Books and Beyond: Reading achievement, reading for pleasure, and television viewing tim

The purpose of this study was to determine if student participation at grades three and five in the reading incentive program entitled Books and Beyond altered student television viewing time, recreational reading time, or had an effect on academic achievement in the area of reading. The study also assessed student attitudes toward recreational reading and television viewing. A total of 235 students participated in the study (124 third grade students and 111 fifth grade students) from three elementary schools in low, middle, and high socioeconomic groups. Students in the experimental group participated in the Books and Beyond program, which consisted of monitoring recreational reading progress on a central class bulletin board and receiving inexpensive prizes as specific recreational reading goals were attained. The experimental students also participated in a program to develop discriminate television viewing habits; the control students received no special treatment except for receiving reading record charts on which to chart number of books read. The results of this four month study showed that the Books and Beyond program had significant results for fifth grade students in reading achievement. Experimental students also indicated that they chose to read a book during free time in class and watched less television before school more often than the control group. Negative relationships were found between recreational reading time and television viewing time for all students; a significant positive relationship between recreational reading time and reading achievement for fifth grade students was also discovered.