California Study Connects School Libraries to Student Achievement

by Doug Achterman

California's school libraries historically have been among the most poorly supported in the country. Yet my new dissertation, entitled "Haves, Halves, and Have-Nots: School Libraries and Student Achievement in California," indicates that schools that staff and fund their school library programs outperform those that don't at the elementary, middle school and high school levels across the state.

In many of the state studies that have examined the relationship between library program elements and student achievement, the level of certificated library media specialist staffing has been one of the best predictors of student success, and this is also the case in the California study. At all three grade levels examined - grades 4, 8 and 11 - the study notes a significant relationship between state test scores and certificated library staffing.

Media specialists take instructional roles

Library media specialists bring added value to a learning community through their contributions as teachers. In the California study, students at all grade levels tended to score higher on their standardized tests when the library program regularly provided direct instruction. These activities included

• Offering a program of curriculum-integrated information literacy instruction

• Informally instructing students in the use of resources

• Providing instruction on Internet searching and research

At the middle and high school levels, the relationship between these activities and test scores remained significant when controlling for all community and school variables, including parent education, poverty level, ethnicity, English language learners, and teacher salary and teacher qualifications.

At all three levels, more traditional library services were also significant predictors of student success on state tests. Students tended to score higher at schools in which library programs regularly

• provided reference assistance to students and teachers

• provided reading, listening and viewing guidance for students

• provided teachers with information about new resources

• helped students and teachers find and use resources outside the school library

In fact, this study also shows that the total number of services a library staff offered was significantly related to students' test scores; the greater number of library services offered, the higher students' scores tended to be. Again, this relationship held at all three grade levels and persisted when accounting for all school and community variables in the study.

More services, more achievement

As one might expect, the number of services a school library offers is related to the levels of library staffing. California is 50th among all states in staffing of its school libraries, and elementary schools with both a full-time clerk and full-time library media specialist are virtually non-existent. At the middle school and high school, though, total staffing was a significant predictor of students' test scores. When looking at the effects of the total school library program on student achievement, at the middle school up to 3% of the variance in test scores could be accounted for by library program elements. At the high school level, where both certificated and total staffing levels are strongest, up to 21% of the variance in tests scores could be accounted for by the library program, which was a better predictor of students' scores than parent education or poverty levels.

At a time when schools districts are scrutinizing their budgets in search of savings, this study joins at least 19 other state-wide studies in verifying the value of school library programs in their contributions to student achievement. School libraries make a difference.

Doug Achterman, Gale's K12 resource reviewer, has 14 years of experience as an English teacher and nine years as a media specialist. He recently finished his dissertation on the relationship between school libraries and student achievement, and is sharing some of his findings with galeschools.com. You can find Doug's reviews at the galeschools.com product review page.