Interpreted as a central tendency, the mean of 264 is a measure of a complex
process that determines how well U.S. children read at a given point in time. An
obvious component of this process is the reading instruction that children receive in
school. Another component of the process is the behavior of adults in the home:
their personal reading habits, the time they spend reading to their children, and the
kind and quantity of reading material they have in the home. A third component
consists of factors operating outside the home and school, including determinants of
public health and development, such as nutrition levels and the availability and use
of prenatal care; genetic factors; and the value placed on literacy and education by
local communities and the society at large.