----

##  Proof of the Power: Recent Research on the Impact of School Library             Media Programs on the Academic Achievement of U.S. Public School                Students. ERIC Digest.                                                       

By mid 2001, researchers affiliated with the Library Research                   Service of the Colorado State Library and the University of Denver              had completed four statewide studies on the impact of school library            media programs on the academic achievement of U.S. public school                students: 
* Information Empowered: The School Librarian as an                 Agent of Academic Achievement in Alaska, 
* Measuring Up to                    Standards: The Impact of School Library Programs and Information                Literacy in Pennsylvania Schools, 
* How School Librarians Help                Kids Achieve Standards, The Second Colorado Study, and 
* Good                 Schools Have School Librarians: Oregon School Librarians Collaborate            to Improve Academic Achievement. BACKGROUNDPhilosophically,               these studies are rooted in the Information Power model espoused by             the American Association of School Librarians and the findings from             six decades of research related to the impact of school library                 media programs on academic achievement. 
Information Power 
The               latest edition of the American Association of School Librarians'                Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning (1998)                    identifies three roles for school library media specialists (LMS).              In a learning and teaching role, the LMS advances the instructional             goals of the school. As a provider of information access and                    delivery, the LMS develops collections and services and facilitates             their use. And, as a program administrator, the LMS serves as the               library media center (LMC) manager as well as a school-wide advocate            and trainer for information literacy. 
Previous Research                       Findings 
Over the past half-century, there have been about 75                 studies on the impact of school library media programs on academic              achievement. Each of the study reports summarized herein contains an            exhaustive review of this literature to that date. For that reason,             only a thumbnail summary of that review is provided                             here. 
Learning & Teaching 
Many early studies of this topic                  demonstrate the value of the mere presence of a professionally                  trained and credentialed library media specialist. Such                         correlations, however, beg the question of what the LMS is doing                that makes a difference. In more recent studies, the LMS's                      contributions as a creator of and a collaborator in a learning                  community have been the focus. These studies indicate that students             perform better academically where the LMS: 
*is part of a planning             and teaching team with the classroom teacher, 
* teaches                       information literacy, and 
* provides one-to-one tutoring for                  students in need. 
Information Access & Delivery 
One of the most             consistent strands of research on this topic is comprised of studies            that demonstrate the value of: 
* quality collections of books and             other materials selected to support the curriculum 
*                          state-of-the-art technology that is integrated into the                         learning/teaching processes, and 
* cooperation between school and             other types of libraries, especially public libraries. 
Program                Administration 
A key role of the library media specialist, but one            that has only been the subject of research for a decade, is program             administration. In today's schools, the LMS is not only the manager             of the LMC, but also an advocate for information literacy with the              principal, at faculty meetings, and in standards and curriculum                 committee meetings. In addition to being an advocate, the LMS is a              trainer who provides in-service programs for teachers on                        resource-based learning, integrating information literacy into the              curriculum, and getting the most out of technology, as well as                  teaching students. 
To be a successful advocate for information                literacy, research shows, the LMS must: 
* have support staff who              free him or her from the LMC to participate in important                        meetings, 
* win and keep the support of the principal, 
* manage             networked technology, and 
* raise funds                                       successfully. 
Motivations for Further Research 
Given the                    substantial body of research already available on the impact of                 School libraries, it might be asked why yet another study, let alone            multiple studies, needed to be done.  There were two major                      motivations behind these studies: confirming the findings of the                original Colorado Study and expanding on that study in several                  ways. 
Time, place and educational politics were the key issues                related to confirming the original Colorado findings. 
* Do those              results hold up over time? 
* Are they consistent from one state to            another? 
* And, perhaps most importantly, do the claimed                      relationships between library media programs and student performance            exist when a state's standards-based tests are substituted for a                norm-referenced test (i.e., the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills or                   ITBS)? 
