Listed below are some highlights of the Florida School Library Media Study conducted during the 2002/2003 school year at the University of Central Florida. This study has extremely high validity since more than 1700 Florida schools participated in the survey and all results were scientifically correlated. The following results held true no matter what the economic level of the school was. FLORIDA SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA STUDY: Key Findings (From draft copy) Donna Baumbach, University of Central Florida What is the status of Florida's school library media specialists, programs and resources? School Library Media Centers and School Library Media Specialists Schools at all levels with a certified* library media specialist and better staffing (more than 60 hours per week) have higher FCAT scores. In Florida's public school schools where there is a certified* library media specialist: *There are more total library staff hours per week. *There are more books per student. *There are more subscriptions to newspapers and periodicals. *There are more computers in the library media center per 100 students. *There are more computers in the school per 100 students. *The library media budget per student is higher. *Students visit the library media center more often. *Circulation is higher. Each of these contributes to higher academic achievement as measured by the FCAT. Library Media Collections and Technology Resources Florida purchases more books and weeds more books annually than the national average. However, while Florida has more books per school than the national average, it has far less books per student, and books per student are predictors of academic achievement. Florida schools spend a small fraction of the national average on software, Web-resources and other nonprint resources. District Library Media Supervisors The presence of a district level school library media supervisor or coordinator makes a significant difference in collections, technology, budgets, staffing, policies, and activities of building level school library media programs and therefore on student achievement. How do school library media programs, resources and services contribute to student achievement? Elementary Schools Better-staffed elementary schools library media centers (60 hours per week of staffing and above) average 55.5% of students at grade level or better on the FCAT, while the poorer staffed schools average 51 %. That is a 9 percent improvement in test scores for schools with at least 1.5 FTEs (60 HPW). When comparing elementary school library media centers with 80 HPW of staffing to those with less, better staffed schools average 57.1% of students scoring at grade level or better, while the poorer staffed group averages 52.7%, an 8.3 percent improvement associated with having at least 2.0 FTEs (80 HPW). Test scores are more than 20% higher in elementary schools where staffing is at 80 hours per week or more than in schools with less than 60 hours per week. Among the higher scoring elementary schools: *63.2% of elementary schools with 80+ HPW of library media staffing scored at grade level or better. *56.4% of elementary schools with 60-79 HPW of library staffing scored at grade level or  better. *42.6% of elementary schools with less than 60 HPW of library staffing scored at grade level or better. In Florida's elementary schools, FCAT scores are higher where: *There is a certified* library media specialist.* *The total number of paid staff is higher and there are more hours per week of staffing, circulation is higher. *Schools have access to the library media center catalog through the school's computer network. *There are more books and videos. *There are more computers in the library media center and those computers provide internet access. *There are more non-print materials purchased from the school budget. In elementary schools that scored in the top one-third on the FCAT: *Library media centers were staffed for at least 10% more hours per week. *Circulation was 45% higher. *There were 23% more videos in the collection. *41 % more was spent for non-print materials. Middle Schools At the middle school level, in higher scoring schools *53.9% of middle schools with more than 80 HPW of library staffing scored at grade level or better while only 46.1 % passed in schools with poorer staffing. Better-staffed middle schools (60 hours per week of staffing and above) average 43.8% of students at grade level or better, while the poorer-staffed schools average 42.4%. That is a 3.3 percent improvement in test scores for schools with at least 1.5 FTEs (60 HPW). When comparing middle schools with 80 HPW of staffing to those with less, better-staffed schools average 44.5% of students scoring at grade level or better, while the poorer-staffed group averages 42.6%, an improvement of 4.5% where staffing is at least 80 HPW. In the middle schools, FCAT scores are higher where: *There are more certified* school library media specialists and the library media center is staffed more hours per week. *More materials are circulated. *There are more videos in the collection and more reference materials on cd-rom. *More computers in the library media center provide access to the Internet.  In middle schools that scored in the top one-third on the FCAT: *Library media centers were staffed an average of 17% more hours per week. *There were 34.8% more videos in the collection. High Schools High schools showed even larger differences in test scores where there was better staffing: 55.1% of students passed the FCAT reading test in higher scoring schools with library media staffing of 80 HPW or more, while only 37% passed in schools with poorer staffing. High schools with 60 hours per week of staffing or more average 39.1 % of students scoring at grade level or better, while the poorer staffed schools average 32%. That is a 22.2 % improvement in test scores for schools with at least 1.5 FTEs (60 HPW). When comparing better staffed high schools (with at least 80 HPW of staffing per week) to those with less, better staffed schools average 39.7% of students scoring at grade level or better, while the poorer staffed group averages 33.1 % passing, a 20 percent improvement associated with having at least 2.0 FTEs (80 HPW). In Florida high schools, FCAT scores are higher where: *The library media center is staffed more hours per week. *There are more certified* library media specialists. *There are more paid library media staff members. *There are more interlibrary loans provided to other schools in the district. *There are more visits to the library media center to use technology. *There are more networked computers in the school and more computers with Internet access. *There are more computers in the library media center and more computers have Internet access. In high schools scoring in the top-third on the FCAT: *Certified* library media specialists provided an average of 20% more hours of  professional staffing per week. *There are 34% more paid library media staff and 31 % more hours of total staffing per  week. *There are 66% more interlibrary loans provided to other schools in the district. *There are 50% more computers in the library media center and 42% more library media center computers were connected to the Internet.   Both high school FCAT and ACT scores are significantly higher with increased library usage (visits by individuals to the library media center). Library usage at the high school level increases with: *The number of certified* library media specialist hours per student The total library staff hours per student *The number of networked school computers per student The number of books per student *The number of subscriptions, videos and software packages per student *The library expenditures per student *Strong high school library media programs-those with more certified staff and staff hours, technology, and books-have more usage by high schools students, and increased usage leads to higher academic achievement as measured by both the FCAT and the ACT. *Certified media specialist refers only to media specialists who have taken college coursework in media leading to certification. It does not refer to individuals who passed the certification exam without media coursework.