The purpose of this study is to provide a community with the resources necessary to help children become proficient readers. This qualitative study explored the literature on attributes of successful Community Family Literacy Centers and before and after school tutoring programs. Community Family Literacy Centers are localized places where families can build literacy skills in a supportive and safe environment.

Does voluntary reading matter? While there is much known about the benefits to children who engage in sustained silent reading, commercial reading programs implemented as a result of No Child Left Behind often displace time for children to silently read (NCLB, 2002). An increase in the amount of time children spend with a commercial reading program has meant a decrease in time provided for in-school voluntary reading during the elementary literacy block (Brenner & Hiebert, 2010). This quantitative study used the 2011 restricted-use National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data to determine whether opportunities provided to children for in-school voluntary reading impacted fourth-grade students' achievement levels. The study also considered whether there were differences in the amount of time provided for in-school voluntary reading and choice in reading material to children of differing income levels and ethnic backgrounds. Contingency tables and a multiple linear regression model were used to find associations between achievement data and questionnaire responses. Findings concluded that children who qualified to participate in the National School Lunch Program, as well as Black, Hispanic, and Native American children, have fewer opportunities to silently read, and choose their own books during the school day. For most children, there was a positive relationship between time and choice in reading at school with achievement scores. Black, Hispanic, and Native American children experienced a commercial reading program at a higher rate than their white and Asian peers; there were no detected differences in reading program structure based on economic affluence. The discussion includes consideration of time to silent read at school and choice in reading material as a part of an "opportunity gap" (Darling-Hammond, 2013) that causes disparities in the quality of education provided to children from different backgrounds, and which could also be a factor to the larger achievement gap. Policy implications are discussed.

<p>The aim of this two years master’s thesis in library and information science is to study how children and librarians recommend books through the website Barnens bibliotek. In the scope of this aim it also tries to answer the following questions: What qualities in books do children and librarians respectively emphasize when they write book recommendations? How do they formulate the recommendations? And finally, how do their respective recommendations differ?</p><p>To examine these aspects a total of 50 book recommendations were chosen and analysed through an hermeneutic approach. Out of these 50, 30 were written by children and 20 were written by librarians. The recommendations were analysed through Louise Rosenblatt's theoretical framework concerning literary responses combined with Alan C. Purves' och Victoria Rippere's model of literary elements. The theoretical workings of Aidan Chambers were also used for drawing conclusions about how to connect the results of literary responses to everyday library work whether it is in a library or on the Internet.</p><p>The main results were that children turn inwards referring to themselves and their personal feelings when communicating a literary experience, while librarians turn outward communicating a literary content. Both parts do seem clearly aware that they are mediating a literary experience to a third part, which of course is expected of the librarians but a bit unexpected in the case of the children. Both parts refer basically to the same qualities when recommending books, even though they do it in different ways. And finally regarding the formula of writing a book recommendation, librarians tend to keep to a set structure of literary responses while children are more likely to mix the set of literary responses. The results also point to how important it is for library workers to understand the readers to better develop collections and programs that adress and respond to reader’s interests.</p>

The aim of this two years master’s thesis in library and information science is to study how children and librarians recommend books through the website Barnens bibliotek. In the scope of this aim it also tries to answer the following questions: What qualities in books do children and librarians respectively emphasize when they write book recommendations? How do they formulate the recommendations? And finally, how do their respective recommendations differ? To examine these aspects a total of 50 book recommendations were chosen and analysed through an hermeneutic approach. Out of these 50, 30 were written by children and 20 were written by librarians. The recommendations were analysed through Louise Rosenblatt's theoretical framework concerning literary responses combined with Alan C. Purves' och Victoria Rippere's model of literary elements. The theoretical workings of Aidan Chambers were also used for drawing conclusions about how to connect the results of literary responses to everyday library work whether it is in a library or on the Internet. The main results were that children turn inwards referring to themselves and their personal feelings when communicating a literary experience, while librarians turn outward communicating a literary content. Both parts do seem clearly aware that they are mediating a literary experience to a third part, which of course is expected of the librarians but a bit unexpected in the case of the children. Both parts refer basically to the same qualities when recommending books, even though they do it in different ways. And finally regarding the formula of writing a book recommendation, librarians tend to keep to a set structure of literary responses while children are more likely to mix the set of literary responses. The results also point to how important it is for library workers to understand the readers to better develop collections and programs that adress and respond to reader’s interests.

An investigation into the extent to which rural black primary school teachers of English in Kwazulu-Natal have been exposed to a culture of reading in general and, more particularly, their perceptions of the value of proficiency in reading English. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Natal, 1999.

