1.0, LG)
8
Hungry, Hungry Sharks, Joanna Cole (2.8, LG)
9
The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, Jon Scieszka (3.0, LG)
Amazing Snakes!, Sarah L. Thomson (3.2, LG)
10
The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto, Natalie Standiford
(2.5, LG)
11
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Byron Barton (2.9, LG)
12
Sharks!, Anne Schreiber (3.0, LG)
13
Frogs!, Elizabeth Carney (2.6, LG)
14
If You Take a Mouse to School, Laura Numeroff (2.4, LG)
Me on the Map, Joan Sweeney (1.8, LG)
15
Snow, Marion Dane Bauer (2.0, LG)
16
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Dr. Seuss (1.7, LG)
Amazing Sharks!, Sarah L. Thomson (3.1, LG)
17
If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, Laura Numeroff (2.1, LG)
Red-Eyed Tree Frog, Joy Cowley (1.3, LG)
18
Tara and Tiree, Fearless Friends, Andrew Clements (2.0, LG)
19
Dinosaur Babies, Lucille Recht Penner (2.1, LG)
20
Fly Guy vs. the Flyswatter!, Tedd Arnold (2.1, LG)
What Do You Do With a Tail Like This?, Steve Jenkins (3.0, LG)
21
I Spy Fly Guy!, Tedd Arnold (1.5, LG)
Dolphins!, Sharon Bokoske (2.8, LG)
22
Snakes!, Melissa Stewart (3.2, LG)
23
Biscuit, Alyssa Satin Capucilli (1.4, LG)
I’m a Caterpillar, Jean Marzollo (0.9, LG)
24
A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What Is a Noun?, Brian P. Cleary
(3.3, LG)
25
Dinosaur Days, Joyce Milton (2.6, LG)
* ATOS level and interest level together inform book selection. ATOS level is an estimate of text difficulty reported on a grade-level scale. Interest levels refer to the sophistication/
maturity of a text’s content, ideas, and themes: LG (lower grades, K–3), MG (middle grades, 4–8), MG+ (middle grades plus, 6 and up), and UG (upper grades, 9–12).
47
Fiction
Nonfiction
Rank
1
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Jon Scieszka (3.0, LG)
Penguin Chick, Betty Tatham (3.4, LG)
2
The Story of Ruby Bridges, Robert Coles (4.4, LG)
3
Fly Guy Presents: Sharks, Tedd Arnold (2.8, LG)
4
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,
Judith Viorst (3.7, LG)
Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Doreen
Rappaport (3.4, LG)
5
Officer Buckle and Gloria, Peggy Rathmann (3.4, LG)
Fly Guy Presents: Space, Tedd Arnold (3.3, LG)
6
How Much Is a Million?, David M. Schwartz (3.4, LG)
7
My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Christine King Farris (5.0, LG)
8
Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak (3.4, LG)
Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King, Jean Marzollo (4.2, LG)
9
Hungry, Hungry Sharks, Joanna Cole (2.8, LG)
10
Amazing Snakes!, Sarah L. Thomson (3.2, LG)
11
A Bad Case of Stripes, David Shannon (3.8, LG)
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Byron Barton (2.9, LG)
12
The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth, Joanna Cole (3.6, LG)
13
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Judy Blume (3.3, MG)
Fly Guy Presents: Firefighters, Tedd Arnold (3.5, LG)
14
Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White (4.4, MG)
Fly Guy Presents: Dinosaurs, Tedd Arnold (3.8, LG)
15
The Adventures of Captain Underpants, Dav Pilkey (4.3, MG)
Sharks!, Anne Schreiber (3.0, LG)
16
The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks, Joanna Cole (3.7, LG)
17
Stone Fox, John Reynolds Gardiner (4.0, MG)
Super Storms, Seymour Simon (3.8, LG)
18
Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets,
Dav Pilkey (4.7, MG)
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers, Mordicai Gerstein
(3.7, LG)
19
Tales from a Not-So-Happy Heartbreaker, Rachel Renée Russell
(4.2, MG)
Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Eleanor Coerr (4.1, MG)
20
