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Educators' Spotlight Digest Welcomes Kori Gerbig

If you look at this issue's Credits for Educators' Spotlight Digest (ESD), you will see that there is a new position. It is  Assistant Editor and we are pleased to announce that Kori M. Gerbig has accepted this role. Kori is not new to ESD. She has reported news events, written a number of AASL columns, and helped to coordinate many ESD issues. Kori is now the Youth Services Librarian at the Salina Library in Syracuse, NY. Previously, Kori worked for several years as graduate assistant with Syracuse University's Center for Digital Literacy. In her role, she worked on many aspects of S.O.S. for Information Literacy. We are fortunate that Kori will continue to contribute to ESD as Assistant Editor. In this issue's TIPS column, Kori Gerbig looks at the new AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner as they relate to the outreach theme for this issue.

Reported by Marilyn P. Arnone

ESD initially focused on K-12 libraries. Little more than two years ago, it expanded its coverage to academic libraries with a special interest on the connection between the high school senior and the college freshman. We are now interested in discovering what the readers of ESD feel about adding public libraries as another library focus of ESD. Would readers be interested in a column that explores, as one possibility, the potential partnerships between public and school libraries? Should the Motivational Strategies That Work column be expanded to include strategies that foster information literacy through public libraries? If you are interested, please respond to our brief 2-item poll with a) whether this is of interest or not, and b) if yes, what you would like to see. Link to the poll. We will report on the results in the June issue of ESD.

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Should S.O.S. Lesson Plans Be Tagged with the New AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner?

In October 2007, AASL unveiled its new Standards for the 21st Century Learner at the AASL Conference in Reno, NV. The S.O.S. resource currently uses the national information literacy standards (i.e., Information Power standards) published by ALA in 1998. An Indicators Task Force along with an Implementation Task Force and others continue to do important work so that these new standards can be successfully implemented in every school library media program. We are interested in whether readers think that S.O.S. should begin tagging its lesson plans with the new standards NOW or WAIT until they are further refined. Link to the 2-item poll if you would like to respond.

The Spring/Summer Issue of ESD will be published in June. Reading will be a major theme of the issue.

In the new AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner, the importance of reading as a "foundational skill for learning, personal growth, and enjoyment" (AASL, 2007) is one of the common beliefs upon which the standards are based. If you are willing, please use this publication to share with your colleagues your professional expertise and experiences related to students and reading. We have created a link to collect your ideas on any of the following:

• encouraging reading for enjoyment and personal growth,
• fostering an interest in different literary genres,
• helping students improve their reading skills,
• participating in a social exchange to explore literature in any of a variety of formats including social networks,
• using creative formats to express personal learning from literature,
• helping students to make connections with previous reading, with oneself, with others, and the world,
• a reading program or intervention that has been successful in your school, or
• any other aspect of reading of your choice.
  

We look forward to having a number of readers contribute to this issue.

Reported by Marilyn P. Arnone

The Impact of the New York State's School Libraries and Librarians: A Sneak Peek at the Findings

In recent years, a number of statewide research studies have been conducted to determine the impact of school library media centers and their school library media specialists on student achievement. These researchers have identified some possible best practices that correlate positively with and contribute to student achievement. Significant research findings have clearly established the relationship between well-staffed, well-funded school libraries with active information literacy instructional programs, and state-wide standardized test scores (Todd, in Tepe and Geitgey 2002).

This article summarizes the findings, to date, for the most current state study, conducted by a research team from Syracuse University, in one of the largest and most diverse states in the nation---New York, a state which mandates certified school library professionals at the secondary level only and does not require its certified library media specialists to have teaching credentials.  This multi-phase research, funded by the U.S. Institute of Museum & Library Services, extends previous statewide library impact studies, using multiple research methods to investigate the impact of school library programs, services, and resources on New York State students’ (1) achievement, (2) motivation for learning, (3) technology use, and (4) families and communities. It also explores library services and resources for students with disabilities.

This research has four phases: an online, general survey for all library media specialists and principals in New York State (Phase I), an online in-depth survey for library media specialists, classroom teachers, students, and principals in 46 selected schools (Phase II), in-person and electronic focus groups and interviews with principals, library media specialists, classroom teachers, students, and parents in eight selected schools (Phase III), and a comparative case study focusing on services and resources for students with disabilities.

The research uses as its theoretical framework (1) Deci & Ryan’s self-determination theory (e.g., 2000) which looks at the degree to which a context is autonomy supportive, (2) Small & Arnone’s Motivation Overlay to Information Literacy (IL) Skills Models (2000), an overlay to existing IL models based on expectancy-value theory (a person’s motivation to perform is based on how much the task is valued and how much the person expects to succeed at the task), and (3) national information literacy standards as specified in both Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning (ALA/AECT, 1998) and the new Standards for the 21^st Century Learner (ALA, 2008).

To date, analysis has been completed on Phase I data only. General survey responses from library media specialists totaled 1612 (38.5%), including 31% of New York City’s public school librarians, representing all needs-resource (socio-economic factors) categories and all geographic areas (counties) in New York States. Findings from Phase I indicate:

•  Students at schools with certified library media specialists have, on average, higher fourth grade ELA (English Language Arts) scores than students at schools without a certified library media specialist.

• Certified library media specialists are more likely (than non-certified personnel placed in the library) to make a point of selecting materials for their library collection that represent different points of view.

• Certified library media specialists are more likely (than non-certified personnel placed in the library) to make a point of selecting materials for their library collection that support the general curriculum.

• The library media specialist’s perception of his/her program’s ability to motivate students to learn is significantly correlated with the importance he or she places on teaching basic information literacy skills.

• Elementary library media specialists are significantly more likely to develop programs that motivate students than those in secondary or K-12 schools.

• Principals believe they are significantly more supportive of their library media specialist and library media program than library media specialists believe their principals are.

In addition,

• While library media specialists largely report addressing individual student learning abilities, needs, and styles, IEPs, and selecting materials that feature individuals with disabilities when planning, implementing and modifying library programs and services, they also indicate less attention paid to adequate physical accessibility and access to assistive technologies for students with disabilities. Library media specialists have an important role to play regarding the use of technology to support teaching and learning in their schools, including 
  • 74% of library media specialists provide guidance to students in the use of digital resources at least once a week.
  • 65% of library media specialists assist staff in using information in a variety of media formats (books, CDs, DVDs, etc) at least once a week.
  • 46.1% of schools surveyed provide students with access to the library catalogue from home.

Data from Phases II and III are currently being analyzed. Stay tuned…

Works Cited:

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268.

Small, R.V. and Arnone, M.P. (2000). Turning Kids On to Research: The Power of Motivation. Libraries Unlimited, Littleton, CO.

Tepe, A.E. and Geitgey, G.A. (2002). Student Learning Through Ohio School Libraries: A Proposal submitted to The State Library of Ohio. October, 2002.

Reported by:

Ruth V. Small, Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor
Jaime Snyder & Katie Parker, Doctoral Students
School of Information Studies
Syracuse University