RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN READING AND LIBRARY MEDIA PROGRAMS AND PERSONNEL

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between public elementary school students' achievement in reading and study skills and several aspects of library media programs and school finances. The major hypotheses of the study were: that student attainment of reading and study skills would be significantly greater in districts with one library media specialist per building than in districts without such personnel; that there would be significant positive relationships between the educational attainment of library media personnel and their curricular role, and between the presence of full-time library media personnel and student access to the library media center.;Major findings in the study were: (1) Student achievement in reading, study skills and use of newspapers was significantly greater at the seventh grade level in schools with library media personnel as compared to schools without; (2) Student access to the library media center was significantly greater in schools with professional library media personnel than in schools without; (3) The education of the library media specialist was inversely related to curricular role and overall student achievement in reading at the fourth grade level, and to student access at both grade levels; (4) There was a strong positive correlation between district State Equalized Valuation (S.E.V.) and instructional expenditures per pupil in districts with professional library media personnel. In districts without such personnel, there was no correlation between the two factors.;This investigation was accomplished by using: (1) district summaries of fourth and seventh grade students' scores on the reading section of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP), a state-wide objective referenced test; (2) library media program information from a survey of public school library media programs in Michigan; (3) financial data regarding public school district State Equalized Valuation (S.E.V.) and expenditures for instruction. A sample of 94 districts was selected for inclusion in the study on the basis of the ratio (one-to-one or zero-to-one) of professional library media personnel per building serving third and sixth grade students, i.e., the year prior to administration of the MEAP tests.