Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reading Attitudes of Texas High School Students

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-15-2015

Abstract

Through random sampling, we surveyed 2,568 high school students throughout Texas to determine their reading attitudes vis-à-vis individual and school background variables. Sources were the Rhody reading attitude scale and public domain campus summary data; the lenses of attitude theory and social justice informed this study. Significant differences appeared in overall reading attitude and gender, as well as these school characteristics: public and private, rural and urban, low and high poverty, low and high diversity, and small versus large student-teacher ratios. From the results, an avid reader from a public school would be in small classes in an urban school serving mostly students of color and poverty. These findings challenge educators, researchers, and policy-makers to rethink common misperceptions of the reading attitudes of youths in diverse, high-poverty urban schools.

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Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

Publication Title

Reading Psychology

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2015.1059396

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