School Library Access as Related to Student Reading Comprehension in an Urban East Tennessee School District

• Main Author: Church, Lori
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2018
• Subjects: economically disadvantaged; free or reduced meals; library access; reading acement; reading comprehension; socioeconomic statushiev; Educational Leadership
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/3479; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4907&context=etd

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of school library access on student reading comprehension as measured by the Easy CBM universal screener test. The population consisted of 5th and 6th grade students enrolled in one intermediate school in an urban school system in East Tennessee. Data were analyzed for the population of the 2016-2017 academic school year. Specifically, this study considered the impact of school library access on students who qualify for free or reduced meals. A quantitative study was used to find correlations and differences in the reading comprehension data and library checkout data for fifth and sixth grade students who do or do not qualify for free or reduced meals in an urban East Tennessee school district. A quasi-experimental design was selected because preexisting data were collected on 1,003 fifth and sixth grade students enrolled and assessed during the 2016 – 2017 school year. The reading comprehension levels from the Easy CBM universal screener were collected for each of the students in the study. The number of class library visits for each student’s language arts teacher as well as the total checkout numbers for each student were also collected for each student in the study. The results of the study indicated a significant positive correlation in the number of checkouts and class library visits for all students. Results also indicated a significant positive correlation in the number of checkouts for students who qualify for free and reduced meals when these students are taken to the library as part of their language arts instructional block. Additional results of the study indicated a significant positive correlation between the number of books checked out and reading comprehension scores when all students are considered. There was significant difference in the number of books checked out by students who did not qualify for free or reduced meals, with those students checking out approximately one more book than students who do qualify for free or reduced meals. Finally, results of the study indicate a significant difference in reading comprehension scores for student who students who do not qualify for free or reduced meals and students who do qualify. Students who do not qualify for free or reduced meals scored significantly higher than students who do qualify.