Date of Award
Fall 2018
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
Educational Studies
First Advisor
Toby Jenkins-Henry
Abstract
The role of the school librarian has greatly evolved from its origination as a person who solely checks out books or reads to students. School librarians are a vital part of schools and, when utilized appropriately, can be an integral part of the learning process with students. When collaboration occurs regularly, collaborative relationships between school librarians and teachers have been found to improve students’ academic performance. This paper describes a proposed action research study, which stems from the lack of a collaborative relationship between the school librarian and teachers at a middle school in South Carolina. The study focuses on teachers’ perceptions of the role of the school librarian and the way in which those perceptions affect the teachers’ likelihood to work collaboratively with the school librarian. Utilizing an action research methodology, I designed a questionnaire to determine the perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding the role of the school librarian and collaboration. A questionnaire was administered before and after two professional development sessions to instruct the teachers on ways in which the school librarian can work collaboratively with the teachers in order to improve student academic performance. Details for data collection and analysis are provided, as well as an action plan delineating the ways in which the results will be utilized to establish an effective school library collaborative at Bloomington Middle School (pseudonym).
Rights
© 2018, Jennifer C. Mandrell
Recommended Citation
Mandrell, J. C.(2018). The Effect of Professional Development on Teachers’ Perceptions of the Role of School Librarians: An Action Research Study. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5000