Question:
Do you have any information on family reading to young children?
Response:
Children whose parents read to them tend to become better readers and perform better in school (Snow, Burns, and Griffin 1998). Other family activities such as telling stories and singing songs also encourage children抯 acquisition of literacy skills (Moss and Fawcett 1995).
The percentage of prekindergarten children ages 3�read to frequently by a family member (i.e., three or more times in the week preceding the survey) increased from 78 percent in 1993 to 86 percent in 2005. There were also increases in the percentage of children whose family members frequently told them a story (from 43 to 54 percent); taught them letters, words, or numbers (from 58 to 77 percent); and taught them songs or music (from 41 to 54 percent).
All children regardless of poverty status were more likely to have an adult read to them frequently in 2005 than in 1993; however, the increase among poor children (from 68 to 78 percent) was greater than the increase among nonpoor children (from 87 to 90 percent). Despite the greater increase for poor children, nonpoor children were still more likely than poor children to have a family member read to them frequently in 2005 as was also the case in 1993. For example, in 2005, a greater percentage of nonpoor children were read to than poor children (90 vs. 78 percent). However, in 2005, there were no measurable differences found between nonpoor and poor children for the other three home literacy activities.
The percentage of children who engaged in certain literacy activities in 2005 varied by parents' education and race/ethnicity. Children whose parents had at least a high school diploma or equivalent were more likely to be read to and taught letters, words, or numbers than those children whose parents had less than a high school diploma. White children were more likely than Black or Hispanic children to have a family member read to them. However, a greater percentage of Hispanic children than White children were taught songs or music.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2006). The Condition of Education 2006 (NCES 2006�1), Indicator 33.
| Percentage of prekindergarten children ages 3�who participated in home literacy activities with a family member three or more times in the preceding week, by selected child and family characteristics: 1993 and 2005 | ||||||||
| Child and family characteristics | Read to1 | Told a story | Taught letters, words, or numbers | Taught songs or music | ||||
| 1993 | 2005 | 1993 | 2005 | 1993 | 2005 | 1993 | 2005 | |
| Total | 78.3 | 85.7 | 43.0 | 53.7 | 57.7 | 76.6 | 41.0 | 54.4 |
| Age | ||||||||
| 3 | 79.4 | 86.4 | 46.4 | 54.5 | 57.2 | 75.5 | 45.0 | 60.9 |
| 4 | 77.8 | 84.7 | 41.2 | 52.8 | 58.1 | 76.8 | 38.9 | 49.7 |
| 5 | 75.9 | 86.5 | 35.8 | 54.6 | 57.9 | 80.0 | 33.1 | 47.1 |
| Race/ethnicity2 | ||||||||
| White | 84.8 | 91.9 | 44.3 | 53.3 | 57.2 | 75.7 | 40.2 | 52.1 |
| Black | 65.9 | 78.5 | 39.0 | 54.3 | 62.7 | 80.6 | 48.9 | 56.4 |
| Hispanic | 58.2 | 71.8 | 37.7 | 49.8 | 53.9 | 74.3 | 38.7 | 59.1 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 68.8 | 84.4 | 52.1 | 64.5 | 61.8 | 75.2 | 35.9 | 46.9 |
| Poverty Status3 | ||||||||
| Poor | 67.5 | 78.4 | 39.1 | 50.8 | 59.6 | 76.0 | 45.2 | 53.7 |
| Near-poor | 75.5 | 82.4 | 42.5 | 53.6 | 58.1 | 78.0 | 39.4 | 59.2 |
| Nonpoor | 86.8 | 90.2 | 45.6 | 55.0 | 56.2 | 76.2 | 39.5 | 52.5 |
1 In 1993, respondents were asked about reading frequency in one of the two versions of the survey questionnaire. The percentages presented in the table are for all of the respondents who answered three or more times on either version of the questionnaire.
2 Black includes African American, Hispanic includes Latino, and Pacific Islander includes Native Hawaiian. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin unless specified. Other race/ethnicities are included in the total but are not shown separately.
3 "Poor" is defined to include those families below the poverty threshold; "near-poor" is defined as 100�9 percent of the poverty threshold; and "nonpoor" is defined as 200 percent or more than the poverty threshold. See supplemental note 1 for more information on poverty.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2006). The Condition of Education 2006 (NCES 2006�1), Table 33-1.
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