3.1 Individual Factors. Many reading problems stem from
individual factors. For example, Searls, Mead and Ward (1985) examined
the relationship of students’ reading skills to television watching, leisuretime
reading and homework. They reported on data including those
gathered by NAEP during its 1979-80 evaluation assessment of reading
skills of nine-, thirteen-, and seventeen-year-olds across the United States.
In this survey, more than 75,000 students answered questions about their
backgrounds. The findings showed that students did not appear to benefit
much from television watching. Spare-time was associated with higher
reading-achievement scores. Interestingly, the highest achievement levels
occurred among students who combined one to two hours per day of
spare-time reading with what appeared to be the optimal amount of
television viewing for their age group.