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research database for elementary students

A curated list of reliable, user-friendly databases for students K –12.

research database for elementary students

Databases are the research workhorses in many school libraries, increasingly taking the place of long shelves of reference books and allowing users 24/7 access to information on devices of their choosing. Educators continue to stress the importance of authoritative sources and citations, while students are learning to pick up on the first whiff of “fake news.” Reliable, user-friendly databases are more important than ever.

Input from SLJ reviewers, as well as responses from an August online survey of independent school librarians, gathered by Selene Athas, director of libraries at Roland Park Country School in Baltimore, helped winnow the list of resources that are both scholarly and ease to use. Teachers will approve of features such as links to standards and curriculum content, while students will appreciate intuitive search interfaces, clearly labeled results, the ability to drill down to specifics, and plenty of visuals. And translation and read-aloud options and a wide range of reading levels will benefit everyone. The following databases are paid, subscription-based products, unless otherwise noted. Pricing may vary depending on library and population size, membership in a consortium, or other factors. If your statistics show static database usage, consider requesting a few free trials and promoting some of these offerings.  

National Geographic Kids (Gale) Gr 2-6  –This resource aimed at elementary and younger middle school students boasts bright images and content largely taken from the pages of National Geographic Kids magazine and National Geographic print titles. Carousels display videos, photos, books, and magazines. Youngsters will find everything from butterfly videos to info on sharks. Along with animals, five other topics, such as history and the environment, are included. National Geographic Virtual Library, for older students, archives information from National Geographic Society publications from 1888 to the present.

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Maggie Knapp is a librarian at Trinity Valley School, Forth Worth, TX.

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Free Online Databases: K-12 Databases

  • K-12 Databases
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  • SIRS Discoverer ** General reference database for elementary and middle school learners, researchers, and educators covering curriculum areas and content sets such as reading, language arts, current events, science, social studies, history, health, and technology. SIRS Discoverer provides editorially-selected, indexed, and curated materials from over 2,100 newspapers, magazines, and websites offering guided research for young researchers.

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** Arkansas residents only

Some resources are subscription databases provided for free by the Arkansas State Library to Arkansas residents. This list may change as subscriptions to databases change. Make sure to check this list or the State Library for a current list of free subscription-based databases.

Guide owner: April Sheppard, Assistant Library Director, [email protected]

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Harvard Reference Generator

A excellent tool for producing Harvard-style references in the correct format. While it lacks the save bibliography functions of other reference generators, it is simple and accurate. Provides tried and tested results examined by tutors to ensure the correct method of referencing.  The Harvard Reference format is most widely used in Europe and Australia.

Sweet Search

Sweet Search is a search engine designed for students. It has several research and search tools. The search engine restricts its results to 35,000 sites reviewed by experts, teachers and librarians for quality and appropriateness.

Other tools on the site include:

  • a Biographies section, with guidance for writing a biography
  • SweetSearch2Day, with guidance on improving your research skills, web guides on social studies topics, and articles about students who are improving their communities and the world.

CiteThisForMe

CiteThisForMe is a tool designed to help students prepare their whole bibliography or reference list. It will generate your list in any of several styles. These include APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA, Turabian, and Vancouver among others.

Historical Marker Database

This website is an illustrated searchable online catalog of historical information viewed through the filter of roadside and other permanent outdoor markers, monuments, and plaques. It contains photographs, inscription transcriptions, marker locations, maps, additional information and commentary, and links to more information. Anyone can add new markers to the database and update existing marker pages with new photographs, links, information and commentary.

This is a useful research tool for local history. The database contains more than 92,000 markers nationwide. For a short-term history project in the classroom, consider having students contribute to the database by adding entries for local markers in your area. Review the guidelines for submission .

NASA Image and Video Library

Theses images, videos, and audio recordings are free for public use. They can be used by students and teachers for classroom presentations, research papers, websites, etc. You may not, however, use any of the NASA logos that appear on the site.

The site contains everything from classic photos to educational programming and HD video. New media are continually added. The collections is an excellent resource for students working on STEM projects. NASA’s goal in creating it is to promote education in math and sciences at all levels, and to build general interest and excitement around space exploration, aeronautics, and astronomy.

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Finding Primary Sources for Teachers and Students

Finding primary sources.

Primary Sources from DocsTeach Thousands of online primary source documents from the National Archives to bring the past to life as classroom teaching tools.

National Archives Catalog Find online primary source materials for classroom & student projects from the National Archive's online catalog (OPA).

Beginning Research Activities Student activities designed to help you navigate the National Archives resources and web site.

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Getting Started with Research How to start researching records at the National Archives. Finding your topic, identifying records, planning a visit, and more.

