International student assessment comparison report

Fifteen-year-old students in the U.S. are lagging behind their international counterparts in math and science, according to results of the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment. “Our scores are stagnant. We’re not seeing any improvement for our 15-year-olds,” said Jack Buckley, commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics. American students scored average in reading and science and below average in math. While U.S. teenagers were average in reading and science, their scores were below average in math, compared to 64 other countries and economies that participated in PISA.
OECD. (2014). Results of the 2012 PISA data collection. http://www.oecd.org/pisa/

School library studies

A recent study examined high school librarians’ views on district policies that limit the use of social media tools. was determined that the way the school district presented its policies could affect how school librarians perceived and applied them. As the school district unintentionally shifted from formal to informal to implied policy documentation, this study found that the school librarians’ perceptions and applications of the policies varied substantially.
DiScala, J., & Weeks, A. (2013).  Access Denied: School Librarians’ Responses to School District Policies on the Use of Social Media Tools. School Library Research, 16. http://www.ala.org/aasl/slr


Another study investigated the influence of school librarians’ staffing levels on student learning of research skills, focusing on high-poverty rural Iowa schools. A positive relationship was found between student achievement (e.g., higher critical literacy skills and higher scores in ethical use of information).
Krueger, K., & Donham, J. (2013).  Professional Staffing Levels and Fourth-Grade Student Research in Rural Schools with High-Poverty Levels. School Library Research, 16.  http://www.ala.org/aasl/slr

Reading benefits research

Understanding others’ mental states is a crucial skill that enables the complex social relationships that characterize human societies. Yet little research has investigated what fosters this skill, which is known as Theory of Mind (ToM), in adults. The researchers conducted five experiments showing that reading literary fiction led to better performance on tests of affective ToM (experiments 1 to 5) and cognitive ToM (experiments 4 and 5) compared with reading nonfiction (experiments 1), popular fiction (experiments 2 to 5), or nothing at all (experiments 2 and 5). Specifically, these results show that reading literary fiction temporarily enhances ToM. More broadly, they suggest that ToM may be influenced by engagement with works of art.
Kidd, D., & Castano, E. (2013). Reading literary fiction improves theory of mind. Science 18 October 2013:
Vol. 342 no. 6156 pp. 377-380  http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/377.short

There is also an interesting Press Release about this research from the New School in New York City:
http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2013/CastanoKidd.htm

The article and the press release both refer to ToM Theory of Mind.  Here is a brief description of what this term actually means:  http://www.howstuffworks.com/theory-of-mind.htm 

Another older piece of research:
Bookworms versus nerds: Exposure to fiction versus non-fiction, divergent associations with social ability, and the simulation of fictional social worlds.  Authors:  Raymond A. Mar,  Keith Oatley,  Jacob Hirsh,  Jennifer dela Paz,  Jordan B. Peterson. published by the University of Toronto in 2006. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009265660500053X

College freshmen library study

This paper presents findings about challenges that college freshmen face when conducting research. It cites that the following misconceptions about academic libraries by college freshman "are likely to perpetuate as long as school libraries are underfunded, do not hire full time professional teacher- librarians, and, in some cases, are decommissioned." Some of these misconceptions are:
1. A very limited understanding of what the research process entails and how libraries could best help them.
2. For example, some freshmen we interviewed were surprised to learn help was available to them from reference librarians just by asking.
3. Others thought that everything a library owned was online so going to the academic library on campus was not necessary.

Head, A. (2013). Learning the ropes: How freshmen conduct course research once they enter college.Seattle: University of Washington.
http://projectinfolit.org/pdfs/PIL_2013_FreshmenStudy_FullReport.pdf

Australian teacher librarian evidence-based practice research

This qualitative study of 15 Australian teacher librarians focused on their evidence-based practice. Their experience is holistic, and takes many forms: professional knowledge, observation, statistics, feedback, reflection. TLs tend to be flexible and adaptable in their approach, and are guided by intuition and reflection. They see diverse forms of information as evidence, and apply it to their environment. They also share their experiences as needed.

Gillespie, A. (2013). Untangling the evidence : Teacher librarians and evidence-based practice".
Queensland University of Technology

  http://eprints.qut.edu.au/view/person/Gillespie,_Ann.html

California Public School Parent Survey

A new statewide survey of more than 1,000 Californians with children in public schools provides a first detailed examination regarding how connected and involved parents are with their children's schools. The results of this survey are particularly timely given that parents are playing a greater role in providing input on how education funds are spent through California's new Local Control Funding Formula now being implemented in schools across the state.  Here is a brief summary:

“The survey revealed that while parents knew little about the new school funding law, they were overwhelmingly willing to participate in decisions about school budgets -- if they feel they would be heard. The survey also found distinct differences among high-income and low-income parents when it comes to evaluation of schools and levels of engagement. In addition to providing an important baseline for parent engagement in California, this information can help educators and other stakeholders better understand the obstacles to parent participation and improve their outreach as the state implements its new funding system.

EdSource. (2013). California Public School Parent Survey. Oakland: EdSource.

http://edsource.org/today/parent-engagement

School libraries impact studies

The H.J. Weinberg Foundation has compiled recent impact studies on school libraries into one handy document. It includes universal findings, syntheses of several topics (access, budget, staffing, technology, usage, instruction, etc.), and lists of research studies (by state) and associations.
Gretes,  F. (2013). School library impact studies: A revdiw of findings and guide to sources. Baltimore, MD: Weinberg Foundation.
http://www.baltimorelibraryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/09/Library-Impact-Studies.pdf