2007 Maine Marks
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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.

*Similar national data is available in a series of reports entitled Trends in the Well Being of America’s Children and Youth 2003, published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; see (put URL here). The chart below summarizes indicators in this area, children (ages 3-5) read to every day. NATIONAL CHART TO BE INSERTED HERE

Where We Stand

Of those who reported having a child age 8 or younger who lives in the home, which is
only 49% (n=198) of the total sample who responded to the telephone survey, 90% of
those parents reported having read to their child at least once per week:

Of those who read at least once per week:

  • 9% read once or twice per week,
  • 22% read three times per week, and
  • 64% reported reading to their child every day.

Data Source and Context

Data on this indicator comes from a random digit dial statewide telephone survey of Maine households with children/youth present who are age 18 or younger. There were 403 respondents to this survey, each an adult in the household who self-identified as a parent. This survey was conducted by Critical Insights, a strategic marketing research firm in Portland, Maine. This survey for this 2005 report was completed in January 2006.Data is not available every year on this indicator due to funding limitations.

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

*NOTE: Due to limited resources, it has not been possible to survey enough households to reach parents of very young children. Therefore, this indicator is NOT representative of all households in Maine with children under the age of 8. The data is presented only for descriptive purposes.