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Databases for Pre K-12 Educators and Students: Home

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Library Databases for PreK-12 Educators

  • ERIC (EBSCO) This link opens in a new window ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) is a digital library of education research materials sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. ERIC is the most comprehensive education database with access to over 1,000 journals.
  • PsycINFO This link opens in a new window PsycINFO is an excellent database for researching topics in early childhood and special education.
  • EBSCOhost Education Databases This link opens in a new window For teachers and students. Includes: ERIC, Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Primary Search, Teacher Reference Center, MAS Ultra - School Edition
  • ProQuest Education Database This link opens in a new window Access to over 900 top educational publications, including more than 600 of the titles in full text. Many titles are indexed in the ERIC database. The coverage spans the literature on primary, secondary and higher education as well as special education, home schooling and adult education.
  • Teacher Reference Center This link opens in a new window Topics include: Assessment, Best Practices, Continuing Education, Current Pedagogical Research, Curriculum Development, Elementary Education, Higher Education, Instructional Media, Language Arts, Literacy Standards, School Administration, Science & Mathematics, and Teacher Education.

Public Databases for PreK-12 Educators

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Databases for K-12 Students

These databases are provided by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Massachusetts Library System with state funds and federal IMLS funds.

  • Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia This link opens in a new window High School The Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia covers a wide array of subjects and includes brief biographies as well as images.
  • Global Issues in Context This link opens in a new window High School Perspectives on international news and events that provides in one resource a multitude of ways to stay up-to-date with economic, environmental, health, military, political, and social global issues.
  • Research in Context Middle School Research In Context is cross-disciplinary in nature—spanning literature, science, social studies, and U.S. and world history.
  • Kids InfoBits Elementary Kids InfoBits is a database developed especially for beginning researchers in Kindergarten through Grade 5. It covers geography, current events, the arts, science, health, people, government, history, sports and more.
  • Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window Full-text articles from scholarly journals and literary magazines are combined with critical essays, work and topic overviews, full-text works, biographies, and more.Researchers at all levels will find the information they need, with content covering all genres and disciplines, all time periods and all parts of the world. From the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Massachusetts Library System with state funds and federal IMLS funds.
  • MAS Ultra - School Edition This link opens in a new window This comprehensive database, designed specifically for high school libraries, contains full text for nearly 500 popular, high school magazines. All full text articles are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles).
  • Primary Search Elementary Primary Search provides full text for more than 70 magazines for elementary school research. All full text articles included in the database are assigned a reading level indicator (Lexiles).
  • Science (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new window Science (Gale In Context) is an engaging online resource providing contextual information on hundreds of today's most significant science topics. By integrating authoritative, curriculum-aligned reference content with headlines and videos, Science In Context draws students into the subject matter, showing how scientific disciplines relate to real-world issues, from weather patterns to obesity.
  • Opposing Viewpoints (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new window Covers today’s hottest social issues, from Offshore Drilling to Climate Change, Health Care to Immigration.
  • Student Edition High School It focuses on the core curriculum: history, literature, science, and social studies. With one search students will find information in reference works, magazines, newspapers, primary sources, and a variety of multimedia resources. It has the Lexile reading levels for journal and magazine articles.
  • Vocations & Careers Collection This link opens in a new window Finding the right career can be a daunting and high stakes task: finding an appropriate institution of learning, job searching, and maintaining a career are all topics covered by this collection, providing current and applicable content for all vocational milestones. Offering content from nearly 400 journals, this collection provides content from general career guides to highly specialized industry journals. From the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the Massachusetts Library System with state funds and federal IMLS funds.
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A state-funded collaboration between the Delaware Department of Education and the University of Delaware Library providing online magazines, journals, encyclopedias and training for all Delaware K-12 public schools

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K-12 Databases and Search Engines: K-12 Databases

K-12 databases.

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  • ELM ELM is the Electronic Library for Minnesota and includes research databases and resources for elementary, middle school, and high school students.

ELM resources are licensed by Minitex with state appropriations to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and the Minnesota Department of Education

Contains middle and high school-appropriate magazine, journal, and encyclopedia articles and also includes primary source documents, reference books, and multimedia. 

Contains full text for more than 540 popular, high school magazines. Provides more than full text reference books, biographies, primary source documents, and photos, maps & flags, color PDFs and expanded full text backfiles 

Coverage includes: America's Civil War, American Heritage, American History, Archaeology, Astronomy, Bioscience, Careers & Colleges, Civil War Times, Congressional Digest, Discover, Economist, History Today, Nation, National Review, New Republic, New Scientist, Popular Science, Science News, Scientific American, Smithsonian, World War II, etc.

A curricular content hub specifically designed for K-5 students. Informational articles, ready-made activities, and literacy supports including read-along audio and word-by-word highlighting.

K-12 E-Books

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The collection is accessible online at EbooksMN.org and via free apps from iTunes, Google Play, and Kindle. Ebooks Minnesota is open to all individuals and libraries within Minnesota’s borders. Contains more than 3,800 books, including titles Minnesota publishers.

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10 Free Online Educational Databases Every Student Should Know & Use

10 Free Online Educational Databases Every Student Should Know & Use

We are lucky to live in an era of technological development and digitalization. Before the computer was invented and made accessible, all generations of students had to spend hours in libraries reading to find the information they needed.

Modern students need to enter a few keywords to get more information than they could expect. However, scientific information is not always on the surface. It is hard to find anything worthy by simply typing keywords into Google. Students have to use special educational databases to retrieve the information they need.

