GRAPHIC: if a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a picture book in an elementary school library worth?

●●smf: I found this image on my computer. A internet search shows it’s from an UCLA/IDEA article. Wherever it’s from it does no good cluttering up my hard drive.

UCLA IDEA has analyzed data recently released by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for the 2009-10 school year covering all states and Washington, D.C.¹ Accordingly, California ranks:

•    49^th in students per teacher. The state’s average is 22.4 students per high school teacher, whereas the nation averages 12 students per high school teacher.

•    51^st in students per guidance counselor. Each California counselor serves 810 students, whereas the nation averages 459 per counselor.

•    51^st in students per librarian. While the nation averages 949 students per school librarian, California is almost six times higher averaging 5,489 students per school librarian.

¹ Chen, C. (2011). Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment and Staff Counts From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2009–10 (NCES 2011-347). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved 9/20/11 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.