Impact on Reading and Literacy | Page 27

These Library Variables Affect MCAS Scores

The findings from our study can be roughly summarized by educational level as follows:At each grade level school library programs improve MCAS [Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System] scores.At each grade level students score higher on MCAS tests when there is a higher per pupil book count.At each grade level student use of the library produces higher mean MCAS score;At each level hours open make a difference in MCAS scores.

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School libraries and MCAS scores

Schools perform better on tests where LMSs provided their teachers with resources

Both elementary and middle schools tended to perform better on tests where LMSs took the initiative, on at least a weekly or monthly basis, to provide their teachers with resources needed to design instruction.

Reference:

How students, teachers & principals benefit from strong school libraries : the Indiana study

Schools Perform Better on Tests Where There Are Better-Funded School Libraries

Across grade levels, schools tended to perform better on the ISTEP+ [Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress-Plus] tests where there were better-staffed, better-stocked, and better-funded school library programs.

Reference:

How students, teachers & principals benefit from strong school libraries : the Indiana study

High schools with more library visits, 11th grade ACT scores higher

…[R]esponding high schools report 16 weekly group visits, 10 of which are for information literacy instruction… For high schools that average more individual and group visits as well as more group visits for information literacy instruction, eleventh-grade ACT score gains averaged three to five percent over schools with less frequently visited libraries.

Reference:

Powerful libraries make powerful learners: the Illinois study

ACT scores higher for schools spending more on their libraries

At the high school level, ACT scores average almost seven percent higher for schools [that] spend more on their libraries compared to those that spent less.

Reference:

Powerful libraries make powerful learners: the Illinois study

ACT scores increase when librarians collaborate with teachers

The wider spectrum of activities involved in true collaboration between school librarians and classroom teachers demonstrates an impact at the high school level, particularly through the links between those activities and eleventh-grade test scores. On a weekly basis, at the typical responding high school, library staff spends:three hours identifying materials for teacherstwo hours planning with teachers,one hour motivating students to read,one hour teaching with teachersalmost an hour serving on school committees, andhalf an hour meeting with library staff from another school or districtWhen library staff spends more time on these activities, ACT scores increase an average of three to four percent over the scores for schools with less collaborative library staff.

Reference:

Powerful libraries make powerful learners: the Illinois study

Schools with More Library Computers Average Higher Scores

At every grade level, schools with more library and library-connected computers—particularly, in the latter case, Internet computers relative to the school’s enrollment—average higher test scores. The presence of more library computers is associated with percentage increases of:8 percent for fifth-and-eighth grade ISAT reading performancealmost 11 percent for eighth-grade ISAT writing performancejust over 5 percent for eleventh-grade ACT scores.

Reference:

Powerful libraries make powerful learners: the Illinois study

There is a relationship between library spending and writing performance

Between the elementary and middle school levels, there was a similar increase in the strength of the relationship between library spending and writing performance. Elementary schools that spend more on their libraries average almost 10 percent higher writing performance, and middle schools that invest more in their libraries average almost 13 percent higher writing levels.

Reference:

Powerful libraries make powerful learners: the Illinois study

School librarians are instructional consultants

School librarians are instructional consultant from whom classroom teachers can learn of more numerous, more authoritative, and more current books, articles, and databases than they would ever find on their own. While elementary and middle school library staff typically spend only two or three hours per week helping to improved instruction in this way, it appears to be making a difference in reading performance at those grade levels (increases of almost eight and seven percent, respectively). The payoff of this type of librarian-teacher cooperation is more students meeting or exceeding ISAT writing standards at those grade levels (almost 10 and 13 percent, respectively.)

Reference:

Powerful libraries make powerful learners: the Illinois study

More library visits result in higher writing averages

Typically, responding middle school libraries report 18 group visits per week, eight of which are for information literacy instruction… For middle schools that have more group visits, and especially more group visits for information literacy instruction, eighth-grade ISAT [ Illinois Standard Achievement Test] writing performance averages more than 10 and almost nine percent, respectively, better than for schools with libraries visited less often.

Reference:

Powerful libraries make powerful learners: the Illinois study