Student Achievement and Teacher Librarians Study

“This study found that students were more likely to meet or exceed English Language Arts and Literacy (ELA) standards when their schools had credentialed teacher librarians (TLs), TLs serving a single school, and school library staff who engaged in certain specific activities, including managing their library collections and supporting literacy teaching. With rare exceptions, relationships between library staffing levels and staff activities and ELA performance levels persisted regardless of the gender, race/ethnicity, or socioeconomic status of students.” (Lance & Gerrity). 

Lance, K., & Gerrity, C. (2025). Contributions of California teacher librarians to student achievement. Learning Hub, 1(2). https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/learning-hub/vol1/iss2/3/ 

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

Reading impact study

For a new study, researchers looked at 26 previous studies and a total of 25,090 students and found that differences in reading comprehension could explain 8.4 percent of the variation seen in college grades. The lead author said: "It's about the same magnitude as high school GPA, and high school GPA is historically regarded as the best predictor of college GPA." 

Clinton-Lisell, V. (2022). Performance on reading comprehension assessments and college achievement: A meta-analysis. Journal of College Reading and Learning, 

• https://doi.org/10.1080/10790195.2022.2062626

Primary grades literacy study

Intensive support is needed to help roughly one-third of children in kindergarten through third grade who are not reading at grade level, according to a recent study. For instance, there are first-grade students who do not know the alphabet. While the so-called COVID cohort of students in kindergarten, first and second grade are making progress, they haven’t caught up to where students in those grade levels were performing before schools shut down in March 2020. Fourth and fifth graders seem to have recovered.  Learning disruptions such as quarantines and closings significantly impact literacy outcomes, including slow progress. One-to-one tutoring mitigates this issue. Data also shows racial disparities, with Black and Hispanic students in K-2 not making as strong of a comeback as white students and gaps growing larger than they were before the pandemic.

COVID-19 means more students not learning to read. (2021). Amplify. 

https://go.info.amplify.com/download-whitepaper-fy21_general_moydata_national_readingresearch

Predicting Student Achievement Study

Students' third-grade reading and math tests have an 80% likelihood of predicting outcomes in 10th grade, according to a recent study. Data from students across six states also link students' academic mobility to socioeconomic factors.
A student's ranking in his state's 3rd grade reading and math tests was 80 percent predictive of his 10th grade performance, after controlling for errors in state test measurements, the researchers found. That meant a student struggling in the bottom quarter of 3rd graders in her state was very likely to end up performing in the lowest 25 percent of 8th graders—and to end up in the same percentile in 10th grade. If a school district provided academic mobility one standard deviation higher than the average of districts in its state, its struggling 3rd graders on average improved nearly 6 percentile points on the state rankings by grade 8 and became nearly 8 percentage points more likely to graduate high school on time.
While the vast majority of students graduated high school, students' 3rd-grade achievement was still 25 percent to 35 percent predictive of whether they earned a diploma in four or five years. Urban students who struggled in 3rd grade were much less likely to graduate than those who attended rural or suburban schools. It is surprising at how little chance low-performing students had of changing their academic ranking within any of the districts across all six states.
Goldhaber, D. (2020). National Center for the Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2020/02/Academic_mobility_low.html

Group Work Study

Students learn best from one-on-one interaction with an adult, but group work follows as a strong alternative, according to an analysis of 71 studies -- mostly from the US and UK. Data shows that students benefit from working in pairs, as well as in groups of three or four. The ones that produced the strongest learning gains for peer interaction were those where adults gave children clear instructions for what do during their conversations. The instructions force children to debate and negotiate, during which they can clear up misunderstandings and deepen their knowledge.
Tenenbaum, H. R., Winstone, N. E., Leman, P. J., & Avery, R. E. (2019). How effective is peer interaction in facilitating learning? A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000436
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-75000-001?doi=1

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/

Student Engagement Survey

Student engagement and hope have a positive effect on students' academic achievement, according to a Gallup survey. A separate Gallup study also found that better engagement can improve students' behavior.
Gallup. (2019). Engagement and hope positively influence student outcomes. Washington, DC: Gallup.
https://www.gallup.com/education/267740/engagement-hope-positively-influence-student-outcomes.aspx

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

Blended Classrooms and Student Achievement

Blackboard partners with districts nationwide to help them deliver their vision for blended learning and improve student achievement through their ebook. According to the report, students now learn through both online learning and supervised brick-and-mortar instruction. They watch flipped lessons on their devices, teach each other concepts, work in groups or alone, and interact individually with the teacher. They do just about everything except sit quietly in rows of desks.

