Feature Articles

School Library Media Activities Monthly/Volume XXIII, Number 3/November 2006

Editor's note: "Building Evidence Folders for Learning through Library Media Centers," was selected by the ALA Library Instruction Round Table as one of LIRT's "Top Twenty" articles in library instruction for 2006. Top Twenty choices can be found in a LIRT newsletter at http://www3.baylor.edu/LIRT/.

Building Evidence Folders for Learning through Library Media Centers

by Violet H. Harada

The controversy over the 65% Solution underscores the public's perception that library media centers do not provide vital instructional programs. This legislation, enacted in states such as Texas, Kansas, and Louisiana, pumps 65% of a state's educational budget into direct classroom resources (Toppo 2006). Unfortunately, library media specialists are classified as non-instructional support personnel according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Because of this, the American Association of School Librarians has produced a position statement on the instructional classification of library media specialists in hopes of including certified library media specialists as part of the NCES "instruction" classification (http://www.ala.org/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/positionstatements/
instclass.htm).

Even without the 65% Solution, however, library media programs are frequently on the chopping block when school budgets shrink. A principal in that predicament recently told me, "I would love to keep my library media specialist but I have to consider my priorities. I need to retain the positions and programs that show my students are actually learning." Indeed!

When building level administrators and school advisory councils meet to wrangle over budgets, they seek to support programs that demonstrate positive student growth in areas of high need. The big question is whether you, as a library media specialist, are able to produce this type of evidence. While many library media specialists spend a major portion of their week engaged in instructional activities, the impact of their teaching is often invisible (Harada and Yoshina 2006). The following are critical questions that library media specialists must wrestle with:

• How does your library media center support student learning?
• What compelling evidence do you have that students have achieved the learning targets?

For library media specialists who have been comfortable with traditional forms of reporting, responses to the above questions require a dramatic paradigm shift from an object-oriented approach to a student-oriented approach of assessment and evaluation. The object-oriented approach centers on evaluation reports that include statistical counting of "things" such as new acquisitions, circulation figures, and numbers of instructional sessions and planning meetings. The student-oriented approach focuses on assessment of student performance. It involves not only what students learn but also the degree to which student learning is demonstrated (Harada and Yoshina 2005).

The Hawaii Experiment

Library media specialists in Hawaii, like many of their colleagues elsewhere in the nation, are exploring ways to design and implement this type of student-oriented assessment. As one elementary library media specialist stated:

I teach at least four classes a day but I haven't really addressed the issue of assessment. I informally eyeball what the kids are doing as I circulate among them but that's about it. I am now realizing this is not enough. At the last faculty meeting, my principal asked the entire faculty to focus on evidence of student learning. I sat there thinking, I know I have been doing a good job of teaching but I also know that I haven't been collecting or communicating evidence of what the kids are actually learning in my library media center. That is going to be my big challenge this year.

To tackle the issue of assessment in Hawaii's school library media centers, twenty-four K-12 library media specialists are currently participating in a pilot project to develop evidence folders. These folders are intended as communication tools with key stakeholder groups in the school community. The data and information included in the folder center on the library media center's contribution to academic achievement.

This pilot project, entitled "School Librarians Help Students Achieve: Here's the Evidence!," is the collaborative brainchild of the Hawaii Association of School Librarians, the University of Hawaii's Library and Information Science Program, and the Hawaii Department of Education's School Library Services. This year-long professional development initiative incorporates face-to-face sessions and online communication via a listserv and a website.

The project employs a practice-based approach that centers on library media specialists using lessons and curricula from their own schools as the artifacts for improvement (Ball and Cohen 1999). They have opportunities to critique each other's work and offer suggestions for improvement in face-to-face sessions. Using the online tools, they continue the dialogue, exchange ideas, and provide critical support to one another as they strive to create evidence folders for their own school library media programs. The rest of this article describes the approach they are taking and the steps involved in constructing these evidence folders.

A Strategic Approach to Assessment

The core of the evidence folder is the synthesis and analysis of student learning that results from library instruction. The library media specialists in Hawaii realize that they cannot formally assess all of the lessons they teach; therefore, they are employing a strategic tactic to assessment (Harada 2005). They begin by asking themselves the following questions:

• What are the most critical learning gaps that my students are facing at this time?
• How does my teaching support the classroom teachers' efforts to close the gaps?

These questions are essential ones because they force library media specialists to consider the value of what they teach from the perspective of the classroom.

For all of the Hawaii schools, these gaps are rooted in the mandates of No Child Left Behind (U. S. Department of Education n.d.) and in the state's content and performance standards (Hawaii State Department of Education 2005). At the same time, the library media specialists are prudently taking baby steps forward through building their evidence folders. In getting started, they have each selected one or two lessons that are clearly aligned with the identified learning gaps in their respective schools.

Through participation in this project, they are aware that effective assessment is not simply a matter of adding a rubric to an existing lesson plan. To build stronger assessment components into the lessons, they have adopted a "backward mapping" strategy that requires an outcome-focused examination of existing instruction (Wiggins and McTighe 1998). The reflective process involves the following:

• Connecting the selected lesson to the state's content and performance standards. This is an important first step because it clearly indicates that the library instruction reinforces the skills and dispositions that the classroom is also trying to achieve.
• Stating the learning goal of the selected lesson. The learning goal must precisely identify the learner(s) and the specific concept or skill being learned.
• Describing the performance task. The task answers the question: What must students do to demonstrate their understanding of the learning goal? It describes the task and the desired level of performance.
• Creating a tool or strategy to assess the quality of student performance. An effective tool allows the student and the instructor to clearly identify what is being learned and determine how well it is being learned. Checklists, rating scales, and rubrics are among the tools used. Graphic organizers including K-W-L charts, concept maps, and Venn diagrams are also valuable tools for assessment purposes. For more detailed information on these various instruments, refer to the list of assessment resources at the end of this article.
• Compiling and analyzing assessment data. The use of a spreadsheet program is one effective way to enter and tabulate assessment scores for a class. Spreadsheets also allow you to merge assessment data from several classes if you are developing a composite profile by grade level or by course. An added advantage of spreadsheets is that you can easily create graphs and charts with the information.
• Reflecting by instructors on ways to improve their teaching strategies based on assessment data. Importantly, the tabulated data helps the library media specialist answer the following questions: What did most of the students learn well? What was problematic for them? Based on the assessment findings, how might I modify my instruction to improve student learning?
• Reflecting by students on ways to improve their own learning skills. A key aspect of assessment is students gaining the confidence and know-how to accurately reflect on their own progress and achievement. By engaging in self-assessment, the students ask themselves the following questions: What did I do well in this lesson? What was hard for me and why? How might I do things differently?

Figures 1, 2, and 3 (pages 28-29) elaborate on various aspects of an outcome-focused approach to assessment.

Evidence Folders

As mentioned earlier, the selected lessons and resulting student performances form the guts of an evidence folder. It is important to remember that the audiences for the folder are stakeholder groups that influence decision making at the school level, i.e., administrators, school advisory boards, and teaching colleagues. The language used should be jargon-free and clear to non-educators. Key components of an evidence folder include the following:

• A brief description of how the library's mission connects with the school's mission
• A brief description of the school's major learning targets for the school year
• A brief description of how instruction in the library media center connects with school's learning targets
• Samples of lessons taught in the library media center that connect with the school's learning targets
• Samples of student work for each lesson included in the folder
• Displays of compiled assessment data that communicate what students learned from these lessons
• Samples of commentary from students about possible future improvements
• Samples of commentary from instructors about possible teaching improvements

Figures 4 and 5 (page 30) provide tips and suggestions for developing evidence folders.

Summary

Unlike a portfolio, which is primarily intended for self-assessment, an evidence folder is a way to communicate what students learn through the library media center to other members of the school community. It can be a paper document; it can also be rendered electronically. The critical message is that library media centers contribute directly to student achievement. Assessment, therefore, is not an incidental but a central part of the process.

Resources for Assessment

Andrade, H. G. "Using Rubrics to Promote Thinking and Learning." Educational Leadership 57, no. 5 (February 2000): 13-18.

Davies, Anne. Making Classroom Assessment Work. Connections, 2000.

Donham, J. Assessment of Information Processes and Products. Follett Software, 1998.

Gregory, K., C. Cameron, and A. Davies. Self-Assessment and Goal-Setting for Use in Middle and Secondary School Classrooms. Connections, 2000.

Herman, J. L., P. R. Aschbacker, and L. Winters. A Practical Guide to Alternative Assessment. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1992.

Luongo-Orlando, K. Authentic Assessment: Designing Performance-Based Tasks. Pembroke Publishers, 2003. Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. Assessment Home - Toolkit 98. http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/toolkit98.php (accessed August 9, 2006).

Pappas, M. "Organizing Research." School Library Media Activities Monthly 14, no. 4 (December 1997): 30-32.

Pearson Prentice Hall. Professional Development-Hot Topics-Assessment. http://www.phschool.com/professional_development/assessment/
rubrics.html (accessed August 9, 2006).

Schrock, K. Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators: Assessment and Rubric Information. http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html (accessed August 9, 2006).

Stefl-Mabry, J. "Building Rubrics into Powerful Learning Assessment Tools." Knowledge Quest 32, no. 5 (May-June 2004): 19-23.

Stiggins, R. Student-Centered Classroom Assessment. Prentice Hall, 1997.

Strickland, K., and J. Strickland. Making Assessment Elementary. Heinemann, 2000.

U.S. Department of Education. Rubistar: Rubistar Rubric Generator. http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ (accessed August 9, 2006).

University of Wisconsin-Stout. Teacher Created Rubrics for Assessment. http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/rubrics.shtml (accessed August 9, 2006).

Cited References

American Association of School Librarians. "Position Statement on Instructional Classification." http://www.ala.or/ala/aasl/aaslproftools/positionstatements/instclass.htm (accessed August 8, 2006).

Ball, D. L., and D. K. Cohen. "Developing Practice, Developing Practitioners: Toward a Practice-based Theory of Professional Education." In Teaching as the Learning Profession: Handbook of Policy and Practice, edited by L. Darling-Hammond and G. Sykes, 3-32. Jossey-Bass 1999.

Harada, V. H. "Working Smarter: Being Strategic about Assessment and Accountability." Teacher Librarian 33, no. 1 (October 2005): 8-15.

Harada, V. H., and J. M. Yoshina. Assessing Learning: Librarians and Teachers as Partners. Libraries Unlimited, 2005.

Harada, V. H., and J. M. Yoshina. "Assessing Learning: The Missing Piece in Instruction?" School Library Media Activities Monthly 22, no. 7 (March 2006): 20-23.

Hawaii State Department of Education. Hawaii Content & Performance Standards III Database. http://standardstoolkit.k12.hi.us/index.html (accessed August 8, 2006).

U.S. Department of Education. No Child Left Behind. http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml (accessed August 8, 2006).

Toppo, G. "States Sign On to '65% Solution' for Funding Schools." USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2006-04-10-65-percent-solution_x.htm (accessed July 20, 2006).

Wiggins, G., and J. McTighe. Understanding by Design. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1998.

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