The original Colorado Study identified the importance of               the library media Specialist playing an instructional role in the               school, but it did not define what that meant or what it involved               doing. Further, while the study's findings implied the value of                 principal and teacher support, they did not exactly address those               issues, and it failed in an attempt to demonstrate the important                relationship of information technology-particularly school                      networks-to the LM program. 
In the four most recent studies, all              of these motivations for further research were addressed                        successfully. 
Samples 
Among the four states, different grades               were tested at different levels but, generally, each state tested at            elementary, middle and high school levels. Table 1 identifies the               tested grades and number of schools participating in the studies by             state. 
See TABLE 1 at end of digest 
School Library Surveys 
In             each state, school library media programs were surveyed at the                  building level on a variety of topics. The topics common to all four            state studies were: staffing levels, staff activities, collection               size, usage statistics, and available technology. 
Respondents for             participating libraries were asked to report LM staffing levels,                including numbers of individuals and numbers of hours worked per                typical week for different types of staff. Ultimately, the                      distinction between professionally trained and credentialed library             media specialists and all other types of staff became the critical              one. 
To respond to the concern that the original Colorado study               did not define what was meant by "an instructional role," the recent            surveys asked for a distribution of staff hours per typical week                among various activities related to exercising leadership in the                school, collaborating with classroom teachers, and creating and                 maintaining a strong relationship between the LM program and school             technology. 
Like most surveys of LM programs, these asked for                 counts of the number of items in the LMC's collection by                        format (e.g., books, periodicals, audio, video) and usage                       statistics (e.g., numbers of individual and group visits to the                 LMC). 
To assess the level of integration between the school's LM              and technology programs, the surveys also requested counts of                   computers both in the LMC and elsewhere in the school-provided the              computers were networked to library resources. In addition to a                 general count, numbers of computers capable of particular functions             were requested (e.g., providing access to the library catalog,                  licensed databases, and the World Wide Web). 
Available Data 
In              addition to survey data on school libraries, the studies required               substantial amounts of available data:  test scores for schools;                other school data, including the teacher-pupil ratio, per pupil                 expenditures, and teacher characteristics, such as the percentage               with advanced degrees, average years of experience, and average                 salary; and community data, including the racial/ethnic distribution            of students, the percentage of students eligible for the National               School Lunch Program (i.e., poverty), and the percentage of the                 community's adults who graduated from high school. 
The test of                academic achievement varied by state. Alaska utilized the California            Achievement Tests (CAT), but Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Oregon                 utilized their own state-designed, standards-based tests. On the                basis of an analysis done as part of the original Colorado Study,               reading scores were utilized in all four states. The earlier study              found that reading scores are extremely highly correlated with other            types of test scores--so much so that the other types of scores are             statistically redundant. 
State departments of education were the              sources of most of the remaining data. The only data item they could            not provide was the percentage of adult high school graduates in the            community. This data was obtained for each school's community from              either the U.S. Census American Factfinder or the Federal Financial             Institutions Examination Council web site. RESULTSSuccessful              Types of Library Media Predictors 
While the results of the four               studies varied somewhat, on the whole the Findings concerning what              aspects of school library media programs are important were                     remarkably consistent. 
LM Program Development 
In all four                   states, the level of development of the LM program was a predictor              of student performance. In all four states, data on staffing levels             correlated with test scores. In Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Oregon,             additional data on collections and expenditures were predictive of              reading scores. Where LM programs are better staffed, better                    stocked, and better funded, academic achievement tends to be                    higher. 
Staff Activities 
Levels of student performance were also            related, in all four states, to the extent to which LM staff engaged            in particular activities related to the teaching of information                 literacy and to the exercise of leadership, collaboration, and                  technology. 
LMC Usage 
In Alaska, Colorado, and Oregon,                      individual student visits to the library media center correlated                with test scores. Notably, group LMC visits did not demonstrate such            a correlation in Alaska or Colorado, but did in Oregon. This last               state had mounted a statewide initiative to encourage                           teacher-librarian cooperation in connection with class visits to                LMCs. 
