This report investigates real book reading as measured by Accelerated Reader in relation to reading ability as measured by the computer-adaptive Star Reading test. This year, the evidence can be found online at www.whatkidsareereading.co.uk.
This is the seventeenth year this report has been published in the UK. In that time the number of students involved has increased by almost 4 times, the number of schools has increased by nearly 11 times, the number of books read has increased by almost 96 times, the average number of books read per pupil has risen by almost twice and the number of AR quizzes now available is over three times what it was.
Accelerated Reader use continues to grow, and it is now used in 6,702 schools in the UK and the Republic of Ireland (3% more than last year) and 1,210,464 pupils (almost 5% less than last year). AR pupils read 25,070,261 in total (4% less than last year). Thus, while the number of schools increased a little, the number of pupils involved and the number of books decreased.
Approximately half of the pupils involved were male, and half were female. Primary schools used AR much more (66%) than secondary schools (34%), but this represented a considerable increase for secondary schools compared to last year (from 21%). As last year, the largest number of quizzes per year was taken by Year 3 pupils (Years 4 and 5 were also high). The total Words Read were 234,723,443,220 (14% lower than last year).
The Average Book Difficulty Level (ATOS) was 3.6 (as last year). As in many previous years, average book difficulty rose as pupils became older, but not in proportion to the rate at which the pupils should have been improving in reading. Average Book Difficulty rose until Year 6, then plateaued until Year 9, then declined steadily thereafter, even though the older pupils should have been reading harder books. Throughout secondary school, pupils were still reading books at almost the same level of difficulty as upper primary pupils.
The Average Percent Correct was 0.76 (76%) on all books read/quizzes taken (significantly higher than last year). However, the APC for primary was 80% (77% last year) while the APC for secondary was 72% (69% last year). While the APCs for both primary and secondary pupils have risen, this still suggests that secondary pupils were not reading books as carefully as primary pupils, even though the secondary books were easier in relation to chronological age than the primary books. APC was consistently lower than the recommended level by software manufacturers (although it rose to 84% on quizzes, much closer to the required criterion).
Engaged Reading Time was also a powerful predictor of Star Reading Scores. The lowest ERT scores are associated with the lowest reading scores, the highest with the highest reading scores, and the middle ERT scores are associated with the middle reading scores. More reading time in school leads to higher reading attainment. However, the amount of time allocated to reading in school had fallen significantly from the previous year, especially in primary school.
The number of students with a Star test score declined from 1,097,410 to 965,332. Years 1-10 showed a very clear pattern on all measures, and all but one show Star scores above average, i.e., above the 50th percentile. In all years, a consistent pattern emerges, where the lowest APC scores are associated with the lowest reading scores, the highest with the highest reading scores, and the middle APC scores are associated with the middle reading scores. Obviously, implementation quality makes a big difference! Engaged Reading Time seems to be an even more powerful predictor of Star Reading Scores. The lowest ERT scores are associated with the lowest reading scores, the highest with the highest reading scores, and the middle ERT scores are associated with the middle reading scores. More reading time in school leads to higher reading attainment. Implementation quality does indeed make a big difference! Graphing the cumulative number of words read x ERT, we see further evidence of the impact of time spent reading – the more time is allocated to reading, the greater is the number of words read. There is an increasing tendency to read books which are below the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as pupils progress into and through secondary school, coupled with a decline in the tendency to read books above the ZPD.
The largest number of AR-using pupils was unsurprisingly in England (1,014,897, 84%), which was 11% of the total school population, much like last year. However, Northern Ireland had the highest proportion of AR-using pupils in relation to the size of the school population (78,003, 22%), slightly higher than last year. This means that in Northern Ireland, more than one in five pupils were using AR. Wales had significantly increased the number of pupils participating in previous years, and this proportion had firmed up at 28,752, 6% (as last year).
