Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 113. Student proficiency in reading, by age, amount of time spent on homework and reading habits: 1984, 1994, 1996, and 1999

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Time spent on homework |      9-year-olds                      |      13-year-olds                     |    17-year-olds
   and reading habits   |_______________________________________|_______________________________________|_______________________________________
                        |   1984  |   1994  |   1996  |  1999   |   1984  |   1994  |   1996  |  1999   |   1984  |   1994  |   1996  |  1999
________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
           1            |    2    |    3    |    4    |  5      |  6      |  7      |  8      |  9      | 10      | 11      | 12      | 13
________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
                        |                                               Average proficiency score
                        |_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Materials read a few    |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
 times a year or more   |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  Poems ................|211 (1.9)|210 (2.9)|215 (2.8)|213 (2.7)|260 (1.2)|261 (2.3)|262 (2.5)|263 (1.9)|290 (1.5)|293 (2.1)|294 (2.8)|292 (2.6)
  Plays ................|211 (2.5)|207 (3.0)|214 (4.1)|211 (3.7)|260 (1.3)|263 (2.1)|262 (2.4)|264 (2.3)|290 (1.7)|294 (2.4)|293 (2.3)|294 (2.7)
  Biographies ..........|213 (2.4)|210 (3.4)|220 (3.2)|215 (3.0)|261 (1.3)|261 (2.1)|262 (2.3)|263 (2.1)|292 (1.4)|293 (2.4)|293 (2.3)|291 (2.8)
  Science books ........|212 (1.6)|211 (2.6)|214 (2.0)|213 (2.1)|259 (1.2)|260 (2.1)|261 (2.2)|261 (1.7)|289 (1.4)|293 (2.4)|290 (2.2)|291 (2.3)
  Books about other     |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
   times ...............|211 (1.7)|211 (2.6)|213 (2.3)|213 (2.5)|259 (1.1)|260 (2.2)|262 (2.2)|262 (2.1)|289 (1.4)|293 (2.3)|292 (2.8)|292 (2.0)
                        |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
Frequency of reading    |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  for fun               |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  Daily ................|214 (1.1)|215 (2.3)|213 (2.0)|215 (2.4)|264 (1.4)|272 (3.2)|269 (3.3)|272 (3.2)|297 (1.5)|302 (4.2)|302 (5.2)|301 (4.9)
  Weekly ...............|212 (1.7)|214 (3.1)|212 (2.6)|215 (2.6)|255 (1.4)|255 (3.1)|258 (3.2)|263 (3.2)|290 (1.7)|286 (4.1)|293 (4.0)|289 (2.9)
  Monthly ..............|204 (3.3)|213 (5.8)|210 (5.0)|211 (4.2)|255 (2.1)|255 (5.7)|259 (4.6)|260 (3.7)|290 (1.8)|286 (4.5)|290 (5.6)|286 (4.8)
  Yearly ...............|197 (4.2)|---  --- |---   ---|---   ---|252 (3.6)|252 (5.4)|---  --- |253 (4.4)|279 (2.7)|281 (8.2)|285 (5.6)|283 (4.4)
  Never ................|198 (2.7)|193 (3.9)|199 (4.3)|195 (3.3)|239 (2.5)|237 (5.1)|236 (4.8)|242 (5.3)|269 (2.4)|258 (5.2)|270 (5.0)|262 (5.0)
                        |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