Technology 
In Alaska, the availability of Internet-capable            computers in the LMC was tied to test scores.  In Pennsylvania,                 Colorado, and Oregon, where similar questions were asked about                  technology, achievement levels increased with the availability of               networked computers both in the LMC and elsewhere in the school that            provided access to catalogs, licensed databases, and the                        Internet. 
Alaska Findings 
In Alaska, the percentage of students             scoring proficient or above on reading tests was higher for schools             with 
* more hours per typical week of professional librarian                  staffing; 
* more staff time spent weekly delivering information               literacy instruction to students, planning cooperatively with                   teachers, and providing in-service training to teachers; 
*                    collection development policies that address the issue of                       reconsideration requests or challenges to library materials 
*                 computers with modem capability (to access the Internet); and 
* a             relationship-formal or informal-with the public library. 
In                   addition to these direct predictors of test scores, the Alaska study            identified one series of relationships worthy of note: Schools with             more librarian staffing spend more time teaching information                    literacy, resulting in more student visits to library media centers             and, in turn, higher reading scores. 
Pennsylvania Findings 
In               Pennsylvania, higher average reading scores for schools were                    associated with 
* the presence of school librarians with more                 hours per week of support staff 
* higher expenditures on the                  library media program; 
* larger collections of information                    resources (e.g., books, periodical subscriptions, Access                        Pennsylvania and other databases); 
* more computers, both in the              library media center and throughout the school, that provide access             to information resources (e.g., licensed databases, the Internet);              and 
* spending more library media staff time integrating the                  teaching of information literacy into the school's curriculum and               approach to addressing academic standards. 
A cluster of library               media staff activities was identified with this integration of                  information literacy into the school: 
* teaching cooperatively                with teachers as well as independently, 
* providing in-service                training to teachers, 
* serving on curriculum and standards                   committees, and 
*managing information technology. 
Colorado                  Findings 
The latest Colorado study identified four direct library             media predictors of academic achievement-and one indirect one. The              four direct predictors are LM program development, collaboration                activities of LM staff, technology, and flexible scheduling. The                indirect predictor is leadership activities of LM staff. 
The                  original Colorado Study identified an LMC Size factor comprised of              total weekly LM staff hours per 100 students, volumes per student,              and periodical subscriptions per 100 students. The latest study in              that state identified a similar, but more elaborate LM Program                  Development factor comprised of: 
* total weekly librarian staff               hours per 100 students, 
* total LM staff hours per 100                        students, 
* volumes per student, 
* periodical subscriptions per             100 students, 
* electronic subscriptions per 100 students, and 
*            LM expenditures per student. 
Where the Pennsylvania study found a             single cluster of staff activities related to integrating                       information literacy into the school, the latest Colorado study                 found two clusters of staff activities, one associated with                     leadership and another associated with collaboration. 
This                    leadership factor consisted of typical weekly LM staff hours                    spent: 
* meeting with the principal, 
* participating in faculty             and curriculum and standards committee meetings, and 
* meeting                with other LM staff at local and district levels. Notably, the                  leadership factor was an indirect rather than a direct predictor of             reading scores. Leadership creates an environment for collaboration             which, in turn, leads to higher test scores. 
The collaboration                factor embraced LM staff hours spent: 
* planning cooperatively                with teachers, 
* teaching information literacy, 
* providing                 in-service training to teachers, 
* identifying materials for                  teachers, and 
* supporting local networking to link the LMC and               classrooms. 
As in Pennsylvania, Colorado schools tended to have               higher test scores if they had local networks of computers, both in             the LMC and in classrooms, that provided access to information                  resources, particularly licensed databases and the Internet. 
At               the secondary level only, the Colorado results also provide some                Preliminary evidence for flexible scheduling. In that state, at that            school level, reading scores correlated with individual visits to               LMCs, but not group visits. While evidence about the differences                between these two types of visits is anecdotal, it indicates that               group visits are more often for traditionally assigned library                  periods, when little or no information literacy instruction may be              taking place. By contrast, when students are visiting the LMC                   individually, they are believed to be more likely to be pursuing                somewhat self-directed learning in which they are exercising                    information literacy skills. 
