How School Librarians Help Kids Achieve Standards The Second Colorado Study
Keith Curry Lance, Ph.D. Library Research Service Colorado State Library Colorado Department of Education Tel.: 303 866 6737 Fax: 303 866 6940 Email: keithlance@earthlink.net Web site: www.lrs.org
Sample & Data
Sample:
Library survey
staffing, activities, collections, usage, technology
Available data:
200 elementary & middle schools statewide
Community: poverty, race/ethnicity, education School: teacherpupil ratio, teacher characteristics, per pupil spending
Test scores:
CSAP, grades 4 & 7
Library Development
Professional & total staffing ratios Volumes per student, print & electronic subscriptions per 100 students Library expenditures per student
Compared top & bottom 25 schools on library development. 4th grade: average CSAP gains, 18% 7th grade: 1015%
Leadership
Weekly hours librarian spends meeting with principal participating in faculty meetings, on standards & curriculum committees meeting with library staff
Collaboration
Weekly hours librarian spends
planning cooperatively with teachers delivering information literacy instruction to students providing inservice training to teachers supporting network linking library & classrooms • Compared top & bottom 25 schools on collaboration • 4th grade: average CSAP gains, 1821% • 7th grade: 8%
Technology
Per 100 Students Networked computers Licensed database computers Internet computers
• Compared top & bottom 25 schools on technology • 4th grade: average CSAP gains, 613% • 7th grade: 1825%
Flexible Scheduling
Library visits by individual students (vs. group visits) Compared top & bottom 25 schools on individual visits per student 7th grade only: average CSAP gains, 1322%
CSAP scores rise with ...
Library development Technology Collaboration (which rises with Leadership) Flexible scheduling
In a comparison of highest and lowest scoring schools, library predictors increase 50% while CSAP proficiency doubles
School libraries and librarians affect test scores despite ...
Community differences
School differences
adult educational attainment poverty race/ethnicity teacherpupil ratio per pupil school expenditures teachers’ experience & salaries
Combined, library factors alone explain 8% of total test score variation
PostScript
In 200001, high schools scoring above average on CSAP had libraries … • With more professional and support staff • With more computers providing access to library catalog, databases, and Internet • That spent more on licensed databases • That participated more in resource sharing • Visited more by students, especially for information literacy instruction
What You Can Do To Make Your Students Successful
Be SMART about your library.
Staff, stock, and fund your library to support your curriculum and CSAP preparation. Meet regularly with your librarian. Acknowledge your librarian as a school leader and master teacher. Reward your librarian and teachers for planning and teaching cooperatively. Take credit for making your library the keystone of your school’s success and for empowering your librarian to do the job she was trained to do.
For More Information Visit http://www.lrs.org and click on School Media Studies under Special Projects Contact Keith Curry Lance, Director, Library Research Service, 201 E. Colfax Ave., Suite 309, Denver, CO 80203, 303 866 6737, fax 303 866 6940, lance_k@cde.state.co.us