California Scores Low on Parent-Child Reading

      A recent report shows that California ranks in the bottom half of the nation — 42nd out of 50 states and the District of Columbia — in the percentage of children who are read to daily by their parents.  According to “Reading Across the Nation: A Chartbook,” prepared by the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities for the nonprofit Reach Out and Read National Center, only 44.6 percent of Californian children between birth and the age of 5 are read to every day by a parent. The national average is 47.8 percent. California brings up the rear, along with a number of Southern and border states.
For children, early exposure to books — including being read to aloud each day — is critical for long-term academic success. Research has shown that up to one-third of American children enter kindergarten underprepared to learn, mostly because their early years leave them without the necessary language and literacy skills. The report provides state-by-state information on the percentage of children whose parents read aloud to them daily. The statistics show that reading rates vary significantly by state, with Vermont posting 68 percent and Mississippi only 38 percent.

Among the findings for California:
 
• Reading rates vary by race/ethnicity, with 58.5 percent of white (non-Hispanic) parents reporting daily reading, compared with a 37.9 percent average for all other groups.
• Among children living in or near poverty, about one-third from birth to age 5 are read to daily, putting California 48th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia.
• Among children in families with middle incomes, California fares better than many other states, ranking 25th in the nation.
• Only 22 percent of California fourth graders display proficiency or better on national reading tests, putting the state 45th nationally.

Recommendations for reading aloud to children include:
• Using the pictures in a book to tell your own story.
• Using reading aloud to your child to establish a bedtime routine.
• Using the pictures in a book to talk with your child — pointing and naming or describing objects in the book — or to relate the book to the child’s experiences (“He has a sister, just like you”).

“Reading Across the Nation: A Chartbook” includes data from the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health and the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress. For the full report and state breakdowns, please visit the Web site of the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities at http://healthychild.ucla.edu.

— Teachers of Color