New Research: Better Libraries, Better Test Scores

Walter Minkel -- School Library Journal, 12/3/2003

The state study compared library staffing, collections, and Internet access in the media centers in high-performing and low-performing schools. Some 63 percent of elementary schools with adequate library staffing scored at grade level or better on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), compared to 43 percent of schools with inadequate staffing. And in high schools, FCAT scores were higher if media centers had Internet access, recorded more interlibrary loans, and had full-time media specialists.

The findings are particularly important for Florida, since FCAT scores for third and eighth graders were embarrassingly low earlier this year despite Governor Jeb Bush's strong support of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act.