Quiz
1. Children between the ages of 9 and 14 spend more than 20 percent of their waking hours watching TV. How much time do you think they spend reading?
2. What percentage of fourth-graders read below grade level?
3. Reading aloud to children helps stimulate brain development. What percentage of parents routinely read to their infant or toddler?
4. In a recent study, students who watched less than four hours of television daily displayed higher reading proficiencies than their peers who watched more television.
5. Illiteracy costs U.S. businesses how much money each year in lost productivity?
1. Children between the ages of 9 and 14 spend more than 20 percent of their waking hours watching TV. How much time do you think they spend reading?
1 percent
2. What percentage of fourth-graders read below grade level?
40 percent
3. Reading aloud to children helps stimulate brain development. What percentage of parents routinely read to their infant or toddler?
50 percent
4. In a recent study, students who watched less than four hours of television daily displayed higher reading proficiencies than their peers who watched more television.
True
5. Illiteracy costs U.S. businesses how much money each year in lost productivity?
$225 billion
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ANSWER KEY:
1. 1 percent. According to the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development's 1993 Study, A Matter of Time: Risk and Opportunity in the Nonschool Hours, kids aged 9 to 14 spend only 1 percent of their time reading.
2. 40 percent. According to National Assessment of Educational Progress', 1994 Reading Report Card, 40 percent of fourth-graders read below grade level.
3. 50 percent. According to Starting Points, a 1994 report from The Carnegie Corporation, only 50 percent of infants and toddlers are read to by their parents.
4. True. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress', 1994 Reading Report Card, students who watched less than four hours of television daily displayed higher average reading proficiencies than their peers who watched more television.
5. $225 billion. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, $225 billion a year is lost in productivity.