The goal of a school library is to get kids to read more and help them learn how to read and do research. Teachers have known for a long time that good libraries are important for students to do well in school. This is because students need to be able to read by the third grade in order to learn other subjects like history and science.
Donna Baumbach, a professor and director of the Instructional Technology Resource Center at the University of Central Florida, did a study that found there is a direct link between libraries with professional staff and the number of students in Florida schools who can read at or above grade level.
The one-year study looked at the libraries in more than 1,700 Florida schools. It found that students who went to schools with well-stocked libraries did better on the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test). The reading scores on the FCAT at elementary schools went up by 9%. The middle schools got better by 3%, and the high schools got better by 22%. The study also found that FCAT scores were even higher at Florida schools where the libraries were run by certified media specialists.
The study found that a good library has two things: 1) A lot of current books and a certified media specialist in charge.
We need newer books.
A few years ago, the Orlando Sentinel wrote an article about how Florida school libraries were changing. At best, what they found was sad. They found that most school libraries in Florida had old books and were run by people who hadn't been trained. The publicity brought in a lot of money that the libraries didn't expect. Half of a school library's annual budget usually comes from book fairs, parent groups, candy sales, and money made from selling school supplies.
Even though the state of Florida kept funding school libraries at $15 million, the Sentinel article got community groups, businesses, charities, and churches in Florida to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve libraries across the state.
Still, Florida school libraries have fewer books per student than the average school library in the rest of the country. Even though the state buys more books than the rest of the country on average, Florida schools can't keep up with the number of new students who start each year.
One out of every five books written before 1980 was written in Orange, Lake, Volusia, and Polk. The best collection of books was in Osceola County, where 11% were written after the year 2000.
Baumbach's study shows that the Florida schools need new library materials very badly.
We need more Media Experts Who Have Been Trained
The need for more certified media specialists is the second part of the equation. The study showed that Florida schools with these professionals in their libraries had more books per student and more newspaper and magazine subscriptions. There were more people using the libraries, more books were being checked out, and each student had more computers.
Certified media specialists bring to their jobs knowledge and experience that part-time teachers and clerks in Florida school libraries can't give. These experts can actually apply for grants to add to the money the library has. They don't just leave the books on the shelves; instead, they move them from classroom to classroom. They make programmes that encourage people to read and teach with multimedia. They can even work with teachers to look at students' test scores and figure out where some of them might need more help with reading.
The number of these professionals has gone down in Seminole and Volusia over the past few years, though. The number of people living in Osceola, Polk, Brevard, Lake, and Orange counties has gone up.
Libraries in Florida schools are getting better, but not all Florida schools are the same. Before you decide which school is best for your child, take a look at the school library.
