Children's Concentration and Reading Ability Across Age in Conventional Schools: Two Compiled Datasets from Published Research - Dataset

This record contains two datasets compiled from published research on child development from conventional schools. Each dataset is provided as an Excel workbook and a Markdown file with the same tables, cautions and references. Dataset 1 – Variation in children's concentration (sustained attention) with age. It contains: (1) attention span on a continuous performance task for children aged 7–13, young adults and older adults (Simon et al., 2023); (2) off-task behaviour observed in Kindergarten to Grade 4 classrooms, including the effect of classroom decoration (Godwin et al., 2016; Fisher et al., 2014); and (3) studies reporting the direction of change in attention with age from infancy to age 11 (Ruff & Lawson, 1990; Hagelthorn et al., 2003; Lewis et al., 2017). Dataset 2 – Variation in children's reading ability with age. It contains: (1) oral reading fluency norms (words correct per minute) for US Grades 1–6 by percentile and season (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 2017); (2) the percentage of children at each reading level from Std I to Std VIII in rural India (ASER Centre, 2025); (3) silent reading rate with comprehension from Grade 1 to college (Taylor, 1965, as reproduced in Brysbaert, 2019); and (4) adult silent and oral reading rates from a meta-analysis of 190 studies (Brysbaert, 2019). All numeric values are reproduced exactly as printed in the original publications, with the table or section of each source recorded. No new data were collected, and no values were estimated, interpolated or read from graphs. The two datasets are kept separate because they come from different populations, countries and measures; they should not be combined to infer a relationship between concentration and reading in the same children. Files:- BlueBlocks_Dataset_Concentration_by_Age_Zenodo_Excel_2026_v1_Public.xlsx – concentration dataset (README, Attention_Span_Simon_2023, Classroom_Off_Task, Direction_of_Change, References)- BlueBlocks_Dataset_Concentration_by_Age_Zenodo_MD_2026_v1_Public.md – concentration dataset in Markdown- BlueBlocks_Dataset_Reading_Ability_by_Age_Zenodo_Excel_2026_v1.xlsx – reading dataset (README, ORF_Hasbrouck_Tindal_2017, ASER_2024_India, Silent_Rate_Taylor_1965, Adult_Reference, References)- BlueBlocks_Reading_Ability_by_Age_Dataset_Zenodo_MD_2026_v1.md – reading dataset in Markdown