{"id":743,"date":"2023-04-16T22:00:50","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T02:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yarnetsky.net\/?page_id=743"},"modified":"2023-06-29T11:42:58","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T15:42:58","slug":"incoming-first-year-student-preparedness-for-college-research-study","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.yarnetsky.net\/incoming-first-year-student-preparedness-for-college-research-study\/","title":{"rendered":"Incoming first-year student preparedness for college research study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Collaborators<\/strong>: Abi Morgan, Social Sciences Librarian, Miami University and Janelle Verdream, Ohio State University at Newark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Ohio, public school funding models have been ruled unconstitutional four times due to the great discrepancies among districts from different economic and geographic areas. One of these discrepancies is often the availability of librarians and library services. When I heard librarian Abi Morgan was doing research that delved into this topic I jumped to join in because Pennsylvania, where I had worked as a community college librarian, also had one of the worst school funding models in the nation. Having personally worked with students coming from the richest and poorest school districts in the state, I saw this dichotomy first hand. In our research, we aimed to examine how these discrepancies may alter preparedness for college-level research for incoming first-year students from various backgrounds. I co-authoring the survey. After the survey\u2019s completion I took the lead in analyzing the results. I co-authored our presentations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Methodology<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On our first round of research, we worked with the Office of Institutional Research to compile a list of students from Appalachian-designated counties. We narrowed this list to Ohio counties that were considered at risk economically. We then sent a survey to these students and to a control group of students from other Ohio counties from our incoming first-year class. We received 117 responses in total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2021, Abi Morgan and I conducted an updated version of this research with this year\u2019s incoming class. This time, we based our evaluation of poverty on the Ohio Department of Education\u2019s Typology of Ohio School Districts<\/a>, which divides Ohio\u2019s 650+ public school districts by their rural-urban-suburban and poverty characteristics. We also asked questions about remote learning in this survey. Librarians from Ohio State University-Newark also participated between our surveys we have more than 200 respondents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Findings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We hoped to learn about these students’ confidence in their ability to conduct college-level research based on their library experiences at different types of high schools and districts throughout Ohio. For example, we found that 82-88% of rural and small town students in our survey reported they never or rarely received librarian help with their research in high school. These same students reported coming into college feeling unprepared to do college-level research. Similarly, students reporting lack of library instruction due to remote learning reported feeling a similar lack of preparedness. However, students who reported even rarely receiving help from a librarian in high school registered measurably higher confidence heading into college than the majority of students who received no help at all. Librarians make a difference in students’ lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related Scholarly Output<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n