Turning to the contribution from the National Literacy Trust (NLT), their Annual Literacy Survey began in 2005, tracking children’s reading enjoyment and attitudes. In the 2024 survey, responses from more than 76,000 participants aged 8 – 18 revealed a sharp decline in both reading enjoyment and daily reading, with the lowest levels recorded since the survey began in 2005. Just one in three (35%) of children and young people reported enjoying reading in their free time—the lowest level since the survey began in 2005—and the sharpest year-on-year drop on record, with an 8.8 percentage-point decrease from last year. This year, while more girls than boys enjoyed reading (41% vs 29%), the gender gap in reading enjoyment had tripled from the previous year, driven largely by a greater drop in reading enjoyment for boys. Secondary-school-aged pupils showed the most marked declines. Enjoyment also declined for both pupils receiving free school meals (FSMs) and those who did not. However, the drop was more pronounced among non-FSM pupils.
More children and young people enjoyed reading at school than in their free time in 2024, but not by much. 41% of 8 to 18-year-olds told us they enjoyed reading at school, compared with the 35% who enjoyed it in their free time. A similar percentage of boys and girls reported enjoying reading at school (40% vs. 42%), and a slightly higher percentage of children and young people who received Free School Meals (FSMs) enjoyed reading at school compared to their peers. Many more 8 – 11-year-olds said they enjoyed reading at school compared with reading in their free time (64% vs 52%). This emphasised the vital role that schools can play in supporting reading enjoyment.
There was a strong positive relationship between enjoying reading in free time and reading frequency (r = .68). We found that over eight times as many children and young people aged 8 to 18 who enjoyed reading in their free time said they read daily compared with those who did not enjoy reading (48% vs 6%). There were some encouraging signs linked to the use of Accelerated Reader (AR). This year, more children and young people who reported using AR said they enjoyed reading than those who did not (29.6% vs 27.3%). This difference was more noticeable among boys. This link between AR use and reading enjoyment was even more pronounced among children and young people who received free school meals.
Now, considering “What Kids Are Reading”, in Year 1, Julia Donaldson was top of the list, but Roderick Hunt had ten books. In Year 2, The Gruffalo was top again for both boys and girls, followed for both by the Gruffalo’s Child, and Julia Donaldson had nine books in the top 20. In Year 3, Donaldson had seven books but was joined by Roald Dahl. In Year 4, Jeff Kinney topped the list for boys, but Roald Dahl did so for girls. In Year 5, Jeff Kinney dominated the table, taking the top five places for both boys and girls and having a further 11 books in the table. In Year 6, Kinney was completely dominant for boys with 18 books, much as last year, while girls only had 13 Kinney books in their Top 20. This was the last year at which pupils were reading at or above their natural age level.
In Year 7, Kinney was again popular with boys, but girls became more interested in Alice Oseman (many of whose books are of very low readability). In Year 8, boys were loyal to Jeff Kinney (fifteen books) while girls were much more diverse with books by Alice Oseman, J.K. Rowling and Holly Jackson among others. John Steinbeck and George Orwell remained very popular with both boys and girls, as was a resurgent Suzanne Collins. For boys, Jeff Kinney still had six books lower down, but J.K. Rowling also had six books (many more than last year).
Overall, the most popular authors’ list had not changed much. The top eight authors are exactly the same: Kinney, Dahl, Walliams, Donaldson, Rowling, Oseman, Hunt and Simon. The Primary table of Most Popular Authors contains the same top two authors as last year (Kinney, Dahl). Three new entrants were: Dav Pilkey, Andy Griffiths and Jill Murphy. The Secondary table of Most Popular Authors had the same top four authors in the same order as the previous year: Kinney, Rowling, Walliams and Oseman. Then come new entrants: Louis Sachar, Holly Jackson and Rick Riordan.
