During the past year, Wisconsin state legislators debated a series of bills aimed at closing low-performing public schools and replacing them with privately run charter schools. These proposals were particularly targeted at Milwaukee, the state's largest and poorest school district. Ultimately, the only legislation enacted was a bill that modestly…

Laura Bush hosted a White House Conference on School Libraries on June 4, 2002, to discuss the latest research on libraries, student achievement and successful local programs. Mrs. Bush's cohost was Dr. Robert Martin, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and education, library, government and philanthropic leaders from across…

The purpose of this study was to find out how school and public libraries were performing as education providers and how well they were responding to the country's urgent demands for school improvement. This general audience report summarizes the results of the assessment of school and public libraries. It discusses staffing and patronage, the use…

Discusses the importance of evaluation of school library resource centers for effective schools and the professional development of teacher librarians. Provides a chart profiling the role of the teacher-librarian in the awareness, mechanical, routine, and refined stages of the implementation of critical educational components in a cooperative…

This final report, which completes a 3-year evaluation of the educational impact of the appointment of full-time trained teacher-librarians (TLs) in New Zealand schools, focuses on the 1989 experiences of 38 trained teacher-librarians and provides reflections on the total period 1987-89. Information was gathered through a combination of…

Focuses on role of school library media programs in the fostering of lifelong learning and development of information skills. Highlights include information use and users, access, instruction, consulting, attitude problems, personnel and economic issues, planning and evaluating programs, education of library media specialists, and information…

A national survey of 1,000 principals and 1,000 school media specialists indicates that principals have very little knowledge about what really happens in the school library media center. Ten statements are presented to enable readers to test their own knowledge about library media centers. The responses make it clear that principals have had…

This book presents recommendations on many matters related to the organization, administration, and supervision of school library media programs. Chapters cover (1) the history of school library media program development in the United States, with special emphasis on the years since 1965; (2) the role of library media programs; (3) the…

Summaries of research findings on the following topics are compiled in this document: (1) students in schools with well-equipped resource centers and teacher-librarians perform better on achievement tests; (2) developing student competence in research and study skills is most effective when integrated with classroom instruction through cooperative…

A task force on school library media issues was appointed in Wisconsin to describe the current program status in the state; identify those factors that are preventing the fulfillment of the library media program's mission--that every student in public elementary and secondary schools in Wisconsin has a right to a comprehensive program of library…

Discusses critical issues in school library media programs, including problems in the profession; building the collection to support the curriculum; resource-based education; literature-based reading programs; conceptual frameworks for new technologies, new kinds of textbooks, and differentiated staffing; professional leadership by administrators…

Intended for teachers, librarians, and reading specialisits, the articles in this collection of essays address the problem of how to determine, capture, and then maintain children's interest in the reading process. Preceded by biographical information on the contributors and a brief introduction, the essays have been placed into one of four major…

This study provides evidence of the positive impact of library media centers (LMCs) on academic achievement in 221 Colorado public schools during the 1988-89 school year. The importance of the library media specialist's instructional role is also verified. In contrast to previous research on the relationship, this study uses schools rather than…