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Volume 11, Issue 4
July 2012
Association News
Education News
Resources for School Librarians
Grants & Awards
Professional Development
Partnership News
Member Spotlight
AASL e-Academy Courses Start this Month!
Register now for one or more of the AASL e-Academy courses scheduled through the end of summer. These four-week self-paced courses are designed to give participants 12 hours of learning led by experts in the school library field. The upcoming course schedule includes:
• Design for Understanding Meets the 21st Century School Librarian
July 9 – Aug. 3
Facilitator: Mary Keeling
• From 0 to 60: Implement eBooks in Your Library Program in 4 Weeks
July 16 – Aug. 10
Facilitator: Richard Hasenyager
• Making a Place, Making a Case for Read-Alouds: A Powerful Teaching Tool for Literacy
July 16 – Aug. 10
Facilitator: Christina Dorr
AASL e-Academy courses are led in Moodle, a Web-based online learning system that students can access from their browser. Each course is designed with the busy school librarian in mind - participants can complete coursework at a time that is most convenient for them. Detailed descriptions of each course and registration information are available on the AASL e-Academy pages.
AASL  Announces 2012 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning
At the American Library Association’s 2012 Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif., AASL announced the 2012 Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning. In its fourth year, the annual list of websites honors the top 25 Internet sites for enhancing learning and curriculum development for school librarians and their teacher collaborators. The free list is considered the "best of the best" by AASL. The Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning were named so because they are user-friendly sites that foster the qualities of innovation, creativity, active participation, collaboration, and provide a foundation to support AASL's Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. The sites offer tools and resources in media sharing, digital storytelling, managing
and organizing, social networking and communication, curriculum collaboration, content resources with lesson plans and more. Each website is linked to one or more of the four strands of the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner – skills, dispositions in action, responsibilities and self-assessment strategies. The Top 25 Websites list is based on feedback and nominations from AASL members. School librarians can nominate their most used websites at the Top 25 web page.
Thought Leader Videos Explore the Development of the Whole Child in School Libraries
AASL presents the newest set of podcasts in its 30 Second Thought Leadership: Insights from Leaders in the School Library Community, a series that features school librarian experts delivering brief and practical advice based on the themes of Knowledge Quest issues. The 30 Second series focuses on the May/June Knowledge Quest issue, “Caring is Essential,” and explores the question, “How do school library programs contribute to the development of the Whole Child?” Leaders include:
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Sean Slade, director of Whole Child Programs at ASCD
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Jami Jones, associate professor in the department of library science east at East Carolina University
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Kafi Kumasi, assistant professor for the school of library and information science at Wayne State University
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Olga Nesi, library coordinator for the New York City School Library System
For more about Knowledge Quest visit the journal online.
AASL's Crosswalk Connects Common Core Math State Standards
AASL’s new Common Core crosswalk provides a free tool for school librarians in states that have adopted the Common Core to utilize in demonstrating the school library program’s connection to these standards. It connects the AASL learning standards with the Mathematics Common Core State Standards and is available on the AASL website and as a feature of the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner Lesson Plan Database. To supplement the crosswalk, the AASL website also provides school librarians a list of resources, including websites, books and apps that can be used during math instruction. This resource list was compiled by the AASL working group that also created the math standards crosswalk. School librarians are encouraged share
other resources helpful to math instruction by leaving a comment on the Web page.
Dollar General Renews Support of School Libraries Impacted by Natural Disasters
The Dollar General Literacy Foundation has renewed its commitment to AASL and school libraries across the country by dedicating an additional $435,000 in grants to Beyond Words: The Dollar General School Library Relief Fund. This donation brings the Dollar General Literacy Foundation’s support of rebuilding school libraries impacted by natural disaster to a total of $1.6 million. In addition, the new round of grants offers two annual catastrophic awards and an increase in grant amounts. Previous grants ranged from $5,000 to $15,000. Grants now range from $10,000 to $20,000. The Dollar General Literacy Foundation awards grants annually to schools, nonprofit organizations and libraries to support education and literacy in the communities where its customers, employees and their families live and work. Available grants and a complete list of grant recipients are available the Dollar General Website.
AASL Fall Forum Toolkit Helps School Librarians "Make Their Case"
To help school librarians demonstrate to their supervisors the value of attending the 2012 Fall Forum, AASL has included a justification toolkit as part of its Fall Forum website. AASL understands that due to the economy, many schools have made cuts to their professional development budgets and have limited out-of-state training. With these restrictions, school librarians may need to justify the expense of attending the Fall Forum, regardless of the merits of the institute. The Justification toolkit contains general information, tips, worksheets and approval letter templates school librarians can utilize when making their presentations. AASL’s national institute, “Transliteracy and the School Library Program,” will
take place Oct. 12-13, 2012, in Greenville, S.C., and satellite site offerings include Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Pennsylvania, North Texas and the California Bay Area. For more information on the Fall Forum visit the forum website.
AASL Encourages Personal Members to Apply for 2013 Class of ALA Emerging Leaders
ALA is now accepting applications for the 2013 class of Emerging Leaders. Details on the program criteria as well as a link to the application can be found on the Emerging Leaders Web page. The deadline to apply is Aug. 3. The program is designed to enable library workers to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership. Participants are given the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, network with peers and gain an understanding of the ALA structure and wide range of activities. An ALA division, round table, ethnic affiliate, state chapter or school library affiliate organization will sponsor nearly all of the selected applicants. Each sponsor will contribute $1,000 toward expenses of attending the ALA Midwinter Meeting and Annual Conference ($500 for each conference). A list of sponsoring units, including AASL, is included as part of the online application.
NBPTS Releases Revised Library Media Standards
The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) has issued revised standards for Library Media. NBPTS is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan and nongovernmental organization. It was formed in 1987 to advance the quality of teaching and learning by developing professional standards for accomplished teaching, creating a voluntary system to certify teachers who meet those standards and integrating certified teachers into educational reform efforts.
CPE Brief Determines Changing U.S. Demographics Will Impact Achievement in Schools
A new brief by the Center for Public Education (CPE) finds that U.S. demographics trends have important implications for schools and school leaders. According to a new brief, the population is aging, and by 2050 the country will be a "majority minority society," one that no longer has a majority of any one racial or ethnic group. According to the report, between 2000 and 2010, 15 states saw their non-Hispanic white populations decline as the overall population continues to increase. These regional trends mean that schools will depend on financial support from an older, non-Hispanic white population without school-age children, and school leaders must take necessary steps to raise achievement for all groups to ensure that schools do not grow more separate and unequal. With the non-Hispanic white population shrinking and the entry-level workforce increasingly minority, researchers found that the nation could face shortages in science and medicine, since
non-white groups are typically underrepresented in these fields. The brief recommended that school leaders encourage minority students to take challenging math and science courses that prepare them for rewarding careers that also meet the nation's needs.
New Report Ranks Least Fairly Funded City Schools
As an accompaniment to School Finance 101’s upcoming annual report on school funding fairness, two lists have been released identifying some of the country’s least fairly funded districts. The lists focus on large, midsize, and small cities, and fringe districts of large, midsize, and small cities where:
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The combined state and local revenue per pupil is less than the average for districts in the same labor market (core based statistical area)
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The U.S. Census Poverty rate for the district is more than 50% higher than the average for districts in the same labor market
According to the report, districts with higher student needs than surrounding districts require the more total revenue per pupil. Higher-need districts need more money to recruit and retain similar quantities (per pupil) of similar-quality teachers. In addition, higher-need districts require additional program and service supports for helping kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, while still maintaining advanced and enriched course options. The report found that Chicago, Philadelphia, and Bridgeport, Connecticut rank among the least well-funded cities, with much higher poverty than their surroundings.
Study Finds Learners Develop Digital Literacies Through Trial-and-Error
A new study by JISC, a British Committee dedicated to information and digital technologies for education and research, found that learners develop a variety of digital literacies often through a social trial-and-error process, without the direct support or advice of their educational institutions. The study says that there is now a learning ‘black market’ where learners use non-traditional sources of information online, which may lack academic credibility. While these practices can be effective for their studies, students are often wary of citing such resources. Ths study also found that LinkedIn becomes more important to people in the later stages of their education; that there is more skepticism in the United States than the UK education system over students’ use of Wikipedia; and that students prefer email over instant messenger and other tools for ‘administrative’ tasks such as contacting a researcher.
Study Finds Wide Spacing Improves Reading for Dyslexic Kids
According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, offering reading materials with wider spacing between the letters can help dyslexic children read faster and better. In a sample of dyslexic children age eight to 14, extra-wide letter spacing doubled accuracy and increased reading speed by more than 20 percent. Scientists believe the approach worked because people with dyslexia are more affected than normal readers by a phenomenon known as "crowding," which makes a letter harder to identify when it is close to other letters. Researchers studied 94 dyslexic children, giving them a text made up of 24 short sentences to read in either standard or expanded letter spacing. In the standard text, the words were printed in Times-Roman font with a 14-point print size. In the expanded text, the space between letters was increased by 2.5 points. The space between lines of text was also increased to keep a proportional amount of white space on the page. Not
only did dyslexic children read faster, but the greatest benefits were observed in children who had the most problem identifying letters, the study found. Children without reading challenges showed no increase in reading speed when given materials in which letters were more widely spaced, suggesting that the benefit was unique to children with dyslexia.
Resources for School Librarians
White House Council Announces New Online Community for Rural Schools
The White House Rural Council has announced a new online community of practice group for rural schools, providing a platform for educators to connect to resources, tools, and learning activities, both within and beyond schools. Rural school leaders and teachers are invited to join this online community where they will be able to connect with peers in their home states and across the nation to exchange ideas and learn from one another.
Webinar Offers Resources for Education Leaders on Common Core Standards
Education Week will host a free webinar, Revealing How Education Leaders Can Work Together on Common-Standards Implementation, on Wednesday, July 11, from 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm (EST). Presenters will discuss what resources are available to guide principals and district leaders as districts prepare to train educators for the Common Core standards.
eSchool News Offers Keys to Creating Successful eLearning Programs
Experts outline key considerations for school leaders in each of four areas of importance.
A Platform for Good Offers List of Online Summer Resources
A Platform for Good offers "A parents' and kids' guide to on and off-line summer fun!" which includes 75 free resources for summer. A Platform for Good, an initiative by The Family Online Safety Institute, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to online safety that counts Facebook among its members, offers resources aimed at allowing parents, teachers, teens, and kids to team up and focus on online safety and to connect, share and do good.
Free Learning Resources on Historical American Battles
Living Battlefield of South Carolina offers free educational film clips, downloadable maps and lesson plans for educators to teach about historic American battles.
Reading Rainbow Returns as iPad App
Reading Rainbow, the TV show hosted by actor Levar Burton that taught children how to read, has returned after 26 years as a free iPad application. Rainbow App-titude offers access to hundreds of books from noted children's book publishers with a user option to read or have the story read to you at your own pace. Reading a book to completion earns electronic stickers. Selections can be stashed in a virtual book bag for fast retrieval or returned through an on-screen slot, just like a library. Along with the free app, one book is also offered for free.
Sodexo Foundation School Engagement Grant Offered for K-12 Educators
Youth Service America is offering grants of $5,000 are available to K-12 educators to engage students in a semester of service learning focused on childhood hunger in their communities. This program incorporates service-learning into a Semester of Service™ framework designed to engage students in a minimum of 70 hours of service and learning over a period of at least 10-14 weeks. This program focuses on building the academic subject areas of civics, social studies and language arts, but may also incorporate other academic areas. Applications are due July 15.
Harris Wofford Service-Learning Awards Recognize Public Service
The Harris Wofford Awards, presented by Youth Service America were established in 2002 to honor former Senator Harris Wofford. It was created to honor those who do extraordinary work towards achieving Senator Wofford's vision of "making service and service-learning the common expectation and common experience of every young person in America." The Wofford Awards recognize extraordinary achievements in five categories: Youth, Organizations, Media, Public Officials and Educators. The application deadline is July 22.
NAIS Offers Opportunity to Participate in Challenge 20/20 Program
The National Association of Independent Schools Challenge 20/20 Program gives schools the opportunity to develop globally based, experiential curricula and to build educational partnerships with schools around the world. Challenge 20/20 students form authentic bonds with students from across the globe and learn firsthand about cross-cultural communication; together, teams tackle real problems. The maximum award is participation in the Challenge 20/20 program. Elementary and secondary schools, public or private, located anywhere in the world, are eligible. The deadline is August 1.
ASCD Offers Outstanding Young Educator Award
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) is seeking nominations for its Outstanding Young Educator Award, which recognizes an educator under the age of 40 who demonstrates excellence in his or her profession, a positive impact on students, creativity in the classroom, and leadership in his or her school or district. The maximum award is $10,000 and an all-expenses paid trip to the ASCD annual conference in March for the winner and one companion, including registration, travel, hotel, and meals. PreK-12 educators under age 40 anre eligible. Self-nominations will be accepted. The deadline is August 1.
Wild Ones Offers Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant
The Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Grant Program gives small monetary grants to schools, nature centers, or other non-profit educational organizations for the purpose of establishing outdoor learning centers. Funds will be provided only for the purchase of native plants and seed. Schools, nature centers, and other nonprofit and not-for-profit places of learning, including houses of worship, are eligible. The deadline is October 15.
Nestle USA Very Best in Youth Program Offers Award for Teens
The Nestlé USA Very Best in Youth Program honors young people ages 13 to 18 who have excelled in school and who are making their community and the world a better place. The maximum award is $1,000. Youth ages 13 and 18 years of age who demonstrate good citizenship, a strong academic record, and can show how they have made a special contribution to their school, church, or the community, are eligible. Entrants must have permission from a parent or legal guardian to submit nomination. The deadline is November 8.
Making a Difference Award Honors School Science Programs
The Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association "Making a Difference" Award recognizes excellence in a science program developed and implemented by middle- or high school-level science teachers, grades 6-12. Entries must show innovative and effective teaching strategies combined with a science program that has influenced students to explore and investigate science and its application to global problems. The maximum award is $2,500 to be used to enhance or expand the winning science program. The winning school's lead science teacher and principal will also be awarded coach airfare and two nights' hotel accommodation to attend NSTA's National Conference. Innovative middle or high school science programs are eligible. The deadline is November 30.
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U.S. Education Department Offers Summer Seminars and PowerPoints
The U.S. Department of Education is offering a free seminar, What Teachers Need to Know about Personalized Learning, on Tuesday, July 10 from 6:00-7:30 pm (EST). This seminar presents perspectives on an emerging topic for educators: creating adaptive instruction for every student in the class. Presenters from the Department of Education will provide insights about the meaning, purpose, and future of personalized learning. Teachers will discuss how they use real-time data to individualize instruction and to engage students with varied abilities.
Educators can also download the U-Stream video of the June 26 Summer Seminar for Teachers: Civil Rights in the Classroom, which covers Civil Rights data collection, protecting the Civil Rights of students in the classroom, engaging learners and building partnerships with parents to meet student needs. The Summer Seminars webpage also offers free Power Point presentation downloads.
Seminars take place at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC and are also available through an online webinar. Registration at the website closes at 4:00 pm on the day of the event.
P21 Offers Downloadable Webinar on K-12 Assessments
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), a national organization that advocates for 21st century readiness for every student, is now offering a free download of its webinar, For Every Child, Multiple Measures: What Parents and Educators Want From K-12 Assessments. The webinar explores what parents, teachers and district administrators are looking for in K-12 assessments, and discusses a new report on assessments from NWEA and Grunwald Associates.
 We Give Books Offers Read for My Summer Campaign
We Give Books is helping young children with their summertime reading and engaging them to join the fight against summer brain drain. For 10 weeks, We Give Books’ Read for My Summer campaign will offer a special selection of books for children ages 5 through 8; provide activities and reading tips for parents; and share stories from around the world about the importance of reading and giving. As with all campaigns on We Give Books, for each digital book a child reads, the Pearson Foundation will donate a new hardcover or paperback book directly to a literacy organization serving children and families. This campaign is designed to help parents, schools, camps, and libraries continue to offer children an exciting online reading experience. Each week, We Give Books sends an email announcing that week’s book, along with links to additional reading guides, activities and fun online surprises!
Winners Announced for the 2012 National STEM Video Game Challenge
This year's National STEM Video Game Challenge was a record-breaking event for the Cooney Center and E-Line Media. More than 3,700 entries from middle and high school students and nearly 100 within the adult categories from all over the country were submitted.
 Twenty-eight student winners were recently honored at a "Celebration of Success" at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The youth winners each received AMD-based laptops, game design software packages and other tools to support their skill development. Each winner's sponsoring organization will receive cash prizes and educational
software.
Five winners in the collegiate and educator categories were invited to demo their games at the Atlantic's Technologies in Education Forum, where they were presented with their awards by Tom Kalil of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Each team received a prize of $10,000 and will continue to receive mentorship and guidance from the challenge partners and sponsors for their winning game.
 Suzanna Panter's Dumbarton Elementary Wins Virginia Library of the Year Award
Congratulations to Dumbarton Elementary, the first elementary school ever to win the Virginia Association of School Librarians Library of the Year award (VaASL). The faculty, which includes AASL member and ALA Emerging Leader, Suzanna Panter, implemented best practices and 21st-century learning techniques to update and bolster learning in the library. Transforming the library and its offerings began with a facelift for the space and an overhaul of the collection. Panter then incorporated projects to hone “21st-century skills” – collaboration, communication, technology, research and problem solving. She also gave students open access to the library and got involved in teachers’ planning processes. Today the
elementary library has over 15,000 titles and is a hub for coteaching and collaboration. Dumbarton officials will receive the Library of the Year award at the Virginia Association of School Librarians Conference in Hampton, Virginia, on November 9.
Karen Gavigan and Gail Dickinson Earn Jesse H. Shera Award for Distinguished Published Research
Congratulations to AASL member Karen Gavigan and AASL President-Elect Gail Dickinson, along with Shana Pribesh, for receiving the Published Research Award for their article, "The Access Gap: Poverty and Characteristics of School Library Media Centers," published in The Library Quarterly 81(2): 143-160, April 2011. The Jesse H. Shera Award for Distinguished Published Research is given to the author(s) of a research article published in English during the previous calendar year and nominated by any member of the Library Research Round Table (LRRT) or by editors of research journals in the field of library and information studies.
 Heather Palmer Selected to Join Library of Congress Program
AASL Member Heather Palmer was selected from more than 300 applicants to join the library’s Summer Teacher Institute in Washington, D.C. Each year, the Library of Congress selects a group of K–12 educators for each of its seven teacher institutes in Washington, D.C. During her five days at the library’s Teaching with Primary Sources Summer Teacher Institute, Palmer explored millions of digitized historical artifacts and documents, and worked with Library of Congress education specialists and subject-matter experts to learn effective practices for using these primary sources in the classroom. Heather is a middle school teacher at Valley View Middle School in Edina, MN and a student at St. Catherine’s University Library.
 Maribel Castro Shares Leadership Story in Empowering Diverse Voices Video
AASL member Maribel Castro is featured in an American Library Association (ALA) leadership video series called “Empowering Diverse Voices.” The series, created by 2011-12 ALA President Molly Raphael, provides leadership stories from across the association, sharing the diversity of the association and providing a model for future diverse leaders. You can view the full series on the initiative’s YouTube Channel.
We love to brag about our members! Looking to make it into AASL's Member Spotlight? Submit your spotlight to Markisan Naso for inclusion in the next Member Spotlight segment. Visit the Hotlinks Webpage find our Member Spotlight Guidelines.
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