Middle Grades Reading Network

University of Evansville

August 2000

 2000 Impact Evaluation of

School Library Printed Materials Grant

The Indiana General Assembly provided $6 million for new books for the 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 school years.  All Indiana school corporations applied for and received the funds that could be used to purchase books for any grade level K-12.  In order to determine the current status of school library acquisition and circulation of books, survey forms were sent to school corporations in April 2000.  A total of 1,479 out of 1,820 or 81 percent of Indiana public schools returned the forms.

Importance of Increasing Access to Current, Appealing, High-Interest Books 

The correlation between reading achievement and voluntary reading strongly supports the need to promote and encourage voluntary reading.  Independent reading accounts for one-third of a student's vocabulary growth (Center for the Study of Reading).   According to the recent findings of three statewide studies in Alaska, Colorado, and Pennsylvania, a strong library program helps students learn more and score higher on standardized achievement tests.   (Hamilton-Pennell, Lance, Rodney, and Hainer 2000.)  Children who score at the ninetieth percentile on reading tests read five times as much as children at the fiftieth percentile and two hundred times as much as children at the tenth percentile (Anderson, Fielding, and Wilson 1988). 

In a perfect reading world, all families would have public library cards and ensure that their children frequently and systematically read books and other materials from that source.  They would subscribe to a newspaper so that their children would have access to daily reading throughout the entire year.  While it would be wonderful if all students would find books and encouragement for independent reading in their homes and their communities, it is not certain that these other sites will do the job.  The one place charged with this mission is the school library, and that is where attention needs to be focused.

Prior to state library book funding in 1997, the average copyright year of books in Indiana school libraries was 1968.  (Humphrey, 1992; Callison and Knuth, 1994).  If a book is over 10 years of age, has not been checked out in the past year, and is not of lasting or historical interest, it should be discarded.  More than half of the books in Indiana school libraries are over 25 years of age and today's students never use most of these books.  Despite the state initiative to help schools upgrade their library book collections, it's clear that schools have a long way to go to rebuild their library book collections.

How Long Will It Take to Rebuild School Library Book Collections?

 Indiana schools with 500 students have a library of approximately 10,000 books.  Schools have added about one-half book per student per year.  For 500 students, this would be 250 books or one-fortieth of the collection each year.  Over a ten-year period, 2,500 books, or one-fourth, would be replaced leaving 7,500 books that are over ten years old, many of which are no longer of use to students.  But if schools purchase two books per student per year, in ten years the book collection would be current.

            In the 1999-2000 school year, school corporations provided an average of 1.08 books per student.  Most schools spent the state funds during this period.  Therefore, it is likely that schools will again purchase about one-half book per student during the 2000-2001 school year, and this results in the actual purchase of one and one-half books per student over the two-year period.  Over a ten-year period, the same schools with 500 students will purchase 3,750 books leaving 6,250 books that are over ten years of age.

            According to the School Library Journal of March 2000, the average cost of a hard-cover library book for children and young adults is $17.57.  With a student population of 988,065, the cost of providing two books per student per year is $34,720,604 per year or $69,441,208 per biennium.  Without state aid, schools are purchasing one book per student per biennium at a cost of $17,360,302.  Thus schools need an additional $52,080,906 per biennium if they are to provide two books per student per year.

Comparison of K-8 2000 Results with 1997 Base Line Information

Prior to the Indiana General Assembly providing $4 million for grades K-8 for the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 school years, book acquisition and circulation data were received from K-8 schools.  Thus a base line was established for K-8 schools so that comparisons could be made in subsequent years to determine the value of the state's investment in school libraries.

In 1997, schools enrolling students in Grades K through 8 purchased 0.81 books per student and circulated 33.79 books per student.  In 2000 schools purchased 1.24 books per student and circulated 39.00 books per student. 

The 1999-2000 enrollment in Indiana public schools for Grades K-8 was 693,831.  Of these, 612,590 students were involved in the 2000 survey.  Multiplying 1.24 (the number of books purchased per student in 1999-2000) times 693,831 shows that 860,350 new books were purchased in the 1999-2000 school year.  If only 0.81 books per student (1997 rate) had been purchased in the 1999-2000 school year when the number of students had risen to 693,831, than only 562,003 or nearly 300,000 fewer books would have been purchased. 

