Whether you are a sophomore or a junior, NOW is the time to commit yourself to focus on reading. If you have always been someone who reads frequently for pleasure, great! Keep it up! If you haven't read much (for pleasure) in years, it's not too late to start. Studies show that reading for as little as ten minutes per day has a tremendous impact. While I know there are many things that occupy our busy schedules these days (sports, hobbies, social media, after-school jobs), I have found one simple truth remains: We make time for those things that are a priority to us. If you love playing video games, of course you prioritize that in your life. We all make choices about what we want to deem a priority. I can promise you one thing, as "corny" as it sounds: There is little aside from time we dedicate to our families that reaps such long-lasting rewards as reading. Not convinced? Take a look at what the research says.

One important thing on the minds of most students in high school is the ACT, the standardized test required for college and for many scholarship opportunities. Students who spend time reading outside of school score higher on the ACT in the areas of reading, science, and English than those students who do not read frequently. Why? Reading improves vocabulary through exposure to new words and new contexts. It also builds stamina so that you can read for longer periods of time (hello, required reading in college courses!). For additional information about the effects of reading, start with this article. Or this one. Students who read often build strategies that are necessary for not only tests or college reading purposes, but also for the reading that is required of us throughout life. I hate to focus on standardizing testing (because the reasons for developing strong reading skills go well beyond that), but the link between the two is supported in research. Take a look at this chart from Beers and Probst (2017) showing what happens when as little as ten minutes of reading time is added to a student's day. Click here for a closer look at the chart.

I don't know about you, bust I definitely have ten minutes tucked into my day that I could invest in reading, especially if it is something of particular interest to me. And after years of seeing ACT results, I can assure you that the way you improve reading scores is by READING. Many schools invest in expensive reading programs and ACT prep materials, and those materials can prompt growth. In fact, a junior last year experienced almost a ten-point jump on the reading portion of the ACT. Was it the program that made that happen? Not entirely, I would argue. Instead, the student was focused on reading because there was time in the school day set aside just for that purpose. Furthermore, the student took the work seriously. He worked hard to make improvement happen. The program provides the opportunity for students to practice strategies that help boost that reading effort, such as slowing down the rate of reading and chunking parts of the text. In the end, a program does not automatically equal growth. READING leads to growth.

Students often ask me what they can do to improve their reading scores. I tell them they are not going to like my answer, mainly because they are usually looking for a quick tip or trick that will instantly boost scores. (And there are some of those for the purpose of standardized testing.) But for the reading skills that will endure throughout life (think cell phone contracts, legal documents, political arguments, etc.), there is no magic trick. You want higher reading scores? You have to read. Often. And read challenging texts. It's easy to stay engaged in reading that interests us. But have you read an ACT passage lately? They usually aren't highly-engaging texts. What strategies do readers employ when they meet a challenging or boring text? If you never give yourself a chance to encounter those texts, you will never know.

And just one more tidbit before we go. Remember that college reading I mentioned earlier? Take a look at this information about the expectations of college freshman in both reading and writing: