School librarians' impact on elementary students study

 Restricted data from North Carolina and propensity score matching was used to compare students who attended school with a full-time certified school librarian to similar students who did not attend schools with a full-time certified school librarian. In addition, this relationship for both reading and math over a four-year time span was examined. Findings include that students who attend schools with a full-time certified librarian score significantly higher on math and reading tests than do matched students who attend schools without a full-time school librarian.

Wine, L., et al. (2023). Impact of school librarians on elementary student achievement in reading and mathematics. Library & Information Science Research, 45(2). 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2023.101252

Academic Progress Report

The latest results of the tests known as the Nation's Report Card offer a mostly grim view of academic progress in U.S. schools."Over the past decade, there has been no progress in either mathematics or reading performance, and the lowest-performing students are doing worse," said Peggy Carr, the associate commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, which administers the NAEP. "In fact, over the long term in reading, the lowest-performing students—those readers who struggle the most—have made no progress from the first NAEP administration almost 30 years ago." Since 2017, reading performance has dropped significantly across grades 4 and 8, with math performance mixed. Some racial achievement gaps closed—in part because of falling scores among white students—and gaps between struggling and high-achieving students continued to widen.
National Assessment of Educational Progress. (2019). the nation's report card. Washington, DC: Author.
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/

Summer Learning in Children

This research study by Reading is Fundamental (RIF) set out to test and confirm the efficacy of a new model to reduce summer learning loss in children from economically disadvantaged communities. Researchers found that, on average, 57% of students improved their reading proficiency, instead of 80% of children showing loss. Nearly half of students in third grade — a critical grade for literacy skill building — increased reading proficiency. As part of the study, RIF distributed over 760,000 books to 33,000 children from 173 schools across 16 states. The program included science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) themed books for classrooms and media centers, as well as books for children to select and keep for themselves. RIF also provided training for teachers on how to use the classroom books to support their lessons, gave special resources to parents to help them support their children at home, and every school was given funds to use for further enrichment.

Reading Is Fundamental (2015). Read for success: Combating the summer learning slide in America. Washington, D.C.: Reading is Fundamental. http://www.readingrockets.org/research-by-topic/read-success-combating-summer-learning-slide-america

Student Preparation for Work and College

This report examines English literacy and mathematics required for success in the first year of community college. A discussion is conducted regarding the results of the study and its implications for community college reform, school reform, teacher education, the common core state standards, and vocational education in the workplace. We offer these research reports in the hope that our findings will enable our schools to make the changes in school curriculum and instruction needed to enable our students to be much more successful in college and in the careers they choose for themselves.

NCEE (2013). What does it really mean to be college and work ready?: The mathematics and English literacy required of first year community college students. Washington, D.C.: National Center on Education and the Economy. http://www.ncee.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/NCEE_ExecutiveSummary_May2013.pdf

Gender Gap for High Achievement Levels in Math

Researchers from MIT found that girls generally are underrepresented in math competitions. Their study uses a new data source, American Mathematics Competitions, to examine the gender gap among high school students at very high achievement levels. According to their study, they looked at gender trends in math competitions and found that peer pressure may be one reason for the gender gap. The highest achieving girls in the U.S. are concentrated in a very small set of elite schools, suggesting that almost all girls with the ability to reach high math achievement levels are not doing so. The implications from this study call for further research in this area of study to explore the drastic gender gap in high achievement levels for math.

Ellison, G., & Swanson, A. (2009). The gender gap in secondary school mathematics at high achievement levels: Evidence from the American mathematics competitions. Cambridge, MA: MIT. http://economics.mit.edu/files/4298