Decline in Average Reading Scores in Year 6 in One Area (Research Note)

Abstract

This study examines the reading standards of eight cohorts (years 1989 to 1996) of Year 6 children (mean age 11.31) from five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority in England. The total size of the sample was 1,503 children. The analysis focuses on the extent to which average scores in reading comprehension have changed over the eight years from 1989 to 1996. Examination of the means of the standardised comprehension scores for each cohort reveals a significant fall in attainment between Cohort 1 (1989), on the one hand, and Cohorts 6 (1994) and 7 (1995), on the other. The percentage of children with scores greater that one standard deviation above the mean (i.e. above standard score 115) declined from 22 per cent in Cohort 1 (1989) to 7 per cent in Cohort 6 (1994), with a similar increased in the percentage of children scoring less than one standard deviation below the mean. The implications of these findings are briefly discussed.