A Road Map for the Journey

It might be wise to stop for a moment and make sure of our directions by setting some definitions.  What do I mean when I use the term “tween”?  This definition has caused some considerable debate.  When TIME used this term several years ago, it was to refer to kids ages 10-12;  those individuals who were no longer children but not quite teens.  That definition, in my opinion, is a cultural one that sets too many limitations.  Recently, I surveyed librarians and educators on YALSA-BK and Twitter, asking them to give me an age range for tweens.  Thie answers varied and included ages 10-14.    While kids in intermediate grades are certainly part and parcel of the tween group, I choose to extend the age limitation and include students in other middle level grades:  grades 7 and 8.  In many ways, these seventh and eighth graders are still “between.”  They are between playing with Barbies and wanting to look like Barbie;  they are in between children’s books and young adult novels as reading fare;  they are between dependence upon parents and educators and self-direction in their lives and their learning. 

So, for the purpose of our discussion, we will include in the “tween” group those kids ages 10 through about 14.  In many ways, they are the group that tends to fall through the cracks.  Reading First and No Child Left Behind focused the attention of educators on kids in early and primary grades.  By third grade, all students were to be reading on level and, at least as far as the legislation is concerned, kids are to remain on level for the remainder of their school years.  By high school, there are many programs in place to ensure that more and more of our tweens graduate.  However, what about those tweens between 4^th grade and 9^th grade?  Trouble is, I think some of the kids in grades 4 through 8 either did not read this legislation or just do not care what they are expected to be able to do.  More and more teachers are remarking to me that, beginning in 4^th grade, kids are turning away from reading, that the amount of reading for pleasure is dropping during these tween years.  Data from NAEP bears out the reports from teachers.

The NAEP results for 4^th grade indicate that more than 30% of students score below BASIC and only about 30% score above PROFICIENT in reading (NAEP web site accessed March 28, 2005: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/results2003/natachieve-g4.asp).   By 8^th grade, the statistics are not much better with at least 25% of students scoring below BASIC and approximately 30% scoring PROFICIENT (NAEP web site, accessed March 29, 2005: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/results2003/natachieve-g8.asp).   Perhaps more disturbing, though, is the fact that reading done outside of school, typically what we would label reading for pleasure, continues to drop from grades 4 through 8.  Tweens are electing not to read more often.  We will continue to explore  the reasons for this decline, but the fact that it exists is cause for concern on the part of teachers, librarians, parents, and administrators.