Oregon Findings 
The most recent of             the four studies conducted by Lance, Rodney and Hamilton Pennell is             for Oregon. It identifies one direct library media predictor of                 Academic achievement, a library media program development factor                similar to the one yielded by the latest Colorado study, as well as             a host of indirect predictors. 
In Oregon, the LM Program                      Development factor is comprised of: 
* total LM staff hours per 100            students, 
* print volumes per student, 
* periodical                         subscriptions per 100 students, and 
* LM expenditures per                     student. 
The analysis of indirect predictors of student test                  performance identified an elaborate web of relationships consistent             with the findings in Alaska, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. A strong               and successful library media program is one: 
* That is adequately             staffed, stocked and funded. Test scores rise with the size of the              LM staff, collection, and budget. 
* Whose staff is actively                   involved leaders in their school's teaching and learning enterprise.            As in other states, meeting with the principal, serving on key                  school committees, and holding LM staff meetings help to create a               collaborative environment. Where LM staff spends more time in these             activities, students perform better. 
* Whose staff provides access            to and deliver materials and information that support that                      enterprise. When LM staff spends more time developing local                     collections and when LM programs exploit the collections of other               libraries via interlibrary loan, test scores improve. 
* Whose                 staff has collegial, collaborative relationships with classroom                 teachers. The more time library media specialists spend identifying             useful materials and information for teachers, planning and                     delivering instruction with them, and providing in service training             to teachers, the higher the level of academic achievement by                    students. 
* That embraces networked information technology. Where             networked computers are more widely available and where library                 media specialists are more involved in managing school networks,                test scores are higher. 
After the latest Colorado study indicated             a correlation with test scores for individual, but not group, visits            to library media centers, it was somewhat surprising that the Oregon            study yielded such correlations for both individual and group                   visits. The group visits correlation is a likely consequence of an              intensive campaign in that state to encourage classroom teachers to             bring their classes to the LMC for team-teaching involving both the             LMS and the teacher. 
Common Findings 
All of the recent studies              of the impact of school library media programs on Academic                      achievement provide evidence to support several common findings: 
*            Professionally-trained and credentialed school library media                    specialists do make a difference that affects student performance on            achievement tests. 
* In order for library media specialists to                make this difference, the support of principals and teachers is                 essential. 
* Library media specialists cannot do their jobs                   effectively unless they have support staff who free them from                   routine tasks and enable them to participate in a variety of                    one-to-one and group meetings outside the library media center. 
*             Library media specialists have a two-fold teaching role. They are               teachers of students, facilitating the development of information               literacy skills necessary for success in all content areas, and they            are in-service trainers of teachers, keeping abreast of the latest              information resources and technology. 
*Library media specialists              also must embrace technology to be effective. They must ensure that             school networks extend the availability of information 
resources              beyond the walls of the LMC, throughout the building, and, in                   the 
best cases, into students' homes. 
Distinguishing                        Results 
Though the four recent studies consistently yielded the               foregoing common findings, each study also produced some                        distinguishing results. 
@* The Alaska study was the first to                  identify the importance of library media specialists as teachers of             information literacy. It was also the first to demonstrate the                  impact on achievement of the library media specialist as an                     in-service trainer of teachers. 
* The Pennsylvania study was the              first to delineate the specific activities of library media                     specialists involved in an integrated, collaborative approach to                teaching information literacy 

The second Colorado study was the             first to distinguish between the leadership and collaboration                   activities of library media specialists and to demonstrate the                  critical pro-active contribution of leadership activities to setting            the stage for collaboration and, in turn, higher achievement levels             for students. 
