On May 12, Common Sense Media announced the release of "Children, Teens, and Reading," a research brief that offers a unique, big-picture perspective on children's reading habits in the United States and how they may have changed during the technological revolution of recent decades. From children's earliest ages, "reading" used to mean sitting down with a book and turning pages as a story unfolded. Today it may mean sitting down with a device that offers multimedia experiences and blurs the line between books and toys. At the same time, for older children, much daily communication is now handled in short bursts of written text, such as text messages, emails, Facebook posts, and tweets. "Technology is playing an increasingly significant role in kids' lives, and it's changing the nature of how kids read and our definition of what is considered reading," said Jim Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense Media. "Used wisely, technology such as ereaders could help support ongoing efforts to reduce disparities, promote reading achievement, and fuel a passion for reading among all young people, but we need more research to better understand the impact of technology on kids' reading." Though the report finds that reading is still a big part of many children's lives—and reading scores among young children have improved steadily—achievement among older teens has stagnated, and many children don't read well or often. "This review brings together many different government, academic, and nonprofit data sets to reveal some very clear trends," said Vicky Rideout, senior advisor to Common Sense Media, head of VJR Consulting, and director of more than 30 previous studies on children, media, and health. "There has been a huge drop in reading among teenagers over the past 30 years, and we’ve made virtually no progress reducing the achievement gaps between girls and boys or between whites and children of color. The bottom line is there are far too many young people in this country who don't read well enough or often enough." Among the report's key findings:

• Reading rates have dropped precipitously among adolescents.

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The "Children, Teens, and Reading" research brief reviews national surveys and databases for trends in children's and teens' reading and reading achievement. Studies covered include the National Assessment of Educational Progress by the National Center for Education Statistics, The Kaiser Family Foundation's Generation M²: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds, Scholastic's Kids and Family Reading Report (4th Edition), Northwestern University's Parenting in the Age of Digital Technology, Common Sense Media's Zero to Eight: Children's Media Use in America 2013, and The Joan Ganz Cooney Center's Learning at Home: Families' Educational Media Use in America.