The PCR Triangle and Our Recommendations
 

     From our data, students seem to be more motivated to read outside of school when a parent is directly involved as their sponsor rather than when they are sponsored by librarians or teachers as part of a group of students.   We feel that this parent-child relationship is very important in promoting and encouraging reading during the preteen and teen years and should be incorporated into school and library-based reading and writing strategies.

	PARENT
READING		CHILD

     Our interactive reading and writing program provides evidence that parents are very important in promoting and maintaining preteen and teen reading outside of school.  We term this relationship “The PCR Triangle” (The Parent Child Reading Triangle). Although librarians, teachers, and homeschool coordinators try to foster outside reading among these students, the most highly motivated students in our program have been those students who are sponsored by their parents and who enrolled in our online free reading and writing program as individual book reviewers, rather than as part of a book club or other reading group.  Therefore, the well-recognized important role that parents play in the early reading development of young children seems to continue into the preteen and teen years during middle school and high school.
 

     Given the influence parents have on reading among preteens and teens, it behooves parents to find interesting strategies to motivate their children to read outside of school.  Teachers, librarians, homeschool coordinators, and other educators should also work closely with the parents when using reading strategies and promoting reading practice among students.  Our website grew out of one of our staff (GC) using his interest in computer programming to develop a creative reading strategy to motivate his son to read more books outside of school and then place reviews of what he read online for others to see. 
 

    We encourage all parents to think about what may motivate their child to read and write.  Besides LitPick’s reading and writing program, other ways to motivate students to read outside of school in the preteen and teens years are through comic books, role play...even video game manuals can help encourage children to read.   As a parent, you should not leave the reading development of your child to teachers and librarians alone.  You have the power and influence so use it and encourage your child to READ.
 

*By referring to parents, we include legal guardians, grandparents, and any other individual at home with a child on a daily basis after school.  Our top student reviewers though overwhelming listed their mom as a sponsor, but we feel that other people at home can similarly be highly influential on a child’s reading.