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    Independent Reading

     

    There are many studies that show that the more you read, the smarter you get. For real! Check out the chart at the bottom of the page. According to this study, students who read just over ONE MILLION WORDS A YEAR scored in the 70th percentile on standardized tests (such as the MCAII).  In other words, their score was equal to or better than 70% of their peers!  On the other hand, notice how dramatically test scores went down as daily independent reading time decreased.

    Independent reading is 10% of the ELA grade.

    For your RAH minutes, choose whatever reading material you wish. However, know that you will gain the most from your time spent by reading books that are at your reading level, meaning books that are not too easy and not too hard. Keep track of your independent reading minutes on the calendars in your agenda book. See student agenda book for grading.

    Students will have Daily In-class Reading Time (DIRT). 
    A chapter book is one of the daily required materials. This may or may not be the same book you are reading outside of school. However, unlike selecting a book for reading outside of school, this book should be a chapter book, ie. NO magazines, Garfield, or the like.

     

    Results of the Study on Independent Reading

    and its Relationship to Standardized Test Scores:

    Percentile rank on state standardized test

    Minutes of text read per day

    Estimated number of words read per year

    		Letter Grade for Independent Reading

    98th percentile

    90.7

    4,733,000


    90th percentile

    40.4

    2,357,000

    A

    70th percentile

    21.7

    1,168,000

    C

    50th percentile

    12.9

    601,000

    D

    20th percentile

     3.1

    134,000

    F

    10th percentile

    1.6

    51,000


    * Study done by Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding.  Results can be found in the article “Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Their Time Outside of School”, printed in Reading Research Quarterly 23:285-303. 

     

     Your Goal: Make It a Million!!!