Reading Full Books in Secondary English Language Arts Classrooms

Scholars, education practitioners, and the media have raised concerns about the diminishing role of full books in schools. In this report, the author draws on data from the spring 2025 American Instructional Resources Survey, a nationally representative survey of public school teachers in kindergarten through grade 12, to examine the questions of whether secondary English language arts (ELA) teachers assign full books to students, how many books they assign, and how assignment varies by teachers’ curricula and context.

Survey data suggest that most secondary ELA teachers did assign at least one full book to students during the 2024–2025 school year. However, the findings reveal a more nuanced picture. Survey results suggest that full-book reading remains peripheral in most secondary ELA classrooms; 9 percent of teachers did not assign any full books, and about two-thirds of teachers assigned only one to four books. Teachers’ reports also suggest inequities to accessing full books: Teachers who served more historically disadvantaged students consistently assigned fewer full books—a pattern that begins as early as elementary school. On average, only about half of assigned books came from teachers’ required or recommended curriculum materials, suggesting limited instructional resources for full-book instruction.

These findings offer a foundational look at full-book reading in secondary ELA classrooms. By documenting the extent of full-book assignment and its relationship to student demographics, curriculum use, and instructional practice, this report provides a starting point for building the evidence base on full-book reading in ELA instruction.