Thus, many end up asking what databases they should use to find credible resources for their essays and researches. We forwarded this question to the writers at write my paper and they are ready to share their answers with you.

Here is the list of top online educational databases that are must-know for students and absolutely free to use.

This online system is one of the largest bibliographic databases available online and for free. It has gathered over 107,000 full-sized non-journal documents dated 1993-2004 and has over 1.1 million citations from 1966.

Students can use ERIC materials without any hesitation concerning their credibility and reliability. The system is programmed to verify every new file to ensure the highest quality of the offered references.

MIT OpenCourseWare

One of the U.S. leading universities has made its college class materials database available for everyone online. It is absolutely free of charge for anyone interested. Independent learners from all over the world can learn from the materials provided on the MIT website.

The COVID situation has made this database update even more. All people interested in learning can find useful information on various subjects just by clicking "Find Courses" or navigating through the search function.

Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching provides a supply of materials for both students and teachers of higher educational institutions. The database includes links to online learning materials of exceptional quality. Also, one can find annotations and peer-reviewed materials there, as well.

The database continues to be updated. Most recently, content creation tools and support materials were added.

Google Scholar

This database is one of the most well-known on the Internet. It is universal, so you can find content on every discipline you need. Also, it has millions of citations, annotations, different types of assignments, and more.

However, even though such tools as Google Scholar try to update their databases regularly, they are still not comprehensive enough. Moreover, lots of papers there are not available even for preview.

JSTOR database offers content for free and under subscription. Papers that are not exclusive or very fresh are provided for free. Thus, students can get access to full-text journal articles and ebooks on various disciplines under no limit.

However, if you are looking for something issued in 2019 and 2020, you may be requested to create an account and pay for a subscription. It definitely has its benefits to go through registration.

CORE is the world's largest open research aggregator. By using it, students can get access to research papers and workbooks issued by scholars and organizations throughout the world. The bonus is that this is all available for free.

However, it is worth noting that the preference is given to UK-based sources. Their percentage is much higher compared to research papers coming from other countries.

The Directory of Open Access Journals is a database that can boast with over 12,000 journals in open access. This scientific base refers to various areas of science, including Medicine, History, and Technology.

Of course, 12,000 sources are not enough to call this database comprehensive. However, it is often helpful in writing short essays and discussion boards as a part of university assignments.

WorldWideScience

This website works a bit differently compared to other databases. WorldWideScience is a global academic search engine that helps find other scientific databases based on your request. It is free to use.

This website is especially helpful to students working on international projects or studying about other countries. The search results can be automatically translated thanks to the in-built function.

E-Theses Online Service hosts over 500,000 doctoral theses, most of which are available for free. If you are writing a paper where you need to use peer-reviewed sources, this site is the best to find such. Also, you can use it if you need to reference the most recent research on the topic. Since the service is UK-based, the number of British doctoral papers here prevails.

Bielefield Academic Search Engine is an educational database that offers access to over 140 million documents. 60% of these files are in open access. To hide those requiring payment, you can use a special filter.

The tool is an exemplary one when it comes to convenience and affordability. Whatever your major is, BASE has a document that will be a good reference for your paper.

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Kids Databases

Choose a Children's database to search.  Need more information?  Check out our Adult Databases

A to Z Maps Online

Thousands of maps for homework or pleasure. Outline maps, antique maps, political maps, geologic maps, biologic maps, and more. Also, Flags of the World, crossword puzzles, and other teaching tools.

A to Z the USA

Offers in-depth content for our 50 U.S. states and five additional territories, including state reports, articles, timelines, royalty-free images, maps, and more.

A to Z the World

With content on 175 countries, this easy-to-use site immerses users into the traditions, habits, and social norms of people from around the globe.

Biography In Context

This resource combines Gale biographies with related full-text articles from magazines and newspapers, thousands of images, and links to websites.

Gale eBooks ( formerly Gale Virtual Reference Library )

Search our collection of children's Gale Reference books online, in just one click.

Novelist K-8 Plus

Search through over 100,000 fiction titles to find books that you would like to read. You can also find book reviews, book discussion questions, facts about the authors!

Scholastic Teachables offers teaching resources for every subject such as lesson plans, mini-books and activity sheets to help educators and families plan for the school year. Ideal for teachers, homeschool families, and anyone looking for enrichment for the young learners in their lives. Teachables content extends from Pre-K to 6th grade.

World Book For Kids

Engaging content, features, and tools developed especially for young students.  

World Book Student

World Book Student meets the research needs of students in elementary and middle school with thousands of articles and multimedia.  

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Gale in Context ~ Elementary  is the perfect educational product for today's young learners. It's a content-rich, authoritative, easy-to-use resource featuring age-appropriate content covering a broad range of educational topics.

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Britannica Library Children :   You can choose from a variety of content types, including articles, images, videos, dictionary, magazines, Web's Best Sites, Primary Sources & Ebooks, and Year in Review.

research database for elementary students

BookFlix: Learning to Read, then Reading to Learn Thematically paired fiction and nonfiction titles are designed to bridge learning-to-read and reading-to-learn. Animated classic storybooks introduce early learners to the delights of reading while sparking curiosity, creating a natural springboard into the paired nonfiction text for deeper discovery.

