U.S. study finds children comprehend books as well on e-readers as in traditional book form; results show fourth-grade students correctly answered average 88% of questions from e-books, 88.5% questions from print books

Kendall Sinclair

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wisconsin , January 11, 2012 (press release) – A recent study indicates that children who read books on digital e-readers such as the Kindle comprehend what they've read as well as children who read paper books.

The report "Student Comprehension of Books in Kindle and Traditional Formats," was released today by Michael Milone, Ph.D., for Renaissance Learning, a leading provider of technology-based school improvement and student assessment programs for K12 schools. Results of the study indicate that parents and educators can rest easy knowing that students comprehend books they read digitally as well as they comprehend books read in a print format.

In this study, fourth-grade students were asked to read books selected from a list of popular fiction titles. Students then alternated between options, reading approximately 50 percent of the books on the Kindle and 50 percent of the books in a bound, printed format. After reading each book, participants completed a brief, computer-based Accelerated Reader Quiz to measure their understanding. The study concluded there is no statistically significant difference in reading comprehension levels. Students correctly answered an average of 88 percent of questions about books read on the Kindle. The average percentage of questions answered correctly for print books was 88.5.

"Electronic reading devices are rapidly increasing in popularity, both for personal use and in education, and we expect the trend to grow," said Renaissance Learning Chief Executive Officer Glenn R. James. "As more schools and districts begin to incorporate e-readers into the curriculum, it is important to better understand how students comprehend books read digitally compared with print books. The results of this study confirm that every book read, in any format, is another step toward higher student achievement."

Accelerated Reader, a personalized reading practice and progress-monitoring system, maintains the world's largest database of student book-reading behavior, providing a solid foundation from which to monitor reading trends. The database contains reading records for more than 7.6 million K12 students from more than 24,000 schools nationwide. Accelerated Reader offers quizzes for more than 140,000 books and the software tracks all aspects of student reading, such as titles of books read, quiz scores, and book readability levels.

To read the full report, visit www.renlearn.com/lp/kindlestudy.asp .


About Renaissance Learning, Inc.

Renaissance Learning is a leading provider of technology-based school improvement and student assessment programs for K12 schools. Adopted by more than 70,000 schools, Renaissance Learning's tools provide daily formative assessment and periodic progress-monitoring technology to enhance core curriculum, support differentiated instruction, and personalize practice in reading, writing, and math. Renaissance Learning products help educators make the practice component of their existing curriculum more effective by providing tools to personalize practice and easily manage the daily activities for students of all levels. As a result, teachers using Renaissance Learning products accelerate learning, get more satisfaction from teaching, and help students achieve higher test scores on state and national tests. Renaissance Learning has seven U.S. locations and subsidiaries in Canada and the United Kingdom.

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