Amazing Sharks!, Sarah L. Thomson (3.1, LG)
21
Finding the Titanic, Robert D. Ballard (4.0, LG)
22
Corduroy, Don Freeman (3.5, LG)
A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr., David A. Adler (3.8, LG)
23
Tales from a Not-So-Popular Party Girl, Rachel Renée Russell
(5.1, MG)
Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What Is an Adjective?, Brian P. Cleary
(3.9, LG)
24
The Day the Crayons Quit, Drew Daywalt (3.8, LG)
Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jonah Winter
(4.5, LG)
25
Tales from a Not-So-Graceful Ice Princess, Rachel Renée Russell
(4.5, MG)
Snowflake Bentley, Jacqueline Briggs Martin (4.4, LG)
48
Fiction
Nonfiction
Rank
1
My Brother Martin: A Sister Remembers Growing Up with the Rev.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Christine King Farris (5.0, LG)
2
The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary: How Greg Heffley Went Hollywood,
Jeff Kinney (6.5, MG)
3
A Child Called “It”: One Child’s Courage to Survive, Dave Pelzer
(5.8, UG)
4
Teammates, Peter Golenbock (5.4, LG)
5
Who Was Milton Hershey?, James Buckley Jr. (5.2, MG)
6
Who Was Dr. Seuss?, Janet B. Pascal (5.3, MG)
7
Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s
Fastest Woman, Kathleen Krull (5.1, MG)
8
Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to
Heaven and Back, Todd Burpo (6.3, MG+)
9
Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin,
Gene Barretta (5.1, LG)
10
Who Was Neil Armstrong?, Roberta Edwards (5.4, MG)
11
Who Was Abraham Lincoln?, Janet B. Pascal (5.5, MG)
12
I Survived: Five Epic Disasters, Lauren Tarshis (6.3, MG)
13
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?, Jean Fritz (5.3, MG)
14
I Am: LeBron James, Grace Norwich (6.5, LG)
15
Who Was Albert Einstein?, Jess M. Brallier (5.8, MG)
16
Who Was Martin Luther King, Jr.?, Bonnie Bader (5.2, MG)
17
Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life, Rachel Renée Russell (5.4, MG)
Who Was Harry Houdini?, Tui T. Sutherland (5.8, MG)
18
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling (5.5, MG)
How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightning, Rosalyn Schanzer (5.1, LG)
19
I Survived: The Nazi Invasion, 1944, Lauren Tarshis (5.1, MG)
Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship, Isabella
Hatkoff (5.4, LG)
20
Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O’Dell (5.4, MG)
Who Is Barack Obama?, Roberta Edwards (5.1, MG)
21
Who Was John F. Kennedy?, Yona Zeldis McDonough (5.8, MG)
22
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Barbara Robinson (5.1, MG)
Who Was Steve Jobs?, Pam Pollack (5.0, MG)
23
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling (6.7, MG)
Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs!, Kathleen V. Kudlinski (5.0, LG)
24
I Survived: The Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79, Lauren Tarshis
(5.1, MG)
Titanic: A Nonfiction Companion to Tonight on the Titanic,
Will Osborne (5.1, LG)
25
The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket (6.4, MG)
Who Was George Washington?, Roberta Edwards (5.0, MG)
49
Fiction
Nonfiction
Rank
1
Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling (7.2, MG)
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, James L. Swanson (7.5, MG+)
2
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling (7.2, MG+)
Winter’s Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again,
Juliana Hatkoff (7.0, LG)
3
The Tell-Tale Heart, Edgar Allan Poe (7.3, UG)
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and
Redemption, Laura Hillenbrand (7.7, UG)
4
The Call of the Wild, Jack London (8.0, MG)
The Boy on the Wooden Box: How the Impossible Became Possible...
