Washington Schools Need Teacher Librarians

A Partial List of Teacher Librarian Research Studies:

American Association of School Librarians National Research Forum-White Paper, Dec. 2014. Causality: School Libraries and Student Success. An overview of research linking strong school libraries to student success, mentioning 25+ state studies over the past 60 years.

Barga, V., Kohlenberg, E., Ferguson, D. & Sharkova, I.V. (2015). Risk and Protection Profiles for Substance Abuse Prevention Planning. Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Research and Data Analysis Division, Jan, 2015. 4.47. https://www.dshs.wa.gov/sesa/rda/research-reports/risk-and-protection-profile-substanceabuse-prevention

Coker, Elizabeth. “Certified Teacher-Librarians, Library Quality and Student Achievement in Washington State Public Schools.” Washington Library Media Association White-Paper, April 2015. Dr. Elizabeth Coker's study into the link between certificated Teacher-Librarians and student achievement in Washington as well as an overview of the state of school libraries in our state.

Ejikeme, Anthonia & Eke-Okpala, Helen. (2017). Promoting Children’s learning through technology literacy: challenges to school librarians in the 21st century. Education and Information Technologies. 21. 1-15. 10.1007/s10639-016-9481-1.

Lance, K.C. & Hofschire, L. (2011a). Something to shout about: New research shows that more librarians means higher reading scores. School Library Journal, 57 (9), 28-33.

Lance, K.C. & Hofschire, L. S. (2011b). Something to shout about: School Library Journal article reveals first evidence of impact of school librarian losses (and gains) on students. CSLA Journal, 3 (2), 20-22.

Lance, K. C., & Kachel, D. E. (2021, July). Perspectives on school librarian employment in the United States, 2009-10 to 2018-19. SLIDE: The School Librarian Investigation—Decline or Evolution?

Lee, Sy-ying & Lao, Christy & Krashen, Stephen & McQuillan, Jeff. (2021). Predicting reading ability among ten-year-olds. 20-21. A longitudinal study looking at factors for reading success. Dr. Krashen and his team found that, when it comes to closing the reading gap for students experiencing poverty, a strong school library was the most important factor.

Oakleaf, Megan and Patricia L. Owen, 2010. “Closing the 12-13 Gap Together: School and College Librarians Supporting 21st Century Learners.” Teacher Librarian 37.4 (2010): 52-58. Oakleaf and Owen examined how collaboration between secondary Teacher Librarians and Academic (college) Librarians positively impacted college students.

Pribesh, S., Gavigan, K., & Dickinson, G. (2011). The access gap: Poverty and characteristics of school library media centers. Library Quarterly, 81 (2), 143-160.

Valenza, Joyce Kasman, et al. “‘First Years' Information Literacy Backpacks: What's Already Packed or Not Packed?’” The Journal of Academic Librarianship, vol. 48, no. 4, 2022. Valenza finds that beginning college students who had access to strong school library programs in their high schools are better prepared for college-level academic work.

Zirogiannis, B. (2021). #Booklove in the time of COVID: How school librarians have worked to maximize students’ access to books during a pandemic. Literacy Today, 38(6), 44–47.