What Are Kids Reading?

Ashley Thorne

When Renaissance Learning conducted its 2012 edition of its report "What Kids Are Reading" (PDF), it asked Sandra Stotsky and other commentators, to weigh in on the question What should kids be reading? Stotsky, who professor of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas and serves on NAS's board of directors, wrote:

This republic cannot flourish in the 21st century, no matter how much time English or reading teachers spend teaching ‘21st century skills’ with texts deemed UG [upper grade], if the bulk of our population is reading at or below the fifth-grade level.

She notes the incongruence between the Education Department's push to ensure that all students become "college-ready" and its failure to define college-readiness. She also cites NAS's recent report on college common reading, Beach Books: What Do Colleges and Universities Want Students to Read Outside Class? The report showed that 10 of the institutions that assign a book for common reading to students selected graphic novels, such as Journey From the Land of No: A Girlhood Caught in Revolutionary Iran and Kabuki: The Alchemy

Stotsky writes about the 2012 Renaissance Learning report in the New York Daily News in "'Twilight' Has No Place in the Classroom," as does Alexander Nazaryan in "Against Captain Underpants: How We Are Raising a Generation of Illiterates." 

  • Share

Most Commented

September 6, 2024

1.

Professor Alleges "Widespread" Discriminatory Hiring Coverup at University of Washington

Audio acquired by the National Association of Scholars describes allegations of coverup race-based hiring coverup at the University of Washington...

October 29, 2024

2.

The Looming Irrelevance of Middle East Study Centers

Today’s Middle Eastern Studies Centers are facing a crisis due to the winds of change in the Middle East and their own ideological echo chamber....

September 25, 2024

3.

NAS Statement on University of Pennsylvania Sanction of Amy Wax

The National Association of Scholars is outraged—but not surprised—by Penn's decision to penalize Wax for exercising her academic freedom. ...

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

September 21, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What Does YHWH Elohim Mean?

A reader asks, "If Elohim refers to multiple 'gods,' then Yhwh Elohim really means Lord of Gods...the one of many, right?" A Hebrew expert answers....