Reading Activities and Reading Proficiency among Hispanic, Black, and White Students

Abstract

The most recent evidence from the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that, despite large gains in reading proficiency by minority children over the last decade, Hispanic and black children continue to read at significantly lower levels than do whites. The purpose of the present study is twofold. First, it attempts to examine the extent to which lower reading proficiency among Hispanic and black children is explained by parents' educational level and by reading activities and behaviors on the part of the family and child (e.g., reading materials in the home and amount of reading done for enjoyment). Second, it attempts to examine the direct effect of parents' education and reading activities on reading proficiency among minority and nonminority children. These research questions are addressed by conducting further analysis with the National Assessment of Educational Progress's 1984 survey of reading proficiency among in-school fourth, eighth, and eleventh graders. The results show that, while no one factor explained a large portion of the differences among racial/ethnic groups, after controlling for all the factors examined in this study, the racial/ethnic differences were reduced. Also, reading activities were found to directly affect the reading proficiency of both minority and nonminority children. The most important recommendation to be drawn from these results concerns increasing the level of reading activities among all children.