Resumen de Remodeled high school library increases use and improves course performance

Michael C Ralph, Marisa Hegeman

• Libraries represent a key space in schools where students collaborate and learn themselves, outside scheduled classrooms.

  Despite their importance in supporting student learning, little empirical research has been done to understand the connection between library usage and student academic success. The authors collected library usage data after a library’s conversion into a learning commons to build a Rasch model of student library engagement. Using the model output, they conducted a multiple linear regression, which showed that increased library engagement significantly predicts fewer course failures, and that the engagement coefficient remained significant after controlling for past student performance. These results show that efforts to boost library usage can contribute to reducing course failures, suggesting that library programs may offer a policy lever for increasing graduation rates and reaching other core academic goals of schools.