on Schindler’s List, Leon Leyson (7.0, MG)
5
The Slippery Slope, Lemony Snicket (7.1, MG)
Rascal, Sterling North (7.1, MG)
6
The Ruins of Gorlan, John Flanagan (7.0, MG)
The Great Fire, Jim Murphy (7.6, UG)
7
Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott,
Russell Freedman (7.7, MG)
8
The Pearl, John Steinbeck (7.1, UG)
I Am: Martin Luther King Jr., Grace Norwich (7.1, LG)
9
The End, Lemony Snicket (7.3, MG)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave,
Frederick Douglass (7.9, UG)
10
The Penultimate Peril, Lemony Snicket (7.4, MG)
I Am: Albert Einstein, Grace Norwich (7.2, LG)
11
Eldest, Christopher Paolini (7.0, UG)
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, Michael Lewis (7.2, UG)
12
The Wizard of Oz/The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Unabridged),
L. Frank Baum (7.0, MG)
“The President Has Been Shot!” The Assassination of John F.
Kennedy, James L. Swanson (8.0, MG)
13
Brisingr, Christopher Paolini (7.8, UG)
I Am: George Lucas, Grace Norwich (7.5, LG)
14
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Unabridged), Mark Twain (8.1, MG+)
I Am: George Washington, Grace Norwich (7.1, LG)
15
Inheritance, Christopher Paolini (7.5, UG)
Stolen into Slavery: The True Story of Solomon Northup, Free
Black Man, Judith Fradin (7.1, MG+)
16
Dogs on Duty: Soldiers’ Best Friends on the Battlefield and
Beyond, Dorothy Hinshaw Patent (7.1, LG)
17
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland/Alice in Wonderland,
Lewis Carroll (7.4, MG)
I Am: John F. Kennedy, Grace Norwich (7.8, LG)
18
The Tales of Beedle the Bard, J.K. Rowling (8.3, MG)
Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution, Jean Fritz (7.1, MG)
19
The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe (7.1, MG)
The Nazi Hunters: How a Team of Spies and Survivors Captured
the World’s Most Notorious Nazi, Neal Bascomb (7.4, UG)
20
Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare (8.6, UG)
Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science,
John Fleischman (7.4, UG)
21
White Fang (Unabridged), Jack London (7.4, MG)
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and
the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10, Marcus Luttrell (7.2, UG)
22
Anne of Green Gables (Unabridged), L.M. Montgomery (7.3, MG)
John Cena, Robert Grayson (7.6, MG)
23
Invasion of the Overworld, Mark Cheverton (7.0, MG)
Titanic: Voices from the Disaster, Deborah Hopkinson (7.4, MG)
24
The Cask of Amontillado, Edgar Allan Poe (7.3, UG)
Leo the Snow Leopard: The True Story of an Amazing Rescue,
Craig Hatkoff (7.2, LG)
25
Tunnels, Roderick Gordon (7.0, MG)
We Fought Back: Teen Resisters of the Holocaust, Allan Zullo (7.7, MG)
50
Fiction
Nonfiction
Rank
1
Frankenstein (Unabridged), Mary Shelley (12.4, UG)
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal,
Eric Schlosser (10.4, UG)
2
The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe (9.9, UG)
Snakes, Kelly L. Barth (11.0, UG)
3
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving (11.0, UG)
The Hunger Games Companion: The Unauthorized Guide to the
Series, Lois H. Gresh (9.9, UG)
4
Macbeth, William Shakespeare (10.9, UG)
10,000 Days of Thunder: A History of the Vietnam War, Philip Caputo
(9.7, MG)
5
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare (10.9, UG)
Women of Colonial America, Lydia Bjornlund (9.7, UG)
6
Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare (10.8, UG)
The Facts About Marijuana, Ted Gottfried (9.8, MG+)
7
The Scarlet Letter (Unabridged), Nathaniel Hawthorne (11.7, UG)
When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS, James
Cross Giblin (9.8, UG)
8
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka (10.5, UG)
The Radioactive Boy Scout: The True Story of a Boy and His
Backyard Nuclear Reactor, Ken Silverstein (10.1, UG)
9
