Analysis of secondary school library media programs in relation to academic success of Ball State University students in their freshman and sophomore years

A basic assumption held by media specialists is that the media center is an educational agency which provides supportive services to the educational process by contributing to the academic success of students. It is further assumed that the availability and use of media will aid students in formal educational pursuits. The existances of a high media-student ratio, if it does contribute to students' academic success, should then be reflected in recorded grade-point averages. Using college grade-point averages as the measure of academic success, this study was designed to determine whether or not a high media-student ratio contributes markedly to the formal education of students.Media's contribution to education is an area of media service which availability is but one of the many facets. However, the availability of media is a prerequisite to utilization and was therefore established as a basic variable in the design of the study.Specifically the following five major research questions were posed:1) Do students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a high media-student ratio achieve higher grade-point averages than students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a low media-student ratio?2) Do students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a high media-student ratio more often express satisfaction from study than do students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a low media-student ratio?3) Do students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a high media-student ratio more often express interest in assuming responsibility for their own learning than do students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a low media-student ratio?4) Do students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a high media-student ratio more often express the opinion that the library media program improved their ability to solve academic problems than do those students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a low media-student ratio?5) Do students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a high media-student ratio more often express the opinion that the library media program improved their ability to understand different views and philosophies than do those students matriculating from Indiana high schools with a low media-student ratio?The first research question was tested by means of analysis of covariance using the SAT Mathematics and English scores as the covariate and the grade-point-averages as the criteria.The last four research questions were answered from data gathered by means of a questionnaire which sought the opinions and values of students concerning the media programs which were available in the high schools from which they graduated.The questionnaire was sent to a sample of 200 students representing 20 Indiana secondary schools. Ten of the schools had a high media-student ratio and ten had a low media-student ratio. The schools were identified by means of the "Individual School Evaluation and Report-Instructional Materials Program." Access to this material was granted by the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Indianapolis, Indiana.The comparison of the high media-student ratio group and the low media-student ratio group did not indicate any marked differences in the academic records when the criteria of accumulated average grade-point was applied as a measure of success.The results of the last four research questions, upon which the questionnaire was based did not show any marked differences in opinions and values as stated by the students with a high media-student ratio when compared with the responses from the low-media-student ratio group.In this study the availability of a high media-student ratio group did not appear to reflect any marked differences in the academic successes of the high media-student group in comparison to the low media-student group which constituted the population sample utilized in the study.Thesis (D. Ed.