BookFlix

Scholastic Teachables —worksheets, lesson plans, learning games, and more! Formerly known as Scholastic Printables, we offer printable activities for any subject: math, science, reading comprehension, STEM, writing, and beyond. Download printable lesson plans, reading passages, games and puzzles, clip art, bulletin board ideas, and skills sheets for kids in any grade. 

Teachables

PebbleGo —PebbleGo includes interactive lessons for kid-friendly topics, like animals and biographies. The content is robust, engaging, and developmentally appropriate for  K-5 students .

PebbleGo

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The library provides a diverse collection of online databases. Simply click on a database to be directed to the online database in question. If you are prompted for a library card number enter your full 14 digit number with no spaces (the one exception being the Salem databases which need only the last 6 digits). If your card is not a Margaret E. Heggan Free Public Library card or your card is expired or has fines you may be unable to access a database. Contact the library if you are unsure.

Database/Scholarly Article Terms and Definitions

Peer Review

Peer Review is a process by which other scholars evaluate a work.  The is a measure to ensure the accuracy of the data and the quality of the work, a means of self-regulating scholarly literature.

  • Simple search that quickly delivers relevant results
  • Easy-to-browse categories organized by popular topic
  • Topic overviews that provide students with a starting point for research
  • Colorful, mobile-friendly design with feature areas that provide context to students
  • Reading level indicators (Lexile® Measures) to simplify discovery of grade-appropriate content
  • Text-to-speech for HTML articles to assist struggling readers or those learning English
  • Curriculum Standards Module to help educators correlate EBSCO content quickly and easily to Common Core, state- or province-specific curriculum standards

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How technology is reinventing education

Stanford Graduate School of Education Dean Dan Schwartz and other education scholars weigh in on what's next for some of the technology trends taking center stage in the classroom.

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Image credit: Claire Scully

New advances in technology are upending education, from the recent debut of new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT to the growing accessibility of virtual-reality tools that expand the boundaries of the classroom. For educators, at the heart of it all is the hope that every learner gets an equal chance to develop the skills they need to succeed. But that promise is not without its pitfalls.

“Technology is a game-changer for education – it offers the prospect of universal access to high-quality learning experiences, and it creates fundamentally new ways of teaching,” said Dan Schwartz, dean of Stanford Graduate School of Education (GSE), who is also a professor of educational technology at the GSE and faculty director of the Stanford Accelerator for Learning . “But there are a lot of ways we teach that aren’t great, and a big fear with AI in particular is that we just get more efficient at teaching badly. This is a moment to pay attention, to do things differently.”

For K-12 schools, this year also marks the end of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding program, which has provided pandemic recovery funds that many districts used to invest in educational software and systems. With these funds running out in September 2024, schools are trying to determine their best use of technology as they face the prospect of diminishing resources.

Here, Schwartz and other Stanford education scholars weigh in on some of the technology trends taking center stage in the classroom this year.

AI in the classroom

In 2023, the big story in technology and education was generative AI, following the introduction of ChatGPT and other chatbots that produce text seemingly written by a human in response to a question or prompt. Educators immediately worried that students would use the chatbot to cheat by trying to pass its writing off as their own. As schools move to adopt policies around students’ use of the tool, many are also beginning to explore potential opportunities – for example, to generate reading assignments or coach students during the writing process.

AI can also help automate tasks like grading and lesson planning, freeing teachers to do the human work that drew them into the profession in the first place, said Victor Lee, an associate professor at the GSE and faculty lead for the AI + Education initiative at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning. “I’m heartened to see some movement toward creating AI tools that make teachers’ lives better – not to replace them, but to give them the time to do the work that only teachers are able to do,” he said. “I hope to see more on that front.”

He also emphasized the need to teach students now to begin questioning and critiquing the development and use of AI. “AI is not going away,” said Lee, who is also director of CRAFT (Classroom-Ready Resources about AI for Teaching), which provides free resources to help teach AI literacy to high school students across subject areas. “We need to teach students how to understand and think critically about this technology.”

Immersive environments

The use of immersive technologies like augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality is also expected to surge in the classroom, especially as new high-profile devices integrating these realities hit the marketplace in 2024.

The educational possibilities now go beyond putting on a headset and experiencing life in a distant location. With new technologies, students can create their own local interactive 360-degree scenarios, using just a cell phone or inexpensive camera and simple online tools.

“This is an area that’s really going to explode over the next couple of years,” said Kristen Pilner Blair, director of research for the Digital Learning initiative at the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, which runs a program exploring the use of virtual field trips to promote learning. “Students can learn about the effects of climate change, say, by virtually experiencing the impact on a particular environment. But they can also become creators, documenting and sharing immersive media that shows the effects where they live.”

Integrating AI into virtual simulations could also soon take the experience to another level, Schwartz said. “If your VR experience brings me to a redwood tree, you could have a window pop up that allows me to ask questions about the tree, and AI can deliver the answers.”

