Do school libraries and reading rooms matter for student learning?

Abstract

The article discusses the relationship between the existence and use of school spaces for reading practices and the performance in reading proficiency exams of students from public and private schools in Brazil. In this work, reading spaces are understood as school libraries and reading rooms. The results of the 2017 Basic Education Assessment System of students in the 9th year of elementary school were used. Based on these data and through a factor analysis, an indicator of reading spaces was elaborated. From this indicator, descriptive and inferential statistics were realized, demonstrating the relevance of the construct. The established assumption is that the existence of school resources alone is not a sufficient condition to guarantee learning, also depending on the pedagogical work in these spaces and their conditions of use. The findings indicate an association between the existence and use of reading spaces in schools with better results obtained by students in terms of reading proficiency. The results also point out that reading spaces have more repercussions in schools of lower socioeconomic level, in which the existence of school resources, associated with proper use, become advantages in terms of learning for students.

School library; Reading room; Reading proficiency; Educational Assessment