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
Authored by Donna Baumbach, University of Central Florida, (with the
assistance of others.)
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 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.
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.