The growing concern that teenagers don't read, led to this study. The study is preceded by an explanation of aspects in which the teenager develops, the value of reading and the influence of the environment on the teenager's utilisation of leisure time. In the study, a total of 478 Afrikaans-speaking pupils from grade seven to grade ten completed different questionnaires, whereby their reading interests and habits were determined. Some of the important findings of the study are: - although teenagers indicated their preference of fiction reading as that of horror and ghost stories, the romantic Sweet Valley series is read the most; - they prefer main characters who have the same religion and interests as they have; - cartoons and the periodical, Huisgenoot, are popular with all age groups; - books in Afrikaans are seemingly not popular; - the title and blurb are "decisive in the choice of a book; - teenagers consider it as normal that so little time is spent on reading; A few recommendations are made at the end of the study. / Die groeiende kommer dat tienderjariges nie lees nie, het tot die studie gelei. Die studie is voorafgegaan deur 'n uiteensetting van die aspekte waarvolgens tienderjariges ontwikkel; die waarde van lees en die invloed van die omgewing op tienderjariges se vryetydsbesteding. In die studie het 'n totaal van 478 Afrikaanssprekende leerlinge vanaf graad sewe tot graad tien verskillende vraelyste ingevul, waardeur hul leesbelangstellings en -gewoontes vasgestel is. Van die belangrikste bevindings van die studie is: ~ alhoewel tienderjariges aangedui het dat hulle gruwelverhale of spookstories as leesbelangstelling van fiksie verkies, word die romantiese Sweet Valley reeks die meeste gelees; - hoofkarakters wat dieselfde geloof aanhang en belangstellings as hulle het, word verkies; - strokiesprente en die tydskrif, Huisgenoot, is by alle ouderdomsgroepe gewild; - boeke in Afrikaans is skynbaar nie gewild nie; - die titel en die flapteks is deurslaggewend in die keuse van 'n boek; - tienderjariges beskou dit as normaal dat so min tyd aan lees spandeer word, 'n Paar aanbevelings word aan die einde van die studie gemaak. / Information Science / M.Inf. (Information Science)

The problem addressed by this investigation is whether the provision of centralized school library services is related to the reading habits and reading abilities of elementary school children. In considering this problem, a survey approach was utilized which entailed the examination of standardized reading achievement test scores, student reading records, and parent, teacher, and student questionnaire responses.

"Do high school students read? And do the ones who read have a well-balanced reading program, or is the reading done haphazardly? Sometimes these, and similar questions, result in answers subjective in character being framed in such sweeping generalizations as today's youth does little or no personal reading. Such statements have been the motive for numerous investigative surveys. These studies have revealed the value of a permanent interest in reading as an essential aid to personal development and social culture. They have pointed out the increasing demands made by society for greater proficiency in reading. Also, they have shown the importance of the reading program in the curriculum as a medium for establishing in youth a permanent interest in reading both for information and for recreation. Thus far, however, surveys have not established the fact that reading interests and habits differ between rural and urban pupils. This study, therefore, is an attempt to discover what differences, if any, exist in the reading interests and habits between a group of rural and urban children. The pupils considered are those enrolled during the 1950-51 session in the tenth grade in Walton High School DeFuniak Springs, Florida. In the course of this paper, pupils who ride school busses a distance of two miles or more are to be identified as 'transported' pupils; those who live within a radius of two miles of the school center and who do not ride school busses are to be referred to as 'non-transported' pupils"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "August, 1952." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts." / Advisor: Robert G. Clapp, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-48).

This master thesis is aiming to find out how school libraries work towards children in school years 1-6. The mainfocus is how the school librarians and teachers work with literature and reading. The theoretical viewpoints aremainly the sociocultural theory and the child perspective.The study was conducted with participants from five different schools in Uppsala, in the form of qualitativesemi-structured interviews. The results show that schools work with literature first and foremost in a pragmaticway, with reading-strategies and activating discussions. Very little time is spent on reading for its own sake. Thegeneral opinion is that the school libraries could – and should – be used more in the daily school work. Thelibrarians claim that they lack both time and financial resources to execute certain projects or be able to offer awider diversity of material. Finally, it is obvious that school libraries vary a lot in both ambition and resources.

The purpose of this two years master´s thesis in Archive, Library and Information Museum science is to examine the ideas about children and childhood which have an influence on the storytime at public libraries. The material on which this thesis is based, is a methodbook which is aimed to develop the storytimes and those picture books that are recommend in the methodbook. The theoretical points of departure are discourse analysis and childhood sociology. The concepts of being and becoming are frequently used when analyzing the methodbook. Other theoretical points of departure are the combination of narratologi, semiotics and hermeneutics, which are also used when analyzing the picture books. The result indicates that the storytime, recommended in the methodbook, is based on the idea of a timeless culture of childhood - where the "modern child" including the media used today - is left out. Concepts as nostalgia and pedagogy are tightly connected. The childhood as it appears in the storytime is a locked pedagogical room.