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Teachers and librarians are not “encouraging students to attack more difficult books”, a new report out today (March 5th) has said.
What Kids Are Reading found that although children in years 1 to 5 are reading books at “levels well above their chronological ages” by year six they are reading books below their chronological ages.
This plateaus for the next two years, meaning “that by Year 8 students are reading at an average level two years below their chronological age”.
Professor Keith topping, who wrote the report, said: “It seems that secondary teachers and librarians are not encouraging students to attack more difficult books to a sufficient degree.”
The report said that its findings “indicate that there is a particular need to challenge secondary school students whether they are struggling readers or high achievers, both groups are currently under challenged by the books they are choosing to read”.
What Kids are Reading also looked at the most popular authors among young people, with Jeff Kinney taking the top spot, and Roald Dahl in second.
David Walliams was the fastest mover, taking fifth place. He was not in the chart last year.
The report, published by education company Renaissance Learning, gathered its findings from 426,000 children in more than 2,000 schools in the last academic year.