Reading Nonfiction

Why it's important for kids.

I hear that children, starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school, are going to be required to read more nonfiction, from news articles to historic documents. What is the reason for this new emphasis on reading nonfiction materials? — Changing Times

What has happened is the realization that both college classes and many careers require the ability to read more complex materials. Out in the work world, most of what people read requires the ability to understand informational text.

Back in 2005, only 51 percent of ACT-tested high school students were ready for college-level reading. Furthermore, current research is showing that many college and junior college students need to take remedial courses. This lack of reading readiness for college is one of the indicators for why so many freshmen are dropping out of school.

Until the enactment of Common Core Standards, rigorous reading standards were close to nonexistent. The standards expect that in elementary and middle school at least half of what students read should be nonfiction. This figure will accelerate to 70 percent of reading material by 12th grade.

While classrooms from kindergarten through high school are now having students read more nonfiction material, not all states have adopted the standards. Plus, it is important that teachers instruct students in how to read this material — not all do. One thing for sure is that parents need to be encouraging more nonfiction reading at home. Here are a few ways they can do this:

Give children who are interested in specific sports or hobbies magazines on these topics.

Introduce new board games and have children read the rules and explain them to the players.

Have them follow a topic of interest on Twitter.

Engage children in the process of researching places to visit on a family trip.

Have them follow favorite sports teams online and in newspapers.

Parents should send questions and comments to dearteacher@dearteacher.com or to the Dear Teacher website.         

Compass Syndicate Corporation, 2019

Distributed by King Features Syndicate