* The Oregon study demonstrated that group visits to            LMCs, particularly those for information literacy instruction, as               well as individual visits can be a predictor of test performance.               This study was also the only one of the recent group to indicate the            value of time library media specialists spend developing collections            and of interlibrary loan activities. 
Controlling for School &                 Community Differences 
The distinguishing feature of the research              model employed in the original Colorado study as well as its recent             successors in Alaska, Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Oregon is                     controlling for school and community differences. Claims by earlier             studies to have established cause-and-effect relationships between              characteristics of library media programs and academic achievement              did not do this. Consequently, their results were called into                   question readily. For example, when it was found that higher library            media expenditures correlated with higher test scores, it was easy              to explain away this relationship by attributing the test scores to             higher school expenditures generally. The cause of higher                       achievement was not spending on the library media program in                    particular, but rather being a prosperous school that could afford              to spend more on everything. To preclude this and similar criticisms            and to establish a stronger claim that reported correlations reflect            cause-and-effect, these studies encompassed data on schools (i.e.,              per pupil spending, teacher-pupil ratio, various teacher                        characteristics) and their communities (i.e., poverty levels,                   racial/ethnic demography, adult educational attainment). These                  additional variables address most, if not all, of the stronger                  arguments that could otherwise be made to discount the consistent               findings of this line of research. 
In all four states, analyses               were conducted to measure the impact on test scores of each library             media, school, and community characteristic while controlling for               the others. The following table summarizes the percentages of                   variation in test scores that were explained by library media                   programs at each grade level in the Pennsylvania, Colorado, and                 Oregon studies. (Such analyses could not be conducted successfully              in Alaska due to data and other circumstantial limitations.) 
See              TABLE 2 at end of digest 
After accounting for the considerable                impact on academic achievement of Community socio-economic                      conditions-from one-third to three-quarters depending on the state              and the school level-library media predictors almost always                     outperformed other school characteristics, such as teacher-pupil                ratio and per pupil expenditures. IMPLICATIONSRecommended                 Actions by School Officials 
The practical implications of these               research findings are a clear and Straightforward call to                       action. 
* School library media programs should be funded                      sufficiently to employ both professional and support staff and to               have both information resources in a variety of formats and the                 technology necessary to extend the LM program beyond the walls of               the library media center. 
* Library media specialists should be               recognized and utilized by principals and teachers as professional              colleagues in the teaching and learning enterprise. Where such                  recognition and the collaboration to which it leads do not exist,               the LMS must exercise some leadership in changing the                           environment. 
* Technology is an essential part of a successful LM             program. Information resources, including licensed databases, should            be available throughout the school via networked computers in                   classrooms, labs, and offices. 
Library media specialists who wish             to make effective presentations of the findings of these studies may            find helpful another recent publication, Powering Achievement:                  School Library Media Programs Make a Difference: The Evidence (Lance            and Loertscher, 2001). It provides handouts and presentation slides             for presentations of varying length and focusing on different                   issues. 
Other Research Questions 
Like all research, these                   studies raised almost as many questions as they answered. They call             for further research, both qualitative and quantitative. 
* How can            library media specialists be taught the leadership skills they                  need 
to succeed?  While such training is fairly widely available,             there is little extant research identifying best practices in this              area. 
* How should LM specialists, teachers and students interact             to improve academic achievement? While studies such as these                    establish relationships between test performance and certain types              of staff activities--cooperative teaching, for example--these                   findings do not offer much in the way of practical advice to LM                 specialists about how they can successfully engage teachers and                 students. 
* How does the availability of and involvement with                 information technology affect the interactions of LM specialists,               teachers and students? These studies indicate that the presence of              technology and LM staff involvement with it are important, but they             do not explain how electronic access to information facilitates                 effective relationships between LM specialists and                              others. BIBLIOGRAPHYLance, Keith Curry, Christine                         Hamilton-Pennell, and Marcia J. Rodney. (2000). "Information                    empowered: The school librarian as an agent of academic achievement             in Alaska schools." Revised edition. Juneau: Alaska State                       Library. (ED 443 445) 
Lance, Keith Curry and David V.                         Loertscher. (2001). "Powering achievement: School library media                 programs make a difference: the evidence." San Jose, California: Hi             Willow Research & Publishing. 
