Study: Let kids pick their own books

Of course children will read better if they're allowed to decide for themselves what to read!

It seems obvious, but it wasn't proven until recently. Now, the Rochester School District will use that finding as another tool in its quest to get its youngest students reading at grade level.

The news came from an experiment that began in the summer of 2013, conducted by University of Rochester medical resident Erin Kelly.

Eighteen students in grades K-2 at School 36 in Rochester were allowed to pick 13 books to take home to read over the summer. The rest of their classmates had reading material chosen for them by teachers or the school.

The students' reading level was tested before they left for the summer, and again when they returned. The students who chose their own books did significantly better than those who didn't.

Encouraged by the result, Kelly expanded and tweaked the experiment in the summer of 2014. This time, some students picked all of their own books, while others selected some of their own and had some assigned to them.

There were two interesting findings when the students were tested in the fall. First, 75 percent of them improved on their reading skills since the spring, or at least retained them.

Second, there was no difference between students who had chosen all of their own books and those who chose only some of them. That shows that giving children even a small amount of choice can make them more eager to learn or more likely to benefit from time spent reading.

"It's a pretty straightforward intervention, but it really seems to help kids," Kelly said. "They're much more likely to pick up and read and get excited about a book if it's something they're already interested in. … The hurdle is to just get them to open the book in the first place."

The books the children picked weren't necessarily the ones their teachers might have recommended: for instance, a print adaptation of the Disney movie Frozen or a graphic novel. But the second summer's finding shows that once kids get interested in their own books, they will be more likely to continue on with others.

Starting this summer, the district is changing its summer book distribution program to allow students more choice. All K-2 students will get five pre-selected books but will then be able to pick five more of their own at a book fair. Those in grades 3-11 will choose two chapter books to take home.

"It really validates a lot of research that's been out there for many years, but it's cool that it's localized in this study," said Katie Yarlett, the district's executive director of reading by third grade.

The change could make a particularly large impact in the city, where 90 percent of students are considered economically disadvantaged and only 5 percent of students in grades 3-8 were judged to be proficient on the 2014 state English exams.

All students, on average, lose some literacy over the summer, but the effect is three times worse for poor students, who are less likely to have books around the house or enrichment opportunities.

JMURPHY7@DemocratandChronicle.com