Reading of books, news- |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  papers, and magazines |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  Yearly/monthly .......|207 (1.6)|206 (3.8)|208 (3.1)|209 (2.9)|244 (1.7)|245 (3.7)|249 (3.4)|252 (2.9)|270 (2.0)|279 (4.0)|275 (4.5)|276 (3.8)
  Weekly ...............|219 (2.5)|216 (3.7)|221 (4.7)|220 (3.5)|261 (1.6)|262 (2.6)|262 (3.0)|261 (3.3)|288 (1.5)|295 (2.8)|294 (3.2)|292 (2.2)
  Daily ................|211 (3.8)|---  --- |---  --- |214 (6.3)|269 (2.2)|275 (3.9)|270 (3.4)|271 (4.0)|299 (1.9)|296 (4.0)|295 (4.8)|299 (6.5)
                        |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
Time spent on homework  |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  None .................|212 (0.9)|213 (2.0)|210 (1.9)|210 (1.9)|254 (0.8)|250 (1.7)|254 (1.3)|251 (2.0)|276 (0.7)|273 (2.3)|274 (1.9)|275 (2.3)
  Didn't do assignment .|199 (2.1)|200 (4.3)|196 (5.2)|204 (4.4)|247 (1.7)|243 (5.6)|249 (3.3)|249 (4.2)|287 (1.2)|285 (2.1)|281 (2.2)|282 (3.1)
  Less than 1 hour .....|217 (0.7)|212 (1.4)|215 (1.0)|214 (1.5)|261 (0.6)|261 (1.3)|258 (1.6)|262 (1.2)|290 (0.8)|288 (1.6)|289 (1.5)|291 (2.3)
  1 to 2 hours ........ |216 (1.3)|214 (3.0)|219 (2.1)|215 (3.2)|266 (0.7)|268 (1.7)|266 (1.6)|269 (1.6)|296 (0.8)|297 (1.7)|296 (2.1)|296 (2.0)
  More than 2 hours ....|201 (1.8)|193 (6.1)|199 (4.5)|197 (3.5)|265 (1.2)|270 (2.4)|268 (2.3)|269 (3.0)|303 (1.1)|306 (3.1)|307 (3.4)|300 (2.8)
                        |_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________
                        |                                                  Percent
                        |_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Materials read a few    |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
 times a year or more   |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  Poems ................| 70 (1.5)| 62 (2.3)| 60 (1.9)| 64 (2.4)| 68 (1.3)| 79 (1.4)| 80 (1.9)| 77 (1.6)| 76 (1.1)| 85 (2.2)| 80 (1.8)| 85 (2.0)
  Plays ................| 56 (1.4)| 45 (2.2)| 42 (2.3)| 44 (2.2)| 59 (1.4)| 63 (2.3)| 67 (2.1)| 61 (1.8)| 63 (1.0)| 70 (2.1)| 67 (1.6)| 72 (2.0)
  Biographies ..........| 45 (1.5)| 47 (2.1)| 46 (2.4)| 49 (3.0)| 62 (1.3)| 68 (1.7)| 65 (2.6)| 72 (2.1)| 59 (1.2)| 69 (1.8)| 66 (1.7)| 70 (1.9)
  Science books ........| 84 (1.3)| 87 (1.8)| 83 (2.2)| 80 (1.6)| 90 (1.1)| 92 (1.4)| 90 (1.9)| 89 (1.2)| 70 (1.1)| 84 (1.9)| 82 (2.0)| 84 (1.3)
  Books about other     |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
   times ...............| 79 (1.2)| 79 (2.0)| 78 (1.6)| 79 (1.9)| 83 (1.1)| 83 (1.8)| 84 (1.8)| 84 (1.3)| 81 (0.9)| 82 (2.0)| 81 (1.9)| 81 (2.0)
                        |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
Frequency of reading    |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  for fun ............. |100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---
  Daily ................| 53 (1.0)| 58 (1.6)| 54 (1.9)| 54 (1.6)| 35 (1.0)| 32 (1.8)| 32 (1.9)| 28 (1.7)| 31 (0.8)| 30 (2.6)| 23 (2.0)| 25 (1.7)
  Weekly ...............| 28 (0.8)| 25 (1.5)| 27 (1.8)| 26 (1.5)| 35 (1.2)| 32 (2.1)| 31 (2.1)| 36 (1.7)| 34 (1.1)| 31 (1.9)| 32 (2.7)| 28 (2.7)