Key information provided in this report includes:

• Data on how blended learning has taken off
• Best practices for supporting blended classrooms
• Top functions your technology must perform to enhance a blended experience

Blackboard (2018). A blended classroom: 5 ways to blend with Blackboard. Washington, D.C. Blackboard. https://www.slideshare.net/BlackboardInc/bb-e-bookblendedv8-1

Quality Counts report

This annual report digs into test scores, high school graduation rates, and other data that focus on the student achievement in public K-12 schools. In addition, the report analyzes a wealth of socioeconomic and educational data that chart the trajectory toward success in each of the states and for the nation as a whole.
Quality counts 2018: Report and rankings. (2018). Bethesda, MD: Education Week.
https://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/quality-counts-2018-state-grades/index.html?cmp=eml-eb-sr-qualitycounts18-09062018&M=58598435&U=1673093

Multitasking study

Students who multitask with devices during class -- taking lecture notes while scrolling social media -- can process information in the moment but will struggle to retain that information long term, according to a  recent study. The researchers also report lower exam performance and risk of distracting other students.
Glass, A., & Kang, M. (2018).  Dividing attention in the classroom reduces exam performance.  Educational Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/01443410.2018.1489046
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01443410.2018.1489046

No Child Left Behind Impact Study

A study shows that pressuring schools to raise test scores under parts of the No Child Left Behind Act resulted in only modest student achievement gains in math and reading. The study shows that students with disabilities, English-language learners and those who began at the lowest performance levels benefited the most from NCLB.
Wong,  V./ et al. (2018). The impact of intensifying state accountability pressures on student achievement under No Child Left Behind. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia.
http://curry.virginia.edu/uploads/epw/63_Intensifying_State_Accountability_Pressures.pdf

Teacher hostility and student achievement study

A recent study found that students in a lecture in which the teacher was hostile performed 5 percent lower on average on a test of the content than students in a class with a neutral teacher. Moreover, the students who were naturally oriented to learn to develop their own mastery of the subject, rather than just to get top grades and those who were inclined to put more effort into challenging tasks—in other words, the students mostly likely to be engaged and eager to learn in class—had the scores that were most negatively affected by being exposed to a derisive teacher. The findings also build more evidence of the importance of relationships and respect in student learning. The students in the current study were all undergraduates, so the effects may be different on younger students in K-12. Prior studies have found that students remember put-downs and sarcastic or snide remarks by teachers and consider them a major barrier to learning. 
Goodboy, A., Bolkan, S., & Baker, J.  (2018).  Instructor misbehaviors impede students' cognitive leraning. Communication Education, 67(3), 308-329.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2018.1465192

Academic standards and student achievement study

There is no correlation between states that raise academic standards and actual improvements in student achievement, researchers report. Researchers say the issue could be related to other factors, including a lack of educational resources or the end of No Child Left Behind.
Hamlin, D., & Peterson, P. (2018). Have states maintained high expectations for student performance? Education Next. https://www.educationnext.org/have-states-maintained-high-expectations-student-performance-analysis-2017-proficiency-standards/. 

Subject matter teaching study

A recent study found that high school students who are taught by teachers who majored or minored in a specific teaching subject, instead of a general teaching degree, are more likely to graduate from college. Post-secondary success may also be linked to teacher enthusiasm and passion for subject matter, which can motivate students to get engaged.
Lee, S. (2018). Pulling back the curtain: Revealing the cumulative importance of high-performing, highly qualified teachers on students' educational outcome. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373718769379 

Quality Counts 2018 Report

Education Week’s annual state-by-state assessment of public education paints a portrait of middling performance overall with patches of high achievement, along with perennial struggles to improve on the part of states mired at the bottom. Common traits of top school systems included: robust economic environments, high test scores and graduate rates, relatively high spending on schools, strong foundations in early childhood, widespread post-secondary participation. 

States need to take bold steps to create a more conducive climate for school improvement.

Quality Counts. (2018). Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/ew/collections/quality-counts-2018-state-grades/index.html?cmp=eml-eb-summer-sr-06262018&M=58530142&U=1673093