Not Just for Kids: A lifeline for struggling teen readers

The average American teenager spends two hours watching TV each day and just seven minutes reading, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That's brutally apparent in the eighth grade, where two-thirds of students read below the expected level. In California, that statistic is even worse. Seventy-seven percent of eighth-graders read below grade, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

By Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times

June 17, 2012