Characteristics of schools with and without paid certified teacher-librarians:

• Of the 1,486 schools who responded to the library survey, 1,437 or 96.7% reported that they have a library facility.   
• Among schools who have a library facility, 66.4% also employ a certified teacher-librarian; 48.4% full-time and 18% part-time.
• Schools in rural locations far from major urban centers are significantly less likely to employ a certified teacher-librarian than are schools in more central locations.
• Compared to schools with CTLs, schools that do NOT employ a certified teacher-librarian (CTL) are more likely than those who employ CTLs to have the following characteristics:  
• Located in smaller districts.
• Located in counties with higher unemployment rates, higher rates of eligibility for SNAP (food stamps) and higher rates of substantiated child abuse and neglect.
• Enrollment of <500 students.
• Higher percentage of students eligible for Free or Reduced Price Lunch.

Student performance in high schools with and without paid certified teacher-librarians

• Students who attend high schools with libraries AND CTLs are significantly more likely to pass high school standardized reading and math tests. 
• Schools with libraries ANDs CTLs have significantly higher 5-year cohort graduations rates and significantly lower drop-out rates.
• High schools located in small, rural low-income counties and that employ CTLs perform better on indicators of student success than do comparable schools without CTLs. 

  Implications:

• Students attending schools with certified teacher-librarians on staff perform better on standardized tests and are more likely to graduate from high school than are students attending schools without certified teacher-librarians.
• Schools located in rural, smaller counties with higher rates of poverty and unemployment are also less likely to employ certified teacher-librarians.

 Next Steps:

• Identify the factors associated with a strong library system that are correlated to student success.  
• Expand the analysis to elementary and middle schools.  
• Prepare a detailed report of the results.