Gamification

Another trend expected to intensify this year is the gamification of learning activities, often featuring dynamic videos with interactive elements to engage and hold students’ attention.

“Gamification is a good motivator, because one key aspect is reward, which is very powerful,” said Schwartz. The downside? Rewards are specific to the activity at hand, which may not extend to learning more generally. “If I get rewarded for doing math in a space-age video game, it doesn’t mean I’m going to be motivated to do math anywhere else.”

Gamification sometimes tries to make “chocolate-covered broccoli,” Schwartz said, by adding art and rewards to make speeded response tasks involving single-answer, factual questions more fun. He hopes to see more creative play patterns that give students points for rethinking an approach or adapting their strategy, rather than only rewarding them for quickly producing a correct response.

Data-gathering and analysis

The growing use of technology in schools is producing massive amounts of data on students’ activities in the classroom and online. “We’re now able to capture moment-to-moment data, every keystroke a kid makes,” said Schwartz – data that can reveal areas of struggle and different learning opportunities, from solving a math problem to approaching a writing assignment.

But outside of research settings, he said, that type of granular data – now owned by tech companies – is more likely used to refine the design of the software than to provide teachers with actionable information.

The promise of personalized learning is being able to generate content aligned with students’ interests and skill levels, and making lessons more accessible for multilingual learners and students with disabilities. Realizing that promise requires that educators can make sense of the data that’s being collected, said Schwartz – and while advances in AI are making it easier to identify patterns and findings, the data also needs to be in a system and form educators can access and analyze for decision-making. Developing a usable infrastructure for that data, Schwartz said, is an important next step.

With the accumulation of student data comes privacy concerns: How is the data being collected? Are there regulations or guidelines around its use in decision-making? What steps are being taken to prevent unauthorized access? In 2023 K-12 schools experienced a rise in cyberattacks, underscoring the need to implement strong systems to safeguard student data.

Technology is “requiring people to check their assumptions about education,” said Schwartz, noting that AI in particular is very efficient at replicating biases and automating the way things have been done in the past, including poor models of instruction. “But it’s also opening up new possibilities for students producing material, and for being able to identify children who are not average so we can customize toward them. It’s an opportunity to think of entirely new ways of teaching – this is the path I hope to see.”

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K-12 students learned a lot last year, but they're still missing too much school

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Cory Turner

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From 2022-2023, chronic absenteeism declined in 33 of the 39 states AEI looked at. But it was still a persistent problem: In a handful of places, including Nevada, Washington, D.C., Michigan, New Mexico and Oregon, roughly 1 in 3 students – or more – were chronically absent. LA Johnson/NPR hide caption

From 2022-2023, chronic absenteeism declined in 33 of the 39 states AEI looked at. But it was still a persistent problem: In a handful of places, including Nevada, Washington, D.C., Michigan, New Mexico and Oregon, roughly 1 in 3 students – or more – were chronically absent.

It's going to take aggressive interventions to repair the pandemic's destructive impact on kids' schooling.

That's the takeaway of two big new studies that look at how America's K-12 students are doing. There's some good news in this new research, to be sure – but there's still a lot of work to do on both student achievement and absenteeism. Here's what to know:

1. Students are starting to make up for missed learning

From spring 2022 to spring 2023, students made important learning gains, making up for about one-third of the learning they had missed in math and a quarter of the learning they had missed in reading during the pandemic.

That's according to the newly updated Education Recovery Scorecard , a co-production of Harvard University's Center for Education Policy Research and The Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford University.

6 things we've learned about how the pandemic disrupted learning

6 things we've learned about how the pandemic disrupted learning

The report says, "Students learned 117 percent in math and 108 percent in reading of what they would typically have learned in a pre-pandemic school year."

In an interview with NPR's All Things Considered , Stanford professor Sean Reardon said that's surprisingly good news: "A third or a quarter might not sound like a lot, but you have to realize the losses from 2019 to 2022 were historically large."

When the same team of researchers did a similar review last year, they found that, by spring of 2022, the average third- through eighth-grader had missed half a grade level in math and a third of a grade level in reading. So, the fact that students are now making up ground is a good sign.

These results do come with a few caveats, including that the researchers were only able to review data and draw their conclusions from 30 states this year.

2. Despite that progress, very few states are back to pre-pandemic learning levels

The Harvard and Stanford study of student learning includes one sobering sentence: "Alabama is the only state where average student achievement exceeds pre-pandemic levels in math." And average achievement in reading has surpassed pre-pandemic levels in just three of the states they studied: Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. Every other state for which they had data has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels in math and reading.

"Many schools made strong gains last year, but most districts are still working hard just to reach pre-pandemic achievement levels," said Harvard's Thomas Kane, one of the learning study's co-authors.

3. Chronic absenteeism also improved in many places ... slightly

The rate of chronic absenteeism – the percentage of students who miss 10% or more of a school year – declined from 2022 to 2023. That's according to research by Nat Malkus at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He found chronic absenteeism declined in 33 of the 39 states he studied.

