How School Libraries Help Students

In this time of test driven curriculum, nationwide budget crisis, and controversy within the field of education, we may ask ourselves if school libraries are necessary. Do we need them? Do we need professional staff to run them? Couldn't we save money by reducing or eliminating them? Do they even make a difference to student achievement?



As a school media specialist and former classroom teacher myself, I am aware of both sides of most of these issues. The truth is, I believe, that school libraries are more important than ever.
Research shows that school libraries do indeed improve academic achievement in public schools. Colorado Library Research Service found that test scores improve significantly when a school has a wellrun library. The highlights of this study can be found here:

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin/admin/admin178.shtml

A key note I'd like to focus on: "Test scores increased in direct proportion to the ratio of students to library media center staff and library media center resources." (Star, 2009).

I would like to offer this pdf "School Libraries Work"
http://listbuilder.scholastic.com/content/stores/LibraryStore/pages/images/SLW3.pdf

and the New Lisbon, Wisconsin School District Media Center site, full of research that shows how school libraries help, not hinder, academic achievement.

http://www.newlisbon.k12.wi.us/media/research.cfm

School libraries are not a garnish- they are a key ingredient!

3rd Graders Can Write Books!

As students become more fluent readers, getting past just phonics and comprehension, they are ready to start reading to gain information. Specifically, they need to information seek. At 3rd grade, they are just about ready to begin researching on their own. Libraries, of course, are the center of researching! The third graders of Bryant have been researching wild animals under our guidance, using a variety of nonfiction texts. They have been learning to take notes and record their sources. They have made rough drafts of their summaries for their animals. And now, we are ready to compile all our hard work into our very own non-fiction, hardcover books!

The library purchased some "Bare Books" from http://www.barebooks.com/. They are plain, white, hard cover books in which young authors can decorate, illustrate, and write. Our students will be writing their summaries and illustrating their animals in one book per classroom, and they will be on permanent display in our library. We will keep you posted for how this turns out- we can't wait to start ourselves!

Welcome to Bryant School's Library!

Hello, parents, educators, students, and citizens of Bridgeport! This is the brand new blog of the Bryant School Library Media Center, written by Katherine Meyrick, SLMS. Here we will be keeping readers posted about the achievements in our wonderful school, focusing on events going on in our library. We will inform you about what the students are learning, and how research shows that school libraries make a big difference in student achievement. We will be posting book reviews and helpful links for parents and students alike. We hope you will check back often to keep up with the Bryant School Library.

Go TIGERS!