  Monthly ..............|  7 (0.6)|  5 (0.6)|  8 (1.0)|  6 (0.6)| 14 (0.8)| 14 (1.7)| 15 (1.4)| 17 (1.6)| 17 (0.5)| 15 (1.5)| 17 (1.5)| 19 (1.7)
  Yearly ...............|  3 (0.3)|  3 (0.6)|  3 (0.5)|  4 (0.7)|  7 (0.5)| 10 (1.2)|  9 (1.2)| 10 (1.2)| 10 (0.5)| 12 (1.5)| 12 (1.6)| 12 (1.4)
  Never ................|  9 (0.5)|  9 (0.8)|  8 (0.8)| 10 (0.8)|  8 (0.6)| 12 (1.7)| 13 (1.5)|  9 (1.4)|  9 (0.6)| 12 (1.4)| 16 (2.1)| 16 (2.4)
                        |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
Reading of books, news- |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
  papers, and magazines.|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---
  Yearly/monthly .......| 59 (1.5)| 64 (1.8)| 67 (2.3)| 63 (2.6)| 30 (1.5)| 34 (2.5)| 32 (2.6)| 32 (2.3)| 20 (1.0)| 22 (1.7)| 25 (2.1)| 26 (2.1)
  Weekly ...............| 31 (1.5)| 27 (1.8)| 22 (1.9)| 27 (2.4)| 49 (1.1)| 47 (2.5)| 47 (2.2)| 49 (2.2)| 53 (1.2)| 55 (2.3)| 52 (2.6)| 52 (2.2)
  Daily ................| 11 (0.9)|  9 (1.3)| 10 (1.2)| 11 (1.2)| 21 (1.1)| 19 (1.7)| 21 (1.7)| 19 (1.9)| 27 (1.3)| 23 (1.8)| 23 (1.9)| 21 (2.1)
                        |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |         |
Time spent on homework .|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---|100   ---
  None .................| 36 (1.3)| 32 (2.1)| 26 (1.6)| 26 (1.6)| 23 (0.8)| 23 (1.4)| 22 (1.8)| 24 (1.2)| 22 (0.9)| 23 (1.4)| 23 (1.4)| 26 (1.0)
  Didn't do assignment .|  4 (0.3)|  4 (0.4)|  4 (0.3)|  4 (0.3)|  4 (0.2)|  6 (0.6)|  5 (0.5)|  5 (0.4)| 11 (0.3)| 11 (0.6)| 13 (0.6)| 13 (0.7)
  Less than 1 hour .....| 41 (1.0)| 48 (1.7)| 53 (1.5)| 53 (1.4)| 36 (0.7)| 34 (1.0)| 37 (1.2)| 37 (1.4)| 26 (0.4)| 27 (0.9)| 28 (0.9)| 26 (1.0)
  1 to 2 hours ........ | 13 (0.5)| 12 (0.7)| 13 (0.7)| 12 (0.7)| 29 (0.5)| 28 (1.0)| 27 (1.2)| 26 (1.0)| 27 (0.5)| 26 (1.2)| 24 (1.0)| 23 (0.8)
  More than 2 hours ....|  6 (0.2)|  4 (0.4)|  4 (0.3)|  5 (0.5)|  9 (0.3)|  9 (0.7)|  8 (0.9)|  8 (0.8)| 13 (0.6)| 13 (0.9)| 11 (0.7)| 12 (0.9)
________________________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________|_________

---Not available.

NOTE: All age groups exclude persons not enrolled in school. These test scores are from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP scores have been evaluated at certain performance levels. A score of 300 implies an ability to find, understand, summarize and explain relatively complicated literary and informational material. A score of 250 implies an ability to search for specific information, interrelate ideas, and make generalizations about literature, science, and social studies materials. A score of 200 implies an ability to understand, combine ideas, and make inferences based on short uncomplicated passages about specific or sequentially related information. A score of 150 implies an ability to follow brief written directions and carry out simple, discrete reading tasks. Scale ranges from 0 to 500. Detail may not sum to totals due to rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP Trends in Academic Progress, various years, by Educational Testing Service. (This table was prepared November 2001.)


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest