Friday Reads: “The ‘down-grading’ of American Reading?” by Bufo Calvin

Over at I Love My Kindle, Bufo Calvin has a fascinating analysis of a recent study that shows American students are reading simpler books. Here’s an excerpt from the study:

“…the complexity of assigned texts has sharply declined, from about [grade] 9.0 in the early 20th century to just over 6.0 in the early 21st century. This finding echoes other studies that have concerned policy makers about whether students are presented with sufficiently challenging material to help them prepare for college and career.”

Scary, right? American students are reading at a sixth grade level and are not leaving school ready for college. No doubt this issue must be addressed in our schools.

True, but Calvin points out an interesting flaw in the reports methods: it relies on grade-level assessment tests like the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Test. Calvin points out why this is an issue:

More syllables and longer sentences are judged to be at a higher grade level.

For example, this sentence

“The quick red fox jumped over the lazy brown dog.”

is assessed at grade level 2.4.

Changing it to this:

“The rapidly moving scarlet fox jumped over the unmotivated brown canine.”

ups it to grade level 11.2.

Looking at that, though, which one seems like the better sentence to you?

Clear prose, written simply, is the most powerful. Good writers learn to simplify their prose. In some ways, the simpler sentences are harder to write and convey more than complex ones.

There are exceptions, though. Reading in college requires close reading and sustained attention. Most students will encounter difficult prose that might register at a higher level on a grade-level test. We need to prepare students for this type of writing.

But scoring at a lower level on a grade-level test doesn’t mean students are less prepared. Calvin suggests the same in his article:

Why would this have changed over time, though? Why would there have been harder books assigned decades ago?

There may be several reasons involved in that.

One is that many more people are going to school (especially higher grades) than did a hundred years ago. I’m not suggesting that there is a difference in capability, but there may be a difference in situation. It could be that people who went to high school in the 1910s (and the Renaissance Learning data goes back beyond that) were people who were going to be able to concentrate on reading, even outside of class. Would I have been as much of a reader in elementary school if I was also spending several hours a day in a field doing manual labor? If I’m being honest, I’d have to say no.

So, high schoolers today may have less experience, less practice, reading than high schoolers a hundred years ago.

This is one explanation, but it also means students are reading in different ways. Students are surrounded by text more than ever before. Whether it’s on smartphones, tablets, television, or books, students are always reading something. The difference is what they’re reading. No, they’re not reading as many long-form books, but they’re reading quick bursts of text (messages in social media, etc.). Ideally, educators should figure out how to reach students so they prepare them for reading at both levels: long-form and short-form reading.

Even though this study suggests a need for reform in our school systems, it also shows how technology affects literacy. The democratization of books and text means more readers. Accessibility means more diversity of reading abilities.

I’m not advocating for less emphasis on long-form reading. However, I don’t think this study suggests enough to declare our students are less literate than they were in the past.

Calvin suggests the same in his article:

I guess I’m a reading athlete: I like complex works. I also do like simple ones, no question…and I think it’s a good thing that (as I believe) more people are reading books. Perhaps assigning simpler books is actually a sign of a democratization of literature.

Readers: What do you think? Is the issue the quality of the prose or the quality of…something else? Let’s discuss.

Source: I Love My Kindle

Original report: Renaissance Learning

Related articles

• The Youth Of Today Basically Can’t Read Anymore (leftandcenter.com)
• “What Kids Are Reading, In School And Out” (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
• New Study Blames Collective Bargaining for Education Stagnation (nationalreview.com)
• The Kids are Still All Right, Despite What Accelerated Reader Might Say (thereadingzone.wordpress.com)