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The maker movement’s philosophy of thinking and doing has been adopted by educators as a way to promote learning, but wide scale academic outcomes of makerspaces remain largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between School Library Media Center makerspaces and academic achievement. A quantitative method was used to explore the association between certified Library Media Specialists, Library Media Center makerspaces, and achievement scores, controlling for demographics. There was a consistent, significant, positive relationship between certified Library Media Specialists and student achievement across standardized tests. Schools with certified Library Media Specialists were positively associated with access to Library Media Center makerspaces, maker activities, collaboration, and Inquiry or Problem-based learning. Library programs with Inquiry or Problem-based learning were associated with higher achievement scores. Despite similar theoretical underpinnings, maker activities had either no significant relationship or a negative relationship with student achievement scores. A similar pattern emerged for Library Media Center makerspaces with either no statistically significant relationship or a negative relationship with student achievement scores. One possible explanation for these findings emerged from the data analysis, which also showed a consistent, significant, negative relationship between schools with high percentages of Economically Disadvantaged students and access to Library Media Specialists, Library Media Center Makerspaces, and maker activities. Economic markers were clearly associated with access to resources. There was also a negative association found between library-teacher collaboration and scores in just over half of the assessments analyzed, but the variable did not address the certification status of the collaborators or frequency and quality of the collaborative efforts. The main findings of this study consistently support the benefit of certified School Library Media Specialists and value for equitably funded School Library Media Centers to improve academic outcomes.
Advisor: | Campbell, James R. |
Commitee: | Keogan, William, Kiley-Rendon, Patrick |
School: | St. John's University (New York) |
Department: | SoE Educational Administration and Supervision |
School Location: | United States -- New York |
Source: | DAI-A 81/8(E), Dissertation Abstracts International |
Source Type: | DISSERTATION |
Subjects: | Library science, Education, Educational evaluation |
Keywords: | Equity, Librarians, Makerspace, Library media centers, School libraries |
Publication Number: | 27663441 |
ISBN: | 9781658426275 |