Hamlet, William Shakespeare (10.5, UG)
Spies of Mississippi: The True Story of the Spy Network that Tried
to Destroy the Civil Rights Movement, Rick Bowers (10.1, MG)
10
The Pit and the Pendulum, Edgar Allan Poe (10.1, UG)
Fact, Fiction, and Folklore in Harry Potter’s World: An Unofficial
Guide, George W. Beahm (10.0, MG)
11
Pride and Prejudice (Unabridged), Jane Austen (12.0, UG)
Judaism, Laurel Corona (10.5, UG)
12
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Unabridged), Jules Verne (10.0, MG)
The Slave Trade, Tom Monaghan (10.8, MG)
13
The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe (11.4, UG)
A Brief History of Time, Stephen W. Hawking (10.5, UG)
14
The Odyssey, Homer (10.3, UG)
Shark, Mark Carwardine (10.3, UG)
15
Oliver Twist (Abridged), Charles Dickens (10.7, MG)
The Civil Rights Movement, Paul A. Winters (11.3, UG)
16
Wuthering Heights (Unabridged), Emily Brontë (11.3, UG)
The U.S. Marine Corps, Hunter Keeter (10.3, MG)
17
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe (12.3, UG)
Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, Earle Rice Jr. (9.7, UG)
18
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Unabridged), Jules Verne
(9.9, UG)
Dinosaurs, Time-Life Editors (10.5, UG)
19
A Tale of Two Cities (Unabridged), Charles Dickens (9.7, UG)
Barack Obama, Sherri Devaney (10.3, UG)
20
The Swiss Family Robinson (Unabridged), Johann Wyss (9.7, MG)
What They Fought For 1861–1865, James M. McPherson (9.7, UG)
21
The Swiss Family Robinson (Bloomsbury Edition), Johann Wyss
(10.0, MG)
Silent Spring, Rachel Carson (11.5, UG)
22
Oliver Twist (Unabridged), Charles Dickens (11.3, UG)
Snake, Chris Mattison (9.7, UG)
23
The Three Musketeers (Unabridged), Alexandre Dumas (11.3, UG)
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, Jon Krakauer
(9.7, UG)
24
Silas Marner, George Eliot (9.7, UG)
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in
Hitler’s Berlin, Erik Larson (9.7, UG)
25
The Purloined Letter, Edgar Allan Poe (10.4, UG)
Why We Can’t Wait, Martin Luther King Jr. (10.4, UG)
51
52
Appendix: About the report
How do we know? We know because our Accelerated Reader 360 software is in use at tens of thousands of schools worldwide.
When using Accelerated Reader 360, teachers know how well, how much, and at what challenge level students are reading.
Students take an Accelerated Reader 360 quiz after each book or nonfiction instructional article they read, and in turn, the
program provides teachers with daily information about the key indicators of successful reading practice—quality
(comprehension), quantity (time spent reading), and difficulty (text complexity level).
Unlike publisher book-sale records, best-sellers lists, or library-circulation
data, which can tell you what books were purchased or checked out to
read, Accelerated Reader 360 reveals the books students actually did read,
from cover to cover. To support college- and career-readiness initiatives,
this year’s report also includes lists of top nonfiction articles teachers
assigned students to read last school year from the Accelerated Reader
360 collection. Because our data is compiled from comprehension quizzes
students passed on these texts, we have unique insight into what kids are
truly reading.
Because our data is compiled
from comprehension quizzes
students passed on these texts,
we have unique insight into
what kids are truly reading.
The data
The Accelerated Reader 360 database is the source for the 2016 edition of What Kids Are Reading: And the Path to College and
Careers. The report is based on Accelerated Reader 360 reading records for 9.8 million students in grades 1–12 who read over
334 million books and nonfiction articles during the 2014–2015 school year (see table A1).6 The students are from 31,327
schools, spanning all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.
