Indicator: 24 - Reading to Children

 

Why This Is Important

Reading to and engaging children in literacy-related activities promotes language acquisition
and correlates with literacy development, enhanced reading comprehension and overall
success in school.

 

 

Where We Stand

Of those who reported having a child age 8 or younger in the home, 29% (n = 116) of the
total sample who responded to the telephone survey, 88% of those parents reported having
read to their child at least once per week:

Of those,

• 9% read once or twice per week;
• 20% read three times per week; and,
• 66% reported reading to their child every day.

The percent of parents reporting reading to their child at least once a week has risen steadily
since 2000. Of interest is that for 2004, 46% of those parents who report a high school
education or less said that they read to their child “every day”. Seventy-four percent of parents
who report having more than a high school education report reading to their child “every day”.

Similar national data is available in a series of reports entitled Trends in the Well Being of
America’s Child and Youth 2003 published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services. The chart below summarizes indicators in this area, children (ages 3-5) read to
every day.

 

 

Data Sources and Context

Data on this indicator comes from a statewide telephone survey of Maine households with
children present who are age 18 or younger. The respondents to this survey were adults in
the household who self-identified as a parent. The indicator is similar to indicators used by
the Maine Development Foundation in their previous surveys of Maine citizens, or other
national surveys of families, so that the data could be used to monitor trends over time and
to compare Maine to the nation. This 2004/5 survey was conducted by Critical Insights, a
strategic marketing research firm in Portland, Maine. During the months of December 2004
and January 2005, 400 Maine adults responded to the survey.

The adults were asked the following: “How many times in the past week have you or another
adult in your family read to a younger child (age 8 or younger) who lives in your home?

• Not at all
• At least once a week
• Three times a week
• Every day

National data comes from Trends in the Well Being of America’s Children and Youth 2003 published by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. Information on family literacy activities is available
on-line at http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/