Yes, "the differences were relatively small," Malkus writes, but it's improvement nonetheless: "the average chronic absenteeism rate across these states in 2023 was 26 percent, down from 28 percent for the same 39 states in 2022."

Glass half-full: Things aren't getting worse.

4. But, again, chronic absenteeism is still high

Malkus found chronic absenteeism was at 26% in 2023. Before the pandemic, in 2019, those same states reported a rate of 15%. That adds some painful context to the "good news" two-point decline in absenteeism from 2022 to 2023. Sure, it's down, but it's still so much higher than it was and should be.

Think of it this way: In 2023, roughly 1 student out of 4 was still chronically absent across the school year.

In a handful of places, including Nevada, Washington, D.C., Michigan, New Mexico and Oregon, roughly 1 in 3 students – or more – were chronically absent. That's a crisis.

Research shows a strong connection between absenteeism and all kinds of negative consequences for students, including an increased likelihood of dropping out of school.

Chronic absenteeism also hurts the students who don't miss school. That's because, as the learning study's authors point out, when absent students return, they require extra attention and "make it hard for teachers to keep the whole class moving."

5. Poverty matters (as always)

Both the learning and the chronic absenteeism studies capture the headwinds that constantly buffet children in poverty.

"No one wants poor children to foot the bill for the pandemic," said Harvard's Kane, "but that is the path that most states are on."

On learning: Reardon told NPR "the pandemic really exacerbated inequality between students in high-poverty and low-poverty districts and students of different racial and ethnic backgrounds."

In 2023, students' academic recovery was relatively strong across groups, which is good – but it means "the inequality that was widened during the pandemic hasn't gotten smaller, and in some places it's actually gotten larger," Reardon told NPR.

In fact, the report says, "in most states, achievement gaps between rich and poor districts are even wider now than they were before the pandemic." The learning study singles out Massachusetts and Michigan as the states where those gaps in math and reading achievement widened the most between poor and non-poor students.

Similarly, Malkus, at AEI, found that, between 2019 and 2022, rates of chronic absenteeism rose much more in high-poverty districts (up from 20% to 37%) than in low-poverty districts (up from 12% to 23%).

"Chronic absenteeism has increased the most for disadvantaged students," Malkus writes, "those who also experienced the greatest learning losses during the pandemic and can least afford the harms that come with chronic absenteeism."

6. Families must play an important role in learning recovery

Both studies acknowledge that families must play an important role in helping students – and schools – find a healthy, post-pandemic normal. The problem is, surveys show parents and guardians often underestimate the pandemic's toll on their children's learning . "Parents cannot advocate effectively for their children's future if they are misinformed," says the learning study.

To combat this, the learning researchers propose that districts be required to inform parents if their child is below grade-level in math or English. Those parents could then enroll their students in summer learning, tutoring and after-school programs, all of which have benefitted from federal COVID relief dollars. That funding is set to expire this fall, and some of these learning recovery opportunities may dry up, so the clock is ticking.

7. There's a "culture problem" around chronic absenteeism

Reducing chronic absenteeism, Malkus says, will also depend on families.

"This is a culture problem," Malkus tells NPR. "And in schools and in communities, culture eats policy for breakfast every day."

By "culture problem," Malkus is talking about how families perceive the importance of daily attendance relative to other challenges in their lives. He says some parents seem more inclined now to let their students miss school for various reasons, perhaps not realizing the links between absenteeism and negative, downstream consequences.

"Look, the patterns and routines of going to school were disrupted and to some degree eroded during the pandemic," Malkus says. "And I don't think we've had a decisive turn back that we need to have, to turn this kind of behavior around, and it's going to stay with students until that culture changes."

How do you do that? Malkus points to some low-cost options — like texting or email campaigns to increase parental involvement and encourage kids to get back in school – but says these, alone, aren't "up to the scale of what we're facing now."

Higher-cost options for schools to consider could include door-knocking campaigns, sending staff on student home-visits and requiring that families of chronically absent students meet in-person with school staff.

The learning study goes one step further: "Elected officials, employers, and community leaders should launch public awareness campaigns and other initiatives to lower student absenteeism." Because, after all, students can't make up for the learning they missed during the pandemic if they don't consistently attend school now.

What both of these studies make clear is there is no one solution that will solve these problems, and success will require further investment, aggressive intervention and patience.

Malkus says, even the high-cost, high-return options will likely only drive down chronic absenteeism by about four percentage points. A big win, he says, "but four percentage points against 26% isn't going to get us where we need to go."

Edited by: Nicole Cohen Visual design and development by: LA Johnson and Aly Hurt

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ScienceDaily

School uniform policies linked to students getting less exercise, study finds

School uniform policies could be restricting young people from being active, particularly primary school-aged girls, new research suggests.

The University of Cambridge study used data about the physical activity participation of more than a million five-to-17-year-olds internationally. It found that in countries where a majority of schools require students to wear uniforms fewer young people tend to meet the 60 minutes of physical activity per day recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Regardless of uniform policies, across most countries fewer girls than boys reach those recommended exercise levels. Among primary school students, however, the difference in activity between girls and boys was found to be wider in countries where most schools mandated uniforms. The same result was not found in secondary school-aged students.

