School Librarians Slide Project

Summary: Based on research from the School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution? (SLIDE) project, this report utilized NCES school librarian employment data for the 2020-2021 school year. Data characteristics from 12,537 school districts were examined including poverty, locale, and district enrollment, as well as student demographics including race and ethnicity. Data supported previous findings that access to school librarians is strongly related to race and ethnicity and further exacerbated for students living in extreme poverty, in more-isolated locales, and in the smallest districts—locales where students are less likely to have access to the educational resources available in large urban areas. 

In school year 2021-22, 54% of U.S. students in all districts were without any librarians during the COVID-19 pandemic and almost 3 million students in majority nonwhite districts were without any librarians. The gap between students in districts with a “library privilege” and those without librarians continues to widen. Read the full report for more. 

 Lance, K. C., Kachel, D. E., & Gerrity, C. (2023, January 6). The school librarian equity gap:  Inequities associated with race and ethnicity compounded by poverty, locale, and enrollment. Peabody Journal of Education.  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0161956X.2023.2160112

Digital Practices for Reading Study

Researchers "used an academic resilience framework to explore how adolescents from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds overcame adversity and achieved high levels of reading proficiency. Our main aim was to investigate whether digital reading practices and reading engagement (reading motivation and metacognitive strategies) could act as protective factors, individually and collectively, promoting academic resilience among students with low SES. Digital reading was related to reading motivation, and then to better awareness of metacognitive strategies, which in turn was shown to be linked to increased reading achievement for all students.

Jang, E., Seo, Y., & Brutt-Griffler, J. (2022). Building Academic Resilience in Literacy: Digital Reading Practices and Motivational and Cognitive Engagement. Reading Research Quarterly. 

https://doi.org/10.1002/rrq.486 

PBL Study

 Project-based learning could improve outcomes for all students, according to two studies. The studies found that half of students who engaged in project-based learning passed Advanced Placement exams -- higher than the rate in traditional classrooms -- and that students from low-income households made similar progress as peers from wealthier ones.

Saavedra, A. et al. (2021). Knowledge in action: Efficacy study over two years. Los Angeles, CA: USC. https://cesr.usc.edu/sites/default/files/Knowledge%20in%20Action%20Efficacy%20Study_18feb2021_final.pdf

Krajcik J. et al. (2020). Assessing the Effect of Project-Based Learning on Science Learning in Elementary Schools. Lucas Educational Foundation. https://mlpbl.open3d.science/techreport

Best practices for online instruction study

 There is no "right" way to adopt remote instruction, according to a recent study. Its review of 12 schools revealed several best practices, including innovative instruction, support for students with special needs and a focus on social and emotional learning.  Among areas of best practices includes providing support and adjustments, innovative instructional approaches; big-picture planning and establishing core principles; designing data-intensive approaches; creating supportive school-student connections; and building relationships with families and communities. 

 LiBetti, A., BGraziano, L., & Schiess, J. (2020). Promise in the time of quarantine.  Bellwether Education Partners and Teach For America.   https://bellwethereducation.org/sites/default/files/PromiseInQuarantineBellwetherFinal.pdf

In a second report, researchers investigate the relationship between teachers' reports of their students' internet access and their interaction with students and families during school closures related to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. These data are drawn from the American Instructional Resources Survey (AIRS), which was fielded in May and June 2020 and included questions to teachers regarding their instruction during school closures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. When teachers deliver remote instruction, their capacity to communicate with students and their families is shaped by home internet access. Researchers found that half of teachers estimated that all or nearly all of their students had access to the internet at home, and teachers in schools located in towns and rural areas, schools serving higher percentages of students of color, and high-poverty schools were significantly less likely to report that all or nearly all of their students had access to the internet at home. These data suggest that existing inequities for students in rural and high-poverty schools might be exacerbated by students' limited access to the internet and communication with teachers as remote instruction continues.

Stelitano, L., et al. (2020). the digital divide and COVID-19. Rand.  https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA134-3.html?utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=NPA:2559:6359:Sep%2024,%202020%206:03:48%20AM%20PDT&utm_campaign=NPA:2559:6359:Sep%2024,%202020%206:03:48%20AM%20PDT

Factors impacting Student Achievement Research

Students in high-poverty school districts learn as much during the school year as their peers in more affluent districts, according to a nationwide study of 3000 students. Researchers found that achievement gaps may be fueled more by nonacademic barriers -- hunger, unstable housing, violence in the home -- that some students face outside of school.
Downey, D.. Workman, J., & von Hippel, P. (2019). Socioeconomic, ethnic, racial, and gender gaps in children's social/behavioral skills: do they grow faster in school or out? Sociological Science, 6, 446-466.
https://www.sociologicalscience.com/articles-v6-17-446/

Internet Nonconnectivity Impact study

From the benefits of teaching lifelong digital citizenship skills to the challenges of preparing students to critically evaluate online information, educators across the country share their perspectives on what it's like to teach in today's fast-changing digital world. Nevertheless, about 12% of teachers said that more than 60% of students lack the home internet connectivity needed to complete their homework, according to a recent report.  In response, about 42% of teachers at high-poverty schools said they avoid assigning homework that would require an internet connection.
The Common Sense Census: Inside the 21st century classroom. (2019).  San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media.
 https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/the-common-sense-census-inside-the-21st-century-classroom-2019

