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Digest of Education Statistics
1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest

Table 107.Student proficiency in reading, by age, amount of time spent on homework, reading habits, and reading materials in the home: 1971, 1984, and 1992

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       |        Average proficiency score              |                    Percent
Time spent on homework,|-----------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------
  reading habits, and  |  9-year-olds  | 13-year-olds  |17-year-olds\1\|  9-year-olds  | 13-year-olds  |17-year-olds\1\
 reading materials in  |---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------
       the home        | 1984  | 1992  | 1984  | 1992  | 1984  | 1992  | 1984  | 1992  | 1984  | 1992  | 1984  | 1992
-----------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
           1           |   2   |   3   |   4   |   5   |   6   |   7   |   8   |   9   |  10   |  11   |  12   |  13
-----------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Materials read a few   |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
 times a year or more  |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  Poems ...............|   211 |   211 |   260 |   264 |   290 |   294 |    70 |    70 |    68 |    74 |    76 |    84
  Plays ...............|   211 |   208 |   260 |   262 |   290 |   293 |    56 |    54 |    59 |    64 |    63 |    71
  Biographies .........|   213 |   212 |   261 |   263 |   292 |   294 |    45 |    47 |    62 |    72 |    59 |    69
  Science books .......|   212 |   211 |   259 |   261 |   289 |   293 |    84 |    88 |    90 |    92 |    70 |    80
  Books about other    |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
   places .............|   211 |   211 |   259 |   262 |   289 |   294 |    79 |    81 |    83 |    80 |    81 |    84
                       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
Frequency of reading   |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  for fun              |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  Daily ...............|   214 |   215 |   264 |   269 |   297 |   304 |    53 |    56 |    35 |    37 |    31 |    27
  Weekly ..............|   212 |   212 |   254 |   260 |   290 |   291 |    28 |    28 |    35 |    32 |    34 |    33
  Monthly .............|   204 |   204 |   255 |   257 |   290 |   287 |     7 |     6 |    14 |    13 |    17 |    18
  Yearly ..............|   197 |   197 |   252 |   250 |   280 |   282 |     3 |     3 |     7 |     8 |    10 |    12
  Never ...............|   198 |   189 |   239 |   246 |   269 |   268 |     9 |     7 |     8 |    10 |     9 |    11
                       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
Time spent on homework |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  each day             |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  None ................|   212 |   211 |   254 |   253 |   276 |   274 |    36 |    32 |    23 |    21 |    22 |    22
  Didn't do assignment |   198 |   193 |   247 |   251 |   287 |   286 |     4 |     4 |     4 |     4 |    11 |    12
  Less than 1 hour ....|   218 |   215 |   261 |   260 |   290 |   291 |    42 |    47 |    36 |    36 |    26 |    29
  1 to 2 hours ........|   216 |   211 |   266 |   269 |   296 |   298 |    13 |    12 |    29 |    29 |    27 |    25
  More than 2 hours ...|   201 |   195 |   264 |   267 |   303 |   308 |     6 |     5 |     9 |    10 |    13 |    12
                       |=======|=======|=======|=======|=======|=======|=======|=======|=======|=======|=======|=======
                       | 1971  | 1992  | 1971  | 1992  | 1971  | 1992  | 1971  | 1992  | 1971  | 1992  | 1971  | 1992
                       |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------
Reading materials      |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
  in the home\2\       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |       |
0 to 2 ................|   186 |   197 |   227 |   241 |   246 |   269 |    28 |    37 |    17 |    22 |    11 |    18
3 .....................|   208 |   214 |   249 |   256 |   274 |   286 |    33 |    33 |    25 |    31 |    22 |    27
4 .....................|   223 |   224 |   267 |   271 |   296 |   299 |    39 |    30 |    58 |    48 |    67 |    55
-----------------------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|-------

\1\Excludes persons not enrolled in school.

\2\The 4 items in the scale were: newspaper subscription, magazine subscription, more than 25 books in the home, and encyclopedia in the home.

NOTE.--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.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress, The Reading Report Card, 1971-88, and NAEP 1992 Trends in Academic Progress, by Educational Testing Service. (This table was prepared April 1994.)


1996 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest