Latest Study: A full-time school librarian makes a critical difference in boosting student achievement

"Imagine trying to teach kids how to swim in an empty pool."

I´d like to share an overview of the latest study "A full-time school librarian makes a critical difference in boosting Students achievements" by Debra E. Kachel and Keith Curry Lance published in The School Library Journal March 2013 issue.

The authors say: "Simply put, students suffer when they don’t have adequate resources—and, in particular, we've found that student achievement suffers when schools lack libraries that are staffed by full-time librarians."

Key findings:
Quality school library programs significantly impact the most vulnerable students.
Consistently, reading and writing scores are better for students who have a full-time certified librarian than those who don’t. Students who are economically disadvantaged, black, Hispanic, and have IEPs (i.e., students with disabilities) benefit proportionally more than students generally. These findings suggest that staffing libraries with certified librarians can help close achievement gaps.
Writing scores are more positively impacted than reading scores.
Interestingly, the impact of school library programs was greater proportionally on writing than reading scores. Students with access to well-resourced libraries are two to five times more likely to score “Advanced” in writing than students without such libraries.
The role of the school library program and academic standards. 
Consistently, students are less likely to score “Below Basic” on reading and writing in schools in which administrators, teachers, and librarians assess as “excellent” the library program’s teaching of inquiry-based learning.
Staffing remains the key factor. 
With a full-time librarian, students are more likely to score “Advanced” and less likely to score “Below Basic” on reading and writing tests.

This study adds to the evidence that all K–12 students need and deserve quality school library programs with full-time certified staff. Students are more likely to succeed when they have library programs that are well staffed, well funded, technologically well equipped, well stocked, and more accessible. And, the neediest learners may benefit the most from trained librarians and quality library programs.

Follow this link for the full article.

ISE is on the right track! We believe in and follow IB inquiry based learning in all of our classes. I am proud that our library and its program support our students in learning, improving and succeeding in their studies. Conscious development of the library - its collection and program in collaboration with administration, teachers and students have given us a bright, modern facility the core of ISE inquiry based learning environment.

Happy holidays!

Holidays are here soon.
I would like to share "The Polar Express" by Chris van Allsburg a classical Christmas Story, available at the library, with you all.
Happy Holidays!

Read aloud version available here

Polar Express Games and activities

Review from School Library Journal

Given a talented and aggressive imagination, even the challenge of as cliche-worn a subject as Santa Claus can be met effectively. Van Allsburg's Polar Express is an old-fashioned steam train that takes children to the North Pole on Christmas Eve to meet the red-suited gentleman and to see him off on his annual sleigh ride. This is a personal retelling of the adult storyteller's adventures as a youngster on that train. The telling is straight, thoughtfully clean-cut and all the more mysterious for its naive directness; the message is only a bit less direct: belief keeps us young at heart. The full-page images are theatrically lit. Colors are muted, edges of forms are fuzzy, scenes are set sparsely, leaving the details to the imagination. The light comes only from windows of buildings and the train or from a moon that's never depicted. Shadows create darkling spaces and model the naturalistic figures of children, wolves, trees, old-fashioned furniture and buildings. Santa Claus and his reindeer seem like so many of the icons bought by parents to decorate yards and rooftops: static, posed with stereotypic gestures. These are scenes from a memory of long ago, a dreamy reconstruction of a symbolic experience, a pleasant remembrance rebuilt to fufill a current wish: if only you believe, you too will hear the ringing of the silver bell that Santa gave him and taste rich hot chocolate in your ride through the wolf-infested forests of reality. Van Allsburg's express train is one in which many of us wish to believe. Kenneth Marantz, Art Education Department, Ohio State University, Columbus
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"For those who truly believe."

Welcome back! Check it out!

I hope everyone had a great holidays and are ready for the first day of 2010 - 2011 school year.
I recommend the following book (available at ISE library) for the start of a new school year to remind everyone that we are all human, even teachers... right?

First Day Jitters by Danneberg, Julie

School Library Journal (May 2000)

K-Gr 3-Sarah is hiding under her covers as Mr. Hartwell asks, "You don't want to miss the first day at your new school do you?" From under the blanket she replies, "I'm not going." When he reminds her how much she liked her other school and asks her to think of all the new friends she'll meet, she imagines a classroom where a paper airplane is flying, a boy is pulling his neighbor's pigtail, and another is blowing a gigantic bubble. Mr. Hartwell finally gets Sarah to stumble out of bed, eat a bit of toast, and get into the car where she slumps down into her seat. At school, the principal cheerfully welcomes her and takes her to the classroom where she is introduced as "Mrs. Sarah Jane Hartwell," the new teacher.
A little subplot in the illustrations shows the family cat and dog having their own contest of wills while their owner is trying to get his wife up and out. The joke provides a good laugh and children may find it reassuring that they are not alone in their anxieties about new situations.-Adele Greenlee, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.