Table A1. Students, books, nonfiction articles, and words by grade
(Accelerated Reader 360 database, 2014–2015 school year)
Grade
Students
Books read
Average books read
per student
Nonfiction articles
read
Average words read
per student
(books and articles)
1
1,070,064
45,827,822
42.8
1,478
25,878
2
1,447,961
83,360,348
57.6
13,474
83,205
3
1,527,923
77,263,713
50.6
67,930
189,287
4
1,485,096
54,982,579
37.0
90,989
311,613
5
1,424,880
39,471,236
27.7
98,170
406,177
6
973,394
16,443,016
16.9
88,089
440,096
7
720,902
7,975,633
11.1
71,837
410,158
8
661,957
6,341,757
9.6
55,129
421,526
9
159,000
1,004,077
6.3
12,510
307,782
10
122,204
677,208
5.5
9,075
306,057
11
94,938
471,248
5.0
4,577
292,853
12
70,309
360,015
5.1
2,740
297,160
Total
9,758,628
334,178,652
515,998
6 Schools optionally record demographic information about students in Accelerated Reader 360; thus, gender data is available for approximately 71% of students. All
lists in the report comprise records for boys, girls, and students for which gender was not recorded.
53
No other study captures student reading behavior on this scale. As table A2 shows, this sample of data, although one of
convenience, is massive and includes a diverse group of students roughly representative of US schools.
Table A2. Study sample demographics7 compared to national percentages8
Race/ethnicity
Report sample
US
White
53%
51%
Black
15%
16%
Asian
3%
5%
American Indian/Alaska Native
1%
1%
Hispanic
28%
24%
Two or more races
NA
3%
Free/reduced lunch
Report sample
US
Yes
53%
51%
No
47%
49%
English learner
Report sample
US
Yes
9%
9%
No
91%
91%
Locale
Report sample
US
Rural
29%
19%
Suburban
28%
40%
Urban
25%
30%
Town
18%
11%
Although we recognize that not all reading that happens in or outside the classroom is captured through Accelerated
Reader 360, it is reasonable to assume that for users of this program much book and nonfiction article reading is captured
this way. Accelerated Reader 360 quizzes currently number nearly 175,000—almost half of which are for nonfiction/
informational texts—with additional quizzes created each week. The sheer volume of available Accelerated Reader 360
quizzes allows students a wide range of text selection.
Please note: Renaissance Learning is deeply committed to the protection of school and student data. For this and all other
publications, we go to great lengths to provide aggregated data that is useful to educators, parents, and researchers while
stopping well short of releasing information that could be used to identify any district, school, teacher, or student. For more
information about our data security and confidentiality policies, see http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R0054577B8522158.pdf.
Insights
Each section of this report includes lists of popular texts alongside an examination of Accelerated Reader 360 reading data.
We are pleased to share what we know about the texts students read and how those reading habits may influence their
college and career readiness.
7 Estimates based on school-level percentages from our Market Data Retrieval database. For each school, we obtained the percentage of students in each category,
and then multiplied the percentage by the number of students using Accelerated Reader 360 from that school to obtain an estimate of the number of students in
each category at each school. Results were aggregated to compute sample-wide percentages.
8 National Center for Education Statistics: https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/
54
Three main topics shape the report:
1. An analysis of reading practice: Extensive research has shown that not
only the quantity of reading (or time spent reading) but also the quality of
what is read (how carefully, or with what level of comprehension, students
read) can help students learn to read well and become well read. The
more carefully students read, and the more they comprehend, the more
their reading practice leads to improved reading achievement.9 This
section includes lists of the top 25 books read in each grade.
We are pleased to share
what we know about the
texts students read and
how those reading habits
may influence their college
and career readiness.
2. An analysis of nonfiction reading: College- and career-readiness
standards call for students to read a wide variety of materials to prepare for the challenges of college and career. For
example, the NAEP reading framework10 calls for between 50–70% of text to be nonfiction/informational; however, data
show that students are falling far short of these reading goals. This section includes lists of the top 25 nonfiction articles
from the Accelerated Reader 360 collection that were read in each grade.
