Data Studies
A Figures Bureau desk · original, computed studies · every number from a cited public dataset, free to cite and reuse under CC BY 4.0
We publish original data studies on what American schools assign — computed from ReadingList.school’s source-cited assignment database, with the methodology and a downloadable dataset on every page. Reuse the numbers and figures with a link back.
- What Grade Is It Actually Taught In? (2026)
median book: 4 grade levels
“What grade is Wonder?” has no single answer — it’s assigned in grades 3–7 across 29 states. The median commonly-assigned book spans four grade levels and 83% span three or more. Published grade bands turn out to be accurate on average but too narrow, and the data says which books schools disagree about most.
- How Old Are the Books America’s Schools Assign? (2026)
median book: published 2012
The “dusty classics” image is mostly myth: the median state-assigned book was published in 2012 — 14 years old — and 36% of assignments are from the last decade. Only about 1 in 12 predate 1980. The decade table, the surviving classics, and the contemporary surge that’s replacing them.
- Reading Statistics 2026: How Long Are the Books American Schools Assign?
44 → 172 median pages
The length of an assigned book quadruples between 2nd and 3rd grade — the largest single-year jump in K-12 — measured across 13,258 source-cited assignments. The “3rd-grade cliff,” in the data.
- The Most-Assigned Books in America’s State Reading Lists (2026)
“Wonder” in 29 of 47 states
Which books and authors states put on their official reading and award lists most often — top books, top authors, era split, grade-band winners and state exclusives, across every US state.
A Figures Bureau desk. Data CC BY 4.0 — republish it, chart it, quote it; a link back is all we ask. See the full corpus these studies are computed from: browse every state and grade.