American Library Association | Search ALA | Contact ALA | Give ALA | Join ALA | ALA FAQ | ALA Login

American Libraries

Site Navigation







Left Sidebar Items

Online Features

Canadian Study Links School Libraries and Student Achievement

A study funded by the Ontario Library Association offers the first Canadian finding that shows a positive correlation between student achievement and library resources and staff. Released April 6, School Libraries and Student Achievement in Ontario includes assessment data from more than 50,000 students and over 800 of the province’s publicly funded elementary schools.

Among the findings were:

  • Grade 3 and 6 students in schools with teacher-librarians are more likely to report that they enjoy reading.
  • Schools with trained library staff are more likely to have a higher proportion of grade 6 students who meet Ontario standards on reading test scores.
  • Schools without trained library staff tend to have lower achievement on the grade 3 and 6 reading tests.

Speaking at the Church Street Public School library in downtown Toronto on the occasion of the study’s release, Ontario School Library Association President Michael Rosettis said, “This research confirms what teacher-librarians have intuitively known for years: that a well-staffed, well-stocked, and well-funded school library makes a significant difference in student achievement.” The findings correlate with other studies in the United States that link student achievement with the presence of school libraries administered by certified library media specialists.

The $40,000 ($34,800 U.S.) study, conducted by a team led by Queen’s University Education Professor Don Klinger, comes at a time when Ontario is developing a new policy to improve students’ literacy and numeracy skills. A 2003 report, written by then–University of British Columbia LIS Professor Ken Haycock, had called on provincial ministries of education to begin research that would reverse a trend in underfunding that was creating a crisis in school-library personnel and collections.

A 2005 research study by the Ontario public-interest group People for Education showed that although provincial school boards get one librarian for every 769 students, many schools don’t have that many students. In addition, only 54% of Ontario elementary schools had a full- or part-time librarian in 2005, compared with 80% in 1997–1998.

Posted April 7, 2006.

Right Sidebar

AL Joblist
AL Store