Research
References
Approximately 80 books in an adolescent student’s home library raises literacy levels to average. (Sikora, Evans, and Kelley 2019) Growing up with more books in the home has been shown to elevate students’ educational attainment across 27 countries, including the United States. (Evans et al. 2010)
Allington, R. et al. (2010). Addressing summer reading setback among economically disadvantaged elementary students. Reading Psychology , Vol. 31(5). Evans, M. D., et al. (2010). Family scholarly culture and educational success: Books and schooling in 27 nations. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility , Vol. 28(2), 171-197. Kim, J. S., and Guryan, J. (2010). The efficacy of a voluntary summer book reading intervention for low-income Latino children from language minority families. Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 102(1), 20. Mol, S. E., and Bus, A. G. (2011). To read or not to read: A meta-analysis of print exposure from infancy to early adulthood. Psychological Bulletin , Vol. 137(2), 267. Sikora, J., Evans, M. D. R., and Kelley, J. (2019). Scholarly culture: How books in adolescence enhance adult literacy, numeracy and technology skills in 31 societies. Social Science Research , Vol. 77, 1-15. Worthy, J., and Roser, N. (2010). Productive sustained reading in a bilingual class. Revisiting Silent Reading: New Directions for Teachers and Researchers . Newark, DE: International Reading Association, 241-257.
As few as 20 books in the home helps students achieve higher levels of education.
A home library is as important as parental education and family income in predicting educational outcomes.
High-quality books outside of school is critical for striving readers and related to all children’s emergent reading skills. (Mol and Bus 2011) Building home libraries benefits minority students. Kim and Guryan (2010) argue that many “low- income Latino children from language minority families may fall behind in reading during summer vacation because of their limited access to books at home and limited opportunities to practice English with family members.” Studies have shown that access to print resources—board books, stories, and informational books—early on in a child’s development has both an immediate and long-term effect on their vocabulary, background knowledge, and comprehension skills. (Allington et al. 2010) Thirty minutes of independent reading a day positively transforms students’ attitudes toward reading. (Worthy and Roser 2010)
NYC | The Importance of Providing Access to Books | 2
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs