DLA
DLA TwitterSchool Librarian support petition
“Many of the secondary schools in the Christina School District in Wilmington, Delaware intend to continue to operate without librarians. Despite the passing of a recent referendum that will enable the district to employ more teachers and reduce the average class size, the district will continue to open many of its doors to students without offering them access to a dedicated school librarian that can help them decipher resources and remain engaged and enthusiastic about the power of reading.
School libraries are incredibly important to academic life and study after study have proven that fact. Over the past 20 years, numerous studies have shown that elementary schools with at least one full-time certified teacher-librarian performed better on state tests. In a 2010 study conducted in Colorado, more children scored “proficient” or “advanced” in reading in schools with a full-time, credentialed librarian than those without. In an article published in 2015, the authors reviewed a multitude of studies that consistently show that students who have a full-time librarian in their schools perform better on their reading and writing scores than those who don’t have one. One study, “Pennsylvania School Libraries Pay Off: Investments in Student Achievement and Academic Standards”, revealed that students with full-time librarians in their schools are almost three times as likely to have “advanced” writing scores, compared to those students without full-time librarians.”