According to recent research, there is a strong relationship between the amount of out-of-school reading a student engages in and his or her success in school in reading (Anderson, Fielding, & Wilson, 1988; Stanovich, 1986; Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990; Walberg & Tsai, 1984). This relationship reveals the importance of investigating why so few children choose to read outside-of-school. The purpose of this study was to investigate why some children choose to read out-of-school and others do not, focusing not only on factors that contribute to intermediate grade students' decisions to read, but also on the students' perspectives about these factors.

The results of this study revealed several significant factors related to the decision to read. Using regression analysis, three of the variables studied proved to be statistically significant: self-concept as a reader, television viewing, and organized activities. The qualitative data helped to further explain factors related to voluntary reading. Children who came from homes where voluntary reading was promoted had parents who read aloud to them, modeled reading themselves for recreational purposes, recommended good books, and discussed books at home that they and their children were reading. It was also discovered through these same interviews that students who were in schools where they were given opportunities to read self-selected materials and were given access to materials that they were personally interested in reading were more likely to engage in voluntary reading than those in classrooms where these practices were not evident. This study also found that caution should be taken when relying on external rewards to motivate and promote voluntary reading.

According to recent research, there is a strong relationship between the amount of out-of-school reading a student engages in and his or her success in school in reading (Anderson, Fielding, & Wilson, 1988; Stanovich, 1986; Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990; Walberg & Tsai, 1984). Anderson, Fielding, and Wilson (1988) found that time spent reading books out-of-school was the best predictor of a child's growth as a reader from the second through the fifth grade. Time spent reading out-of-school has also been tied to vocabulary development, fluency, comprehension, and general intellectual development (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000; Anderson, Fielding, & Wilson, 1988; Stanovich, 1986; Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990).

However, researchers (Anderson, Fielding, & Wilson, 1988) who have investigated time spent reading out-of-school and reading achievement have found that most children do very little reading out-of-school and only a small number read for extended periods of time. Researchers have documented that while most children begin their school careers with positive attitudes toward reading, many show a steady decline in reading attitudes as they progress through school (Anderson, Tollefson, & Gilbert, 1985; McKenna, Ellsworth, & Kear, 1995), and these negative attitudes are reflected in a steady decrease in the amount of leisure time children spend reading (Greaney, 1980). By the middle and high school years, the majority of children rarely read for pleasure (Cline & Kretke, 1985; McKenna, Ellsworth & Kear, 1995). Even if these students are not initially struggling readers, reluctant readers tend to gradually lose academic ground, since time spent reading is tied to academic success (Anderson, Fielding, & Wilson, 1988; Stanovich, 1986; Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990).

Hansen (1969) reported that the out-of-school reading habits that students establish by the fifth and sixth grades are the independent reading habits that remain with them throughout their lifetimes. This helps to explain the fact that half of all American adults admit to never having read a single book since graduation from high school and most of the rest admit to reading only one book a year (Woiwode, 1992; Morrow, 1991).

Other researchers who have explored the independent reading habits of intermediate grade students have examined time spent out-of-school reading books, comics, and newspapers (Greaney, 1980); the correlation between reading achievement and attitude toward reading (Walberg and Tsai, 1984); the home environment as it relates to children's leisure reading behavior (Neuman, 1986); the relationship between leisure-time reading with home environment, attitude to reading and motivations for reading (Greaney and Hegarty, 1987); time spent engaged in various activities outside of school (Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding, 1988); the antecedents of ludic reading (pleasure reading) and its consequences (Nell, 1988); and the impact of time spent reading at school and at home on fifth and sixth grade students' reading achievement (Taylor, Frye, & Maruyama, 1990).

Statement of the Problem

Due to the relationship between out-of-school reading habits and school achievement that have already been established, the dearth of reading done outside-of-school has become a major concern in our schools today. As Thomas and Moorman (1983) assert: "The student who can read, but chooses not to, is probably the most crucial concern confronting our educational institutions today." This relationship between out-of-school reading and success in school reveals the importance of investigating why so few children choose to read outside-of-school. Other researchers (Long & Henderson, 1973; Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding, 1988; Greaney and Hegarty, 1987; Guthrie, Schafer, Wang, & Afflerbach, 1995) have investigated students out-of-school reading habits, but rarely have they included the voices of the students in their investigations. Cazden (1986) now believes that research should focus on what the student has to say, think, and feel, rather than on someone else's perception of the problem. As Nieto (1994, p. 396) points out: "... students' perspectives are for the most part missing in discussions concerning strategies for confronting educational problems" For this reason, this investigation of why some children choose to read out-of-school and others do not focused not only on factors that contribute to intermediate grade students' decisions to read, but also on the students' perspectives about these factors. Listening to why some students choose to read out-of-school and others do not has the potential to extend and enrich our understanding of this phenomenon.