Outside Factors for Student Success Report

High-school graduation rates are trending upward, and prekindergarten enrollment and eighth-grade math proficiency have remained steady, according to a 2019 report. The report also examines how socioeconomic factors, health, family and community issues affect outcomes for students. For example, among children in low-income homes, 78% of 4th-graders score below the proficient level in reading, compared to 48% of children in moderate- and high-income families.
2019 Kids Count Data Book. Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation.
https://www.aecf.org/m/databook/aecf-2019kidscountdatabook-embargoed.pdf

Computer Science Access Inequity Study

About 61% of high schools in California do not offer computer science education, according to a study. Research shows that about 3% of high schoolers were enrolled in such courses but students from rural, low-income areas and students of color have less access.
Kapor Center. (2019). Computer science in California's schools. Oakland, CA: Kapor Center.
https://www.kaporcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Computer-Science-in-California-Schools.pdf

Reading Gaps

Recent research questions the impact of poverty or summer reading slumps on reading achievement gaps. Von Hippel and his colleagues found that schools that attempt to relieve summer learning loss by more evenly spacing their 180 school days across the year are not associated with narrowed achievement gaps, However, schools that expanded their traditional school calendar to 210 days—often including some summer school or Saturdays—were associated with better achievement.
     In national data from the 2010 federal Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, there were no differences in the rates of reading progress for students in low- and high-poverty schools, in summer or during the school years from kindergarten through grade 2. Rather, the gap in reading performance seen at the start of kindergarten stayed fairly consistent throughout early elementary grades.
     Likewise, an analysis of data from the Northwest Evaluation Association's adaptive Measures of Academic Progress showed that reading achievement gaps between low- and high-poverty schools in in 15 states widened by about a third from kindergarten through grade 8, but it grew at the same rates in summer and the during the school year. More generally, expanded learning time has been associated with better achievement.

     von Hippel, P. T., & Hamrock, C. (2019). Do test score gaps grow before, during, or between the school years? Measurement artifacts and what we can know in spite of them. Sociological Science, 6, 43-80.

https://www.sociologicalscience.com/download/vol-6/january/SocSci_v6_43to80.pdf 

     Reardon, S. F. (2011). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor: New evidence and possible explanations. Whither opportunity, 91-116.

http://inequality.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/The%20Widening%20Income%20Acheivement%20Gap%20Between%20the%20Rich%20and%20The%20Poor.pdf 
    

     Herbers, J. E., Cutuli, J. J., Supkoff, L. M., Heistad, D., Chan, C. K., Hinz, E., & Masten, A. S. (2012). Early reading skills and academic achievement trajectories of students facing poverty, homelessness, and high residential mobility. Educational Researcher, 41(9), 366-374.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/39832568/Early_Reading_Skills_and_Academic_Achiev20151109-18071-cjri1w.pdf?response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DEarly_Reading_Skills_and_Academic_Achiev.pdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A%2F20190612%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20190612T165844Z&X-Amz-Expires=3600&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=ea78726d9001051aa3d362855d1e2b516c99040aed2c4296d0b08e70f5ced80d

 

Access to Books and Libraries as Predictor of Reading Scores

Replicating McQuillan’s analysis of 1992 NAEP scores, this study found that access to books in school and public libraries was a significant predictor of 2007 fourth grade NAEP reading scores, as well as the difference between grade 4 and grade 8 2007 NAEP reading scores, suggesting that access is important for improvement after grade 4. Access (school/classroom libraries) was a significant predictor of scores on the PIRLS test, a reading test given to fourth graders in 40 countries.

Krashen, S., Syying, L., & McQuillan, J. (2012). Is the library important? Multivariate studies at the national and international level. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 8(1), 26-36. http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/multivariate_studies.pdf

Connection Between Socioeconomic Status and School Performance

Schools with higher populations of students from low-income families may have lower achievement, but they also may have high rates of achievement growth, according to a study by the nonprofit NWEA. Study author Andy Hegedus, a NWEA research consulting director, says Every Student Succeeds Act assessments may be focusing too much on achievement and not enough on student growth. While it’s clear there is a strong connection between high poverty and low student achievement, a new analysis of growth data on MAP reading and math assessments shows a much weaker relationship between high poverty and low rates of growth, according to NWEA, the nonprofit organization that developed the assessments. The findings, have implications for how states measure school improvement under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Hegedus, A. (2018). Evaluating the relationships between poverty and school performance. Portland, OR: NWEA. https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2018/10/Evaluating-the-Relationships-Between-Poverty-and-School-Performance.pdf

Increasing Students’ AP Participation

According to a report by The Education Trust, it turns out that more than half a million low-income students and students of color are “missing” from AP and IB participation — students who would benefit from these advanced opportunities if they participated at the same rate as other students. This paper examines AP participation patterns nationally and then by school to estimate how many students are missing out. We also look at data for the much smaller IB program. It turns out that, each year, more than half a million low-income students and students of color are “missing” from AP and IB participation — students who would benefit from these advanced opportunities if they participated at the same rate as other students. We also attempt to understand why inequities in participation exist, by asking whether the problem is mostly inadequate AP course offerings in high-poverty or high-minority schools, or because low-income students and students of color are not enrolling in existing programs. The researchers state that the bottom line is clear – we need to continue to expand advanced offerings like AP and IB to schools that don’t yet have them. There’s a lot we can do to bolster participation in existing programs. The study states that we could almost entirely eliminate the national access gap by doing, at scale, what some individual high schools already have done: close race and income access gaps within schools.

The Education Trust, & Equal Opportunity Schools (2013). Finding America’s missing AP and IB students. Washington, D.C.: The Education Trust. https://edtrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Missing_Students.pdf