Multiplying 39.00 (the number of books circulated per student in 1999-2000) times 693,831 students shows that 27,059,409 books were circulated during the 1999-2000 school year.  If book circulation for the 1999-2000 school year were at 1997 level of 33.79,  only 23,444,549 books would have been circulated.  This increase from 33.79 to 39.00 resulted in 3.6  million more books being circulated.

TABLE l   Comparison of 1997 and 2000 School Library Book Acquisition and Circulation for Indiana Public School Enrolling Students in Grades K-8

*Calculated using current enrollment of 693,831 for comparative purposes.

Results for 9-12 and 10-12 High Schools   

Base line data in 1997 included all schools that enrolled students in Grades K-8.  This included schools with the following grade configurations: K-12, 6-12, 7-9, 7-12, and 8-9.  High schools with grades 9-12 and 10-12 were included in the 1999 funding for the first time, so no base line data exists for these schools.

The 185 high schools not included in the Grades K-8 information had 199,653 students.  They purchased 117,451 new books for an average of .59 books per student.  They circulated 1,221,747 books for an average of 6.12 per student.

 Comparison of City, Rural, and Suburban Schools for All Grade Levels

  Table 2 shows the survey results from Indiana schools from city, rural, and suburban areas.

TABLE 2   K-12 Comparison of Library Book Acquisition and Circulation for Indiana City, Rural, and Suburban Schools that Returned Survey Forms

The 232 City schools had 128,304 students.  They purchased 120,744 new books for an average of .94 books per student.  They circulated 3,557,937 books for an average of 27.73 per student.

The 338 Rural schools had 147,137 students.  They purchased 173,284 new books for an average of 1.18 books per student.  They circulated 5,364,646 books for an average of 36.46 per student. 

The 762 Suburban schools had 457,751 students.  They purchased 484,594 new books for an average of 1.06 per student.  They circulated 14,169,663 books for an average of 30.95 per student.

Table 3 lists the 2000 ISTEP reading scores for city, rural, and suburban schools.

TABLE 3.  2000 ISTEP Reading Scores for Indiana City, Rural, and Suburban Schools.

Rural schools had the highest reading scores for grades 3, 6, and 10 while suburban schools had the highest reading scores for grade 8.  When comparing reading scores to the number of books purchased and circulation per student, rural schools had the highest number of books purchased, the highest circulation of books, and the highest reading scores in three of four grade levels.  City schools had the lowest number of books purchased, the lowest circulation of books, and the lowest reading scores for all three grade levels.

Conclusion 

You need to read in order to become a good reader.  If we are to prepare students with the reading skills they need to succeed today academically and to be literate adult members of our communities and workforce in the future, we need school libraries that have excellent book collections.  To build excellent school libraries that promote voluntary reading, we must purchase at least two books per student per year.  At this rate, we would have current book collections in ten years. 

There is no substitute for books.  Without access to current, appealing, and high-interest books, reading achievement suffers.  Conversely, when new books are added to school libraries, students increase their reading.  The Indiana General Assembly produced the resources that made it possible for K-8 schools to purchase 298,347 more books than in 1997, prior to state funding.   With these new books, circulation increased over 3.6 million compared to 1997.  The difference is clearly the result of the new books provided by the Indiana General Assembly.

References

Anderson, R. C., Fielding, L. G., and Wilson, P. T.  "Growth in Reading and How Children Spend Time Outside of School."  Reading Research Quarterly 23:285-304, 1988.

Callison, D., and Knuth, R.  "The AIME Statewide Survey of School Library Media Centers: Expenditures and Collections."  Indiana Media Journal, 16(3), 103-162, 1994.

Center for the Study of Reading, Teachers and Independent Reading.  Urbana-Champaign: University of Illinois.

Hamilton-Pennell, C., Lance, K. C., Rodney, M. J., and Hainer, E.  "Dick and Jane Go to the Head Of the Class."  School Library Journal Online, April 1, 2000.

Humphrey, J. W.  A Study of Reading in Indiana Middle, Junior, and Senior High Schools.  Indiana Youth Institute, 1992.