The authors suggest that this could be explained by the fact that younger children get more incidental exercise throughout the school day than older students; for example, through running, climbing and various other forms of active play at break and lunchtimes. There is already evidence that girls feel less comfortable in participating in active play if they are wearing certain types of clothing, such as skirts or dresses.

Importantly, the results do not definitively prove that school uniforms limit children's physical activity and the researchers stress that "causation cannot be inferred." Previous, smaller studies however provide support for these findings, indicating that uniforms could pose a barrier. For the first time, the research examines large-scale statistical evidence to assess that claim.

The study was led by Dr Mairead Ryan, a researcher at the Faculty of Education and MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge.

"Schools often prefer to use uniforms for various reasons," Ryan said. "We are not trying to suggest a blanket ban on them, but to present new evidence to support decision-making. School communities could consider design, and whether specific characteristics of a uniform might either encourage or restrict any opportunities for physical activity across the day."

The WHO recommends that young people get an average of 60 minutes of at least moderate-intensity physical activity per day during the week. The study confirms previous observations that most children and adolescents are not meeting this recommendation, especially girls. The difference in the percentage of boys and girls meeting physical activity guidelines across all countries was, on average, 7.6 percentage points.

Existing evidence suggests that uniforms could be a factor. Previous concerns have, for example, been raised about girls' PE uniforms and school sports kits. A 2021 study in England found that the design of girls' PE uniforms deterred students from participation in certain activities, while the hockey player Tess Howard proposed redesigning gendered sports uniforms for similar reasons, after analysing interview and survey data.

Children often get their exercise away from PE and sports lessons, however. "Activities like walking or cycling to school, breaktime games, and after-school outdoor play can all help young people incorporate physical activity into their daily routines," Ryan said. "That's why we are interested in the extent to which various elements of young people's environments, including what they wear, encourage such behaviours."

The study analysed existing data on the physical activity levels of nearly 1.1 million young people aged five to 17 in 135 countries and combined this with newly collected data on how common the use of school uniforms is in these countries.

In over 75% of the countries surveyed, a majority of schools required their students to wear uniforms. The study found that in these countries, physical activity participation was lower. The median proportion of all students meeting the WHO recommendations in countries where uniform-wearing was the norm was 16%; this rose to 19.5% in countries where uniforms were less common.

There was a consistent gender gap between boys' and girls' physical activity levels, with boys 1.5 times more likely to meet WHO recommendations across all ages. However, the gap widened from 5.5 percentage points at primary school level in non-uniform countries to a 9.8 percentage point difference in countries where uniforms were required in most schools.

The finding appears to match evidence from other studies suggesting that girls are more self-conscious about engaging in physical activity when wearing uniforms in which they do not feel comfortable. "Girls might feel less confident about doing things like cartwheels and tumbles in the playground, or riding a bike on a windy day, if they are wearing a skirt or dress," said senior author Dr Esther van Sluijs, MRC Investigator. "Social norms and expectations tend to influence what they feel they can do in these clothes. Unfortunately, when it comes to promoting physical health, that's a problem."

The authors of the study argue that there is now enough evidence to warrant further investigation into whether there is a causal relationship between school uniforms and lower activity levels. They also highlight the importance of regular physical activity for all young people, regardless of their gender.

"Regular physical activity helps support multiple physical, mental, and well-being needs, as well as academic outcomes" Ryan said. "We now need more information to build on these findings, considering factors like how long students wear their uniforms for after school, whether this varies depending on their background, and how broader gendered clothing norms may impact their activity."

The findings are reported in the Journal of Sport and Health Science .

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Materials provided by University of Cambridge . The original text of this story is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivs 2.5 Canada (CC BY-ND 2.5 CA) . Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

  • Mairead Ryan, Luiza I.C. Ricardo, Nicole Nathan, Riikka Hofmann, Esther van Sluijs. Are school uniforms associated with gender inequalities in physical activity? A pooled analysis of population-level data from 135 countries/regions . Journal of Sport and Health Science , 2024; DOI: 10.1016/j.jshs.2024.02.003

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    PsycINFO is an excellent database for researching topics in early childhood and special education. EBSCOhost Education Databases For teachers and students. Includes: ERIC, Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Primary Search, Teacher Reference Center, MAS Ultra - School Edition ProQuest Education Database

  8. Elementary School Databases • UDLib/SEARCH

    Trial Databases; FAQ; Research Help; Navigation Databases Elementary School Middle School High School All Databases. Elementary School Databases. World Book Kids. PebbleGo Biographies. Britannica School - Elementary. PebbleGo Science. World Book Student. ... Databases for Educators. Books and Authors. OneFile: Educator's Reference Complete.

  9. Research Databases, Journals, eBooks, Magazines

    Learn about product training, tutorials and tools to help promote and drive usage of EBSCO products in your library. EBSCO provides high-quality content and technology for elementary, middle, and high schools worldwide, including research databases, ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, journals and more.