Lance, Keith Curry, Marcia J.Rodney,            and Christine Hamilton-Pennell. (2000). How school librarians help              kids achieve standards: The second Colorado study. San Jose,                    California: Hi Willow Research and Publishing. (ED 445                          698) 
-----(2000). Measuring up to standards: The impact of school             library programs and information literacy in Pennsylvania schools.              Greensburg, Penn.: Pennsylvania Citizens for Better Libraries. (ED              446 771) 
-----(2001). Good schools have school librarians: Oregon             school librarians collaborate to improve academic achievement.                  Portland: Oregon Educational Media Association 
Lance, Keith Curry,            Lynda Welborn, and Christine Hamilton-Pennell. (1993). The impact of            school library media centers on academic achievement. Castle Rock,              Colo.: Hi Willow Research and Publishing. (ED 353 989) ABOUT THE                AUTHOR 
Keith Curry Lance, Ph.D., is the director of the Library               Research Service, a unit of the Colorado State Library and the                  Colorado Department of Education operated in partnership with the               Library and Information Science Program of the College of Education             of the University of Denver. A frequent speaker and writer on the               social impact of school and public libraries, he currently serves on            the research and statistics committees of the American Association              of School Librarians and the Public Library Association, the                    Standing Committee on Statistics of the International Federation of             Library Associations and Institutions, and the Steering Committee of            the Federal-State Cooperative System for Public Library                         Data. 
----- 
ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be                freely reproduced and disseminated. 
----- 
ERIC Clearinghouse on             Information & Technology, Syracuse University, 621 Skytop Road,                 Suite 160, Syracuse, NY 13244-5290; 800-464-9107; 315-443-3640 ;                Fax: 315- 443-5448; e-mail: [email protected]; URL:                               http://www.ericit.org. 
----- 
This publication is funded in part             with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education under                  contract number ED-99-CO-0005. The content of this publication does             not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department            of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products,              or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government. Please               visit the Department of Education's Web site at:                                http://www.ed.gov/      
   TABLE 1 ==========================================================        Grades Tested, Number of Participating Public Schools, and Number of Public Schools by State,                         1998-99State (Year Studied)Grades  participatingNumber of Public testedNumber of public schools*Alaska (1988)            4, 8 & 11             211                  461Pennsylvania (1999)      4, 8 & 11             435                      1,691Colorado (1999)          4 & 7                 200                   1,178Oregon (2000)            5, 8 & 10             513                    1,215==========================================================           * Schools including more than one tested                 grade may be counted more than                                              once.==========================================================              TABLE 2 ==========================================================  Percent of test score             variation explained by library media variables aloneSchool Level           Pennsylvania                         Colorado         OregonElementary    4%*              8%  4%Middle      5%*              2%        3%High       6%*              n/a      5%**==========================================================           * In Pennsylvania, these percentages                     represent the average explained by library media specialist                 staffing based on a series of partial                                           correlation analyses.** At high school level in Oregon, the            effects of community variables are included in unexplained                  variation.==========================================================           **Title:** Proof of the Power: Recent Research on the Impact of School Library             Media Programs on the Academic Achievement of U.S. Public School                Students. ERIC Digest.                                                       **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology, Syracuse University,            621 Skytop Rd., Suite 160, Syracuse, NY 13244-5290. Tel:                        315-443-3640; Tel: 800-464-9107 (Toll Free); Fax: 315-443-5448;                 e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://ericit.org.edu/ithome.             **Descriptors:**  Academic Achievement, Educational Research, Elementary Secondary               Education, Learning Resources Centers, Librarians,  Library                     Research,  Library Role, Public Schools,  School Libraries, School              Surveys                                                                      **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests                                                                 
###
[Return to ERIC Digest Search Page]