Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: a Review of the Research: Report for the
Australian Council for Educational Research
The review focuses on studies conducted since 1990, which show that school libraries can have a positive impact on student achievement-whether such achievement is measured in terms of reading scores, literacy or learning more generally-in the following key ways:
- a strong library program that is adequately staffed, resourced and funded can lead to higher student achievement regardless of the socioeconomic or educational levels of the adults in the community;
- a strong computer network connecting the library's resources to the classroom and laboratories has an impact on student achievement;
- the quality of the collection has an impact on student learning;
- test scores are higher when there is higher usage of the school library;
- collaborative relationships between classroom teachers and school librarians have a significant impact on learning, particularly in relation to the planning of instructional units, resource collection development, and the provision of professional development for teachers;
- a print-rich environment leads to more reading, and free voluntary reading is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling and grammatical ability, and writing style;
- integrating information literacy into the curriculum can improve students' mastery of both content and information seeking skills; and that
- libraries can make a positive difference to students' self-esteem, confidence, independence and sense of responsibility in regard to their own learning.
Source: http://www.asla.org.au/research/summary.htm
Available for loan from the CEO Library. Contact Erika, Lisa or Deborah by on 9840 5735 or 9840 5737 to borrow.
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