Dear Kansas Education Commission:
As you examine reauthorization of ESEA, please remember the role of qualified school librarians.
I am a high school librarian in Council Grove, a small district. We are currently in our second year on improvement though we met the Standard of Excellence in every one of our buildings last year. However, our Special Education subgroup was not proficient the year before last.
In many ways going on improvement, though painful, has been one of the best things that ever happened to us. With the leadership of our administration, particularly that of Kelly Gentry, our Curriculum Director, we have been trained in MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Supports) and have methodically changed the system of reading instruction in our buildings. We have already seen improvement and expect to see more as we continue to develop the system.
Our libraries, staffed by people who are trained to work not only with books, technology, and information but also with students and teachers, have been a vital part of this process and serve a role in every one of the priorities of reauthorization that you are examining now.
College- and Career-Ready Students
One frequently voiced complaint about ESEA is that the emphasis is on struggling students. The progress of the core and advanced students are sometimes taken for granted or, worse yet, forgotten. A good library provides extra material to draw successful students in and further develop their strengths. It also provides interesting material for struggling students. A trained librarian knows how to teach all students to succeed. Once students have their basic skills in place and the core content mastered, they require development and mastery at the next level. The library provides that, tying everything together in a coherent way to support the kind of 21st century skills students will need to succeed once they graduate from high school.
Great Teachers and Leaders in Every School
I believe our state can be proud of its teachers. They are well trained, dedicated, and hard working. The problem with a school system, however, is that teachers often exist in an isolated silo without the resources to collaborate effectively with curriculum and technology leaders or even with other teachers. An effective, trained librarian works with all these people and can make connections between existing people and resources that the classroom teacher cannot make. In fact, it is the librarian’s job to do so.
Equity and Opportunity for All Students
Many studies have shown that a book rich environment produces successful students. One of the most recent is a meta-analysis of 108 studies by Learning Point Associates showing that book lending results in positive behavioral, educational, and psychological student outcomes. http://www.learningpt.org/expertise/literacy/readingisfundamental.php Kansas has no need to create something new to distribute books to all students. School libraries are already in place to do just that. Kansas just needs to avoid dismantling what is already in place.
Raise the Bar and Reward Excellence
Teach Like a Champion begins Chapter One with this statement: “One consistent finding of academic research is that high expectations are the most reliable driver of high student achievement, even in students who do not have a history of successful achievement.” The book then goes on to look at five concrete ways that teachers demonstrating high expectations pull exceptional results from their students. A librarian with a teacher’s training and background can pull those same results from students while mentoring other teachers in the techniques.
Promote Innovation and Continuous Improvement
The American Association of School Librarians has been heavily involved in promoting 21st Century Skills and has developed library standards that use the skills as a framework. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm The library is a natural incubator for technological and educational innovation serving as a learning commons for individual students and classes who require the resources and skills to produce quality work. This does not always occur within the four walls of the library. Council Grove High School Library has a vibrant online presence and material and information is available to students in the virtual and in the physical realms. http://kasl.typepad.com/cghs_library/
Solid school libraries are important to a solid education. Kansas has been innovative in the development and nurture of school library programs for over fifty years. Once they are gone, they will take a long time to build again.
Martha House
Council Grove High School Librarian
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