New Entrants are books that had not been on our tables before, so that teachers can have an idea of what is coming up to inform their book ordering. In Year 1, for boys, there were four books by Dav Pilkey and four by Jamie Smart (a new name). For girls, Harriet Muncaster had four books and C.L. Reid two. Boys’ and girls’ choices were largely different. In Year 2, much the same applied. In Year 3, Kinney appeared, as did Dav Pilkey, with Harriet Muncaster and Jamie Smart close behind. In Year 4, Kinney was top with David Walliams in second place and Dav Pilkey close behind. In Year 5, Kinney and Walliams repeated their high places, and Year 6 was very similar. In Year 7, Kinney was top for boys but only third for girls, pushed out by Katie Kirby and Alice Oseman. In Year 8, Kinney was again top for boys, but Alice Oseman was top for girls. In Years 9-11, Kinney was again top for boys, but girls preferred Colleen Hoover’s Ugly Love. Inspecting the most popular new entrants by gender, Kinney is now top for both boys and girls. Pilkey, Griffiths, Pichon and Sánchez Vegara appear for both boys and girls, as does newcomer Jamie Smart. The new books from Walliams and Kinney were in high places, which was rather depressing, as these authors figured very little in the Favourite Books category. These books were generally not being read with any greater degree of reading comprehension (APC). There was little correlation between a book’s difficulty and the comprehension with which it was read. Hard books were often read with high levels of comprehension at all ages.
In non-fiction books, pupils in primary school (years 1-6) were reading at least at their chronological age, and in early primary often far above it. APC was satisfactory, and relatively few books fell below the 85% criterion. However, in secondary performance, it fell away dramatically. From Year 7, the difficulty of books fell even further behind with each Year, while APC remained much the same. Furthermore, from Year 7 onwards, a considerable number of books were not read to the 85% criterion. The football theme, which was probably male-oriented, was again very much to the fore. It seems that secondary non-fiction books were not read or understood as carefully as fiction books.
After completing a quiz, pupils have the opportunity to vote for their Favourite Books. Overall, we can judge the popularity of favourite authors by adding the votes given for each author. In Primary, Katie Kirby had the top book and another two lower down. J.K. Rowling had five books in the list. Suzanne Collins was resurgent, and A.F. Steadman was a new entrant to the list. In Secondary, Holly Jackson had the top four books. Tahereh Mafi was a new entrant with two books, and Rick Riordan had two books. Alice Oseman’s very low readability books had disappeared. Strikingly, Jeff Kinney and David Walliams did not appear at all. In the primary years, children were reading very difficult books with a high degree of success – it is wonderful what reading motivating books does for children. There was a marked difference in Year 7 (the year of secondary transfer). At this point, the difficulty of favoured books was no longer well above chronological age, and in ensuing years declined sharply. Thus, if the aim is to increase reading achievement, reading Favourite Books is a good strategy in primary schools.
Analysis of Regional Variation in Reading Habits leads to three main conclusions. Firstly, the slump in difficulty at transfer to secondary school is very marked in all regions. The fact that pupils in Scotland are still in primary school does not protect them from this slump. In Year 6, pupils are reading at their chronological age. In Year 7 pupils are suddenly a year behind their chronological age, in Year 8 two years behind, and in Years 9-11 at least three years behind. Secondly, there are striking differences in reading teaching at primary level between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In the Republic, there is much emphasis on reading hard books in lower primary, which the children seem to manage with high levels of comprehension. In Northern Ireland, levels of difficulty at this stage are much lower. However, by the time secondary education comes around, these differences seem to have been levelled out, and children are reading material at pretty much the same level of difficulty, and students in the secondary age ranges in Wales seem to be catching up to their peers in the other four regions.
Overall, this year saw a decline in the number of books read, although the number of schools went up slightly. This mainly happened in secondary schools. A similar trend has been observed in the US, although the school context is quite different. Why might this have been? There are several possible reasons. Firstly, as the NLT data suggests, pupils’ interest in reading books may have fallen. Other reasons invite more speculation. The high number of pupils persistently absent from school post-COVID might be a factor, especially in secondary, as such pupils are more likely to be weaker readers on whom AR was previously targeted.
The book by Professor Keith Topping, the principal author of this report, which focuses on Accelerated Reader and reports the evidence on its effectiveness is still available – see Improving Reading Comprehension of Self-Chosen Books Through Computer Assessment and Feedback: Best Practices from Research: Amazon.co.uk: Topping, Keith James: 9781032076201: Books in the UK. The book also can be ordered at https://www.routledge.com/Improving-Reading-Comprehension-of-Self-Chosen-Books-Through-Computer-Assessment/Topping/p/book/9781032076201).