Exploring the reading habits of students worldwide, Renaissance has released its 16th edition of the report, ‘What Kids Are Reading 2024’, featuring Renaissance Star Reading, myON, and Accelerated Reader data from more than 6,500 schools and 1.3 million students worldwide.
The report reveals a 4.4% decline in reading numbers compared to last year, marking the first decline outside the initial pandemic year. Despite the decline, the report suggests that there is still much to celebrate in terms of the depth and breadth of the books being read across various regions globally.
As per the report, this edition has recorded an increased number of students involved in reading by 43 times, but at the same time, the number of schools has increased by nearly 11 times, leading to a decreased percentile of students involved in reading. The report also shows positive adoption of Accelerated Reader (a computer-based program school uses to monitor and manage a student’s independent reading practice and comprehension), now used in 6,488 schools in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The average number of books read per person has doubled, and the number of AR quizzes now available is over three times.
Key findings from the report are:
Reading Habits among Children and Young People
People’s reading habits and enjoyment have fluctuated since then, but 2023 stood out—for the wrong reasons. Among the 64,066 8—to 18-year-olds who participated in our Annual Literacy Survey in 2023, just 2 in 5 (43.4%) said they loved reading in their free time. This is the lowest level of reading enjoyment recorded since 2005.
Reading at school
There was a 15.4 per cent difference in reading enjoyment among the 8 to 11-year-olds and the 14 to 16-year-olds during their free time. However, this number increases to a 32.2 per cent difference when comparing the two age groups’ reading enjoyment at school. This is because more children aged 8 to 11 enjoyed reading at school than reading in their free time, while fewer of those aged 14 to 16 said the same.
Engagement with audiobooks
After tracking children and young people’s engagement with audiobooks and podcasts since 2020 and in 2023, the report reveals that every 2 in 5 children and young people (39.4%) between the ages of 8 and 18 enjoyed listening to audio in 2023. This shows a slight increase from 2022 (37.5%) but is still lower than the levels from 2021 (43.8%).
It further highlights that listening to audio can level out gender differences, which are often seen in other aspects of literacy. Listening to audio is also stated as a way to read for many children and young people, citing it as a primary factor in developing interest in reading books on paper and on screen.
The report also dives into popular books by grade level, reading role models, and the positive impact of daily reading practice. You can access the report to get insights on demographic segmentation, covering detailed breakdowns by country, reading trends worldwide, and more.
About Renaissance Learning:
This leading educational technology company specializes in cloud-based assessments, teaching, and learning platforms designed for Pre-K to Grade 12 (Pre-K-12) students.
