School Libraries Status Reports

 The EveryLibrary Institute has released two free reports that underscore the importance of school librarians. (Registration is required for each.)

The first, “Anticipating the Post-COVID Pivot for School Librarians,” looks at “recent research and data about the role, impact, and importance of school librarians and school library programs to create a detailed, actionable set of recommendations for education policy-makers concerned with sustaining successful schools and turning-around failing ones.”

The second—“Could School Librarians Be the Secret to Increasing Literacy Scores?”—is based on research from Washington, D.C., public schools showing that there’s “a connection between gains in the literacy-based component of standardized tests and [students’] access to school librarians. School librarians in Washington, D.C., Public Schools (DCPS) have worked diligently to increase literacy in every school over the past several years.”

Relationship Between Test Preparation and Quality of Instruction

This study contributes empirical evidence about the negative relationship between test preparation and ambitious mathematics instruction. Drawing on classroom observations and teacher surveys, the study finds that test preparation activities predict lower quality and less ambitious mathematics instruction in upper-elementary classrooms. However, the researchers assert that the magnitudes of these relationships appear smaller than expected. Furthermore, the findings call into question the hypothesis that test rigor can serve as a lever to elevate test preparation to ambitious teaching. Therefore, the researchers assert that improving the quality of mathematics instruction in the midst of high-stakes testing likely will require that policymakers and school leaders undertake comprehensive efforts that look beyond the tests themselves.

Blazar, D., & Cynthia, M. (2017) Does test preparation mean low-quality instruction? Educational Researcher. 46(8), 420-433. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X17732753