Effective collaboration methods of school media specialists and classroom teachers

The purpose of this investigative study was to determine if student achievement was greater when media specialists and classroom teachers spent more time collaborating. This was accomplished by surveying media specialists and the classroom teachers they collaborated with. Surveys were mailed to media specialists in the Cherry Hill Public School District in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Those media specialists were asked to present a separate survey to classroom teachers they had collaborated with. Results of the surveys determined that 54% of media specialists and classroom teachers felt that their students achieved higher on lesson assessments when the media specialist and classroom teacher collaborated for less than 15 minutes. When media specialists and classroom teachers collaborated for more than 15 minutes, 87% felt that their students achieved higher on lesson assessments. This concluded that students were more likely to achieve higher on lesson assessments when the media specialists and classroom teachers spent more time collaborating.