EQuIP - Educational Quality through Instructional Partnerships

“Educational Quality through Instructional Partnerships (EQuIP): Assessing the Efficacy of Collaboratively Implemented Guided Inquiry Design on K-12 Student Learning” examines how student completion of a Guided Inquiry Unit, designed and delivered by EQuIP-trained school library-classroom teacher instructional partners, affect student mastery of target curricular learning outcomes.

The study addresses a severe gap in school library research that examines the effect of pedagogical practices for fostering inquiry (in the case of this project,
Guided Inquiry Design) when these are applied within the context of instructional partnerships between school librarians and classroom teachers. This study examines a quantifiable impact of school library and classroom partnerships on K-12 student learning. Research outcomes establish a critical mass of geographically-diverse school library and teacher practitioners trained in Guided Inquiry Design ®.

Data from all EQuIP cohorts has been collected and analyzed. Initial findings were presented at AASL 2021 and ISTE 2022, and full findings were presented at AASL 2023. Research findings are currently being written by the research team with a publication goal of Fall 2024. This research was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, #RE-14-19-0001-19.

EQuIP addresses the following research question: How does student completion of a Guided Inquiry Unit, designed and delivered by EQuIP-trained school library-classroom teacher instructional partners, affect student mastery of target curricular learning outcomes?

By answering this question, the study contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge on highly effective targeted interventions that when implemented by school librarians and classroom teachers, lead to student mastery of academic content, and student development of lifelong inquiry skills including information literacy, and learning how to learn.

The study design for EQuIP employs a mixed-methodology approach where a robust quantitative design is supported by contextual qualitative data. The application of this design has intentionally been selected to address the challenging combination of:

1. A lack of quantitatively identified high-impact variables in school library research

2. Context-dependent institutional structures, professional practices, and student learning needs found in individual K-12 schools and school library programs.