Large Research Studies Show Positive Impact
The National Literacy Trust conducted two large studies about the impact of author talks on students and they show a significant positive impact on students who hear from authors vs those who have not.
Their 2019 study surveyed 50K+ students and compared their responses to reading test scores and found that:
- 87% more students who experienced an author talk had above-average reading scores
- 2.5X fewer students who experienced an author talk had below-average reading scores
These results highlight the powerful impact author talks can have on student reading performance. You can see the specifics in the graphs below.
A follow-up study in 2023 surveyed 60K+ students and looked at attitudes toward reading and writing. This study found that:
- 49% more students who experienced an author talk say they enjoy reading
- 68% more students who experienced an author talk say they enjoy writing
- 60% more students who experienced an author talk say they read every day
We’re not totally surprised by this impact since we know how inspiring authors can be to get students excited about reading and writing. You can see the specific findings in the graph below:
The other huge finding from these studies was that the impact of author talks was slightly more pronounced for students who attended low-income schools. This is an especially exciting finding since it tells us that these results aren’t based on author talks generally being more available in higher-income schools, which could explain these differences.
We hope you have found this helpful in thinking about the value of author events and their unique way of inspiring students’ love of reading and writing, and how important this is in helping build these academic skills. For all students, it has been well-established that the more students read and write, the better they get at it – and the more confident they are, the more likely they will be to do it more!
Our mission is to help schools make author talks a regular part of the student experience. Please reach out to us if you’d like help in bringing authors to your school.
Stay tuned here for the latest on literacy for K-12 students.