  10. EBSCO for Elementary Schools

    Primary Search is a full-text database of carefully curated content for elementary school libraries. It includes full text for the most popular children's magazines, e-books, and easy-to-read encyclopedic entries written specifically for kids. Learn more Readers' Advisory NoveList K-8 Plus

  11. 10 Safe Online Research Websites for Elementary Students

    Below is the list of safe search engines that students can use for research in elementary school classrooms. These search tools tend to use Google Safe Search or another platform to block harmful content. Google Safe Search Google is probably the most popular search engine used by both kids and adults alike.

  12. K-12 Databases

    K-12 Databases ELM ELM is the Electronic Library for Minnesota and includes research databases and resources for elementary, middle school, and high school students. Britannica Online Library Kids Edition

  13. 10 Free Online Educational Databases Every Student Should Know & Use

    MERLOT Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching provides a supply of materials for both students and teachers of higher educational institutions. The database includes...

  14. Kids Databases

    Teachables. Scholastic Teachables offers teaching resources for every subject such as lesson plans, mini-books and activity sheets to help educators and families plan for the school year. Ideal for teachers, homeschool families, and anyone looking for enrichment for the young learners in their lives. Teachables content extends from Pre-K to 6th ...

  15. The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Teaching Research in Elementary

    Here are my exact steps to teaching research in elementary. As a school librarian, I am committed to teaching kids how to form a plan for research. In this blog post, I show you the videos, slides presentations, and worksheets that I used to teach research for kids. Students can start to learn how to research starting as early as kindergarten.

  16. Databases for Children

    Databases for Children. Below are databases that offer materials of special interest to children: Gale in Context ~ Elementary is the perfect educational product for today's young learners. It's a content-rich, authoritative, easy-to-use resource featuring age-appropriate content covering a broad range of educational topics.

  17. Databases for Children

    The library provides a diverse collection of online databases. Simply click on a database to be directed to the online database in question. ... Explora supports both student research and classroom instruction with the following features: ... Primary Search provides full text for more than 70 popular, magazines for elementary school research ...

  18. Free Research Databases from EBSCO

    Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) is a free research database for library and information science studies. LISTA provides indexing and abstracting for hundreds of key journals, books, research reports. It is EBSCO's intention to provide access to this resource on a continual basis. Access now Teacher Reference Center

  19. Student Research Databases

    This database is especially for elementary students. Use this for science, social studies, and other school research projects. ... PebbleGo, is an award-winning research database for Kindergarten-Grade 3. Your youngest researchers can learn more about a wide variety of animals, as well as current and historical figures that have influ enced the ...

  20. Databases for Elementary Students

    Collections. Digital Arizona Library (DAZL) Resources for Learners. Databases for Elementary Students.

  21. Research Databases

    Links to research databases for elementary school students. The Lake Washington School District does not discriminate in any programs or activities on the basis of sex, race, creed, religion, color, national origin, age, veteran or military status, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, disability, or the use of a trained dog guide or service animal and provides equal access to the ...

  22. Elementary Research Databases

    Britannica School Edition Britannica School Edition contains up-to-date, age-appropriate resources for K-12 students. This resource includes encyclopedia articles, multimedia, sources, games and other learning resources to support research and reinforce curriculum standards. Gale in Context: Elementary

  23. Full article: Exploring how learning by 'talking and doing' supports

    We simultaneously gathered quantitative and qualitative data via two sources to understand how the S.T.E.M. initiative influenced students' flourishing. The first data source for this study includes a pre-/post-survey that measured elementary students' flourishing in S.T.E.M. Bishop School students took the pre-survey in September 2022 and ...

  24. How technology is reinventing K-12 education

    In 2023 K-12 schools experienced a rise in cyberattacks, underscoring the need to implement strong systems to safeguard student data. Technology is "requiring people to check their assumptions ...

  25. Students are still absent and making up for missed learning post ...

    1. Students are starting to make up for missed learning. From spring 2022 to spring 2023, students made important learning gains, making up for about one-third of the learning they had missed in ...

  26. Services for Students

    Subject Librarians provide more in-depth research assistance. Subject Librarians support faculty, students, and staff in every College/School and academic department of Webster University. Your Subject Librarian can meet with you one-on-one to discuss your specific research needs in more depth than may be possible for our Research Librarians.

  27. Education Research Databases

    Stay current on news, trends and relevant upcoming events for academic libraries. Learn about product training, tutorials and tools to help promote and drive usage of EBSCO products in your library. EBSCO's education research databases provide top education journals, education books, education conference papers and more.

  28. What records are exempted from FERPA?

    What records are exempted from FERPA? Records which are kept in the sole possession of the maker of the records, are used only as a personal memory aid, and are not accessible or revealed to any other person except a temporary substitute for the maker of the records. Records of the law enforcement unit of an educational agency or institution ...

  29. School uniform policies linked to students getting less ...

    A pooled analysis of population-level data from 135 countries/regions. Journal of Sport and Health Science , 2024; DOI: 10.1016/j.jshs.2024.02.003 Cite This Page :