As Todd notes, “the hallmark of a library in the 21st century is … the difference [it makes] to student learning … [a library] contributes in tangible and significant ways to the development of human understanding, meaning making, and knowledge construction.” An analysis of data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy (PIRLS) to determine whether school libraries can reduce the effect of poverty on reading achievement yields a resounding yes. The results, together with other studies, confirm that: • Variables related to libraries and reading are powerful predictors of reading test scores—to some extent, access to libraries and books can even overcome the challenges of poverty. • One possible remedy to the socioeconomic gaps in academic achievement is to make sure that children of low-income families have access to high-quality, age- appropriate books. Having books facilitates children’s reading (Lindsay, 2010). • A common feature of effective reading programs is student access to a wide variety of appealing trade books and other reading materials (Allington, 2012). • Highly effective literacy educators create print-rich classroom environments filled with lots of high-quality, diverse reading materials (Gambrell, et al., 2007). • Internationally, most fourth-grade students (89%) attended schools with libraries and had classroom libraries (69%) (Overview of Progress in International Reading Literacy, 2007). • Books are a vital component of a print-rich classroom environment (Wolfersberger, Reutzel, Sudweeks, and Fawson, 2004). • Wide reading is directly related to accessibility. The more books available and the more time for reading, the more children will read and the better readers they will become (Huck, Helpler, Hickman, and Kiefer, 1997). • Fielding, Wilson, and Anderson (1988) concluded that children’s reading achievement, comprehension, and attitude toward reading improve when their classrooms are filled with trade books and their teachers encourage free reading. • Large classroom and school libraries that provide ample collections of instructional- level books (Scholastic recommends 1,500) play a key role in literacy learning (Routman, 2014; Worthy and Roser; 2011; Gallagher, 2009; Miller, 2009, 2013; Atwell and Merkel, 2016). In sum, if our students are to embrace their reading lives, they need easy access to an abundance of books across a wide range of genre, theme and topics. Veteran teacher Kelly Gallagher (2009) explains:
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CHAPTER 4: TEXT
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