3. An analysis of reading challenge: Education advocates11 and college- and career-readiness standards stress the
importance of students reading increasingly complex texts to be ready for the demands of postsecondary schooling and
workplace settings. Research shows students should be encouraged to read materials at higher difficulty levels, but only
if they understand what they are reading.12 This section includes lists of the top fiction and nonfiction books read by text
complexity grade bands (translated to ATOS Readability Formula level ranges).
In addition, reflections on reading and writing by the following guest essayists are sprinkled throughout the report:
Judith Viorst (Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day), Alyssa Satin Capucilli (Biscuit series),
Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle), and Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why).
About Accelerated Reader 360™
At its core, Accelerated Reader serves to promote and manage
student reading practice, a purpose both standards and research
literature support. The software continues to evolve and is
increasingly sophisticated. The latest version, Accelerated Reader
360, provides independent reading practice balanced with
nonfiction reading and close-reading skills practice.
Figure A1. Accelerated Reader 360 quiz results
On the independent reading side, Accelerated Reader 360 has
a three-step approach. After a teacher assists with setting
individualized reading goals, students (1) read a self-selected
book; (2) take a computerized Accelerated Reader 360 reading
practice quiz of 3, 5, 10, or 20 items, depending on the book’s
length; and (3) receive immediate feedback that is shared with the
teacher about their level of comprehension (i.e., percent correct
on the quiz), the number of words read, and the book’s ATOS level
(see figure A1).
For instructional reading practice, Accelerated Reader 360 provides a library of nonfiction articles and built-in skills-practice
activities. Accelerated Reader 360 supports three key instructional shifts emphasized in current education reform: (1) more
nonfiction reading, (2) increased text complexity, and (3) the ability to cite evidence. The program helps teachers track the
materials students read and whether they understood what was read. Instructional activities promote close-reading skills by
having students cite text evidence and craft responses to informational articles, both of which encourage interaction with text
and deep thinking about content (see figure A2, next page).
9 Renaissance Learning. (2012). Guided independent reading. Wisconsin Rapids, WI: Author. Available online from
http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R005577721AC3667.pdf
10 National Assessment Governing Board. (2012). Reading framework for the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress. Washington, DC: US Government
Printing Office.
11 E.g., ACT, Inc. (2006). Reading between the lines: What the ACT reveals about college readiness in reading. Iowa City, IA: Author.
12 Renaissance Learning, op. cit.
55
Educators across the nation use Accelerated Reader 360 because it
saves teachers time, motivates students to read more, and is more
reliable and accurate than traditional methods of tracking student
reading. To ensure that teachers make the most of their
Accelerated Reader 360 data and that students benefit to the
greatest extent possible, fidelity of implementation is guided by
research-based professional development promoting best
practices in literacy and language arts.
Figure A2. Highlighting and tagging text evidence in
Accelerated Reader 360
Research support and accolades
The large evidence base supporting Accelerated Reader 360
numbers more than 175 studies and reviews, including 31
experimental or quasi-experimental research studies—generally
considered the strongest study designs—150 independent
studies, and 27 articles that have been published in peerreviewed journals.
This sizable body of research continues to grow and has
contributed to favorable reviews by external panels.
Accelerated Reader has earned praise as a “proven” program
(Promising Practices Network, 2013) and a “model” program with
“strong evidence” (National Dropout Prevention Center/Network,
2010) in addition to receiving positive reviews from the
National Center on Student Progress Monitoring and the
What Works Clearinghouse.13
Matching texts to students
As students grow as readers, it is increasingly important they have choice over what they read. Choice is motivating for
students and can also foster a lasting love of reading. Renaissance recommends students consider several factors, guided
by a teacher’s professional judgment, when selecting a book to read.
ATOS™ level
Considering text complexity—the challenge level presented by
a given text—is key in book selection. Accelerated Reader 360 uses
the ATOS Readability Formula, a reliable and valid quantitative
measure of text difficulty (Milone, 2014)14 that “puts students and
texts on the same scale” (NGA/CCSSO, 2010, p. 7).15
The large evidence base supporting
Accelerated Reader 360 numbers
more than 175 studies and reviews,
including 31 experimental or quasiexperimental research studies.
To help educators guide students to books at appropriate reading
levels, an ATOS level is assigned to each book with an Accelerated
Reader 360 quiz available. ATOS takes into account three
important predictors of text difficulty: average sentence length, average word length, and average word difficulty level.
This formula is reported on a grade-level scale, so that books and student achievement share the same easy-to-interpret
13 Promising Practices Network. (2013). Programs that work: Review of Accelerated Reader. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from
http://www.promisingpractices.net/program.asp?programid=292
National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. (2010). Review of model programs: Accelerated Reader. Clemson, SC: Clemson University, Author. Retrieved from
http://ndpc-web.clemson.edu/modelprograms/show_program.php?pid=316
US Department of Education: National Center on Student Progress Monitoring. (2006). Review of progress monitoring tools [Review of Accelerated Reader].
Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://doc.renlearn.com/kmnet/R004100821GG6E03.pdf
US Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences: What Works Clearinghouse. (2008). Beginning reading [Review of Accelerated Reader]. Washington, DC:
Author. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/interventionreport.aspx?sid=12
14 Milone, M. (2014). Development of the ATOS Readability Formula. Wisconsin Rapids, WI: Renaissance Learning. Available online from
http://doc.renlearn.com/KMNet/R004250827GJ11C4.pdf
15 N
ational Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English language arts
& literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Appendix A: Research supporting the key elements of the standards, Glossary of terms.
Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from www.corestandards.org
56
metric. For example, an ATOS level of 5.4 indicates a text could likely be read by a fifth-grade student in the fourth month of
the school year.
Interest level
An ATOS level matched to a student’s independent reading range (ZPD),16
although a reliable and valid estimate of text complexity, does not
necessarily indicate the suitability of a book’s content or literary merit for
individual readers. Other factors thought to affect students’ understanding
of text, such as content, structure, and language conventionality, as well
as student motivation, background knowledge, and purpose for reading,
must also be considered.
Interest level and ATOS level
are intended to work together
to inform book selection.
In Accelerated Reader 360, each book is assigned an interest level (IL) code in addition to an ATOS level. Interest levels, which
are based on publisher recommendations, provide a qualitative measure of text complexity that refers to the sophistication
and maturity level of a book’s content, ideas, and themes: LG for lower grades (K–3), MG for middle grades (4–8), MG+ for
middle grades plus (6 and up, for more mature middle-grade readers), and UG for upper grades (9–12).
Interest level and ATOS level are intended to work together to inform book selection. For example, Alice Walker’s The Color
Purple has an ATOS level of 4.0, indicating that typically performing students in fourth grade or above would likely be able to
read the text; however, because of the books’ mature themes, the book is coded with an IL of UG (upper grades).
Book information, including ATOS level and IL, is available online using AR BookFinder (http://www.ARbookfind.com)
or via Book Discovery within Accelerated Reader 360, and other text may be analyzed for free at
http://www.renaissance.com/products/accelerated-reader/atos-analyzer.
Learn more about what kids are reading at Learnalytics.com
Visit www.learnalytics.com/wkar for additional insights on what kids are reading, to create customized book lists, and more.
16 ZPD (zone of proximal development) is a theoretical concept inspired by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky that is based on appropriate level of
difficulty—neither too easy nor too hard—where students are challenged without being frustrated (Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development
of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
57
58
59
Visit www.learnalytics.com/wkar
for additional insights
on what kids are reading.
Renaissance Learning™
P.O. Box 8036 Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54495-8036
(800) 338-4204 www.renaissance.com
L2523.1115.LG.7.5M
R41012

What Kids Are Reading

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