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Research Supports the Power of Independent Reading

Independent reading and increased volume of reading go hand in hand. There have been many published studies by leading educators that demonstrate the effectiveness of increased amounts of reading for students.

The following research supports this underlying premise for the 100 Book Challenge. In no way is this research support intended to reflect an endorsement of the actual 100 Book Challenge program by the authors and/or publishers of the studies.

“Simply put, students need enormous quantities of successful reading to become independent, proficient readers. By successful reading, I mean reading experiences in which students perform with a high level of accuracy, fluency and comprehension. When a 9-year-old misses as few as two or three words in each hundred running words of text, the text may be too hard for effective practice. That text may be appropriate for instructional purposes, but developing readers need much more high-success reading than difficult reading. It is the high-accuracy, fluent, and easily comprehended reading that provides the opportunities to integrate complex skills and strategies into an automatic, independent reading practice.”

Allington, Richard, “What I've Learned About Efficient Reading Instruction from a Decade of Studying Exemplary Elementary Classroom Teachers.”

“Analyses of the research suggest that the amount children read contributes significantly to the development of other aspects of their verbal intelligence, such as vocabulary knowledge, spelling and verbal fluency. Reading volume also builds students' background knowledge, an important contributor to reading comprehension.”

Cunningham, A., and K. Stanovich. 1998. “What Reading Does for the Mind.” American Educator 22:8-15.

Dr. Anne Cunningham Dr. Keith Stanovich

“Reading volume predicted reading comprehension in third-, fifth-, eighth- and tenth-grade students, even when pupil factors such as past reading achievement, prior knowledge and motivation were controlled statistically.”

Guthrie, J.T., Wigfield, A., Metsala, J., & Cox, K. 1999. “Motivational and Cognitive Predictors of Text Comprehension and Reading Amount.” Scientific Studies of Reading , 3(3), 231-256.

“There is a strong, direct correlation between the amount of independent reading students do and their percentile rank on standardized tests. For example, students scoring in the 98th percentile read independently an average of 67 minutes per day while students who score in the 10th percentile read independently for an average of only 10 minutes per day.”

Anderson , R.C., Wilson , P., & Filding, L. 1988. Growth in Reading and How Children Spend tTheir Time Outside of School.” Reading Research Quarterly , 23(3), 285-303.

“Quantity of independent reading is linked to growth in reading vocabulary and reading proficiency.”

Anderson , Heibert, Scott and Wilkinson. 1985. Becoming a Nation of Readers: The Report of the Commission on Reading . Washington, DC.: National Institute of Education , U.S. Department of Education.

Dr. Richard C. Anderson

“Volume of reading was reliably correlated with reading comprehension performance in both disabled and normally achieving readers.”

McBride-Chang, C., Manis, F., Seidenberg, M., Custodio, R., & Doe, L. 1993. “Print Exposure as a Predictor of Word Reading and Reading Comprehension in Disabled and Nondisabled Readers.” Journal of Educational Psychology , 85, 230-238.

The causal relationship between reading volume and reading achievement was confirmed in an experimental study. The intervention focused on the impact of developing classroom books centers in urban schools and restructuring the school day such that time was allocated for student use of these centers, including time to read.”

Morrow, L.M. 1992. “The Impact of a Literature-Based Program on Literacy Achievement, Use of Literature, and Attitudes of Children from Minority Backgrounds.” Reading Research Quarterly , 27(3), 250-275.

“At every age level, reading more pages in school and for homework each day was associated with higher reading scores. The NAEP report notes, ‘There is a consistent relationship between the amount of reading done in school and for homework and the students' scale cores' (p.88). At each grade level, then, students who read more pages each day were more likely to achieve the Proficient level of performance on the NAEP reading assessment. For instance, at twelfth grade, only 28 percent of students who reported reading five of fewer pages each day achieved the Proficient level compared to 51 percent of those students who read eleven or more pages.”

U.S. Department of Education, 1999. NAEP Reading Report Card for the Nation .

“In 93 percent of the reading comprehension test comparisons, students who were assigned more reading or allocated more reading time in school performed as well or better than students who did not have the added reading assigned or that added time allocate.”

Krashen, S. 1993. The Power of Reading : Insights from the Research . Englewood , CO : Libraries Unlimited.

Dr. Stephen Krashen