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Volume 11, Issue 10
January 2013
In this Issue:
Association News
Education News
Resources for School Librarians
Grants & Awards
Partnership News
Member Spotlight
Association News
AASL Awards & Grants Applications Due February 1
AASL will offer more than $50,000 in awards in 2013 to AASL members. The association’s awards recognize excellence and showcase best practices in the school library field in categories that include research, collaboration, leadership and innovation. AASL personal members are required to fill out applications using AASL’s
online awards database. Recipients of awards and grants will be invited to the annual Awards luncheon and ceremony during the ALA 2013 Annual Conference in Chicago. The deadline for submitting applications or nominations for AASL awards and grants is
4:30 p.m. CST on February 1, 2013.
Be Calm, Cool, & Collected when Implementing the Common Core with an Online Course from AASL
Register now for
AASL's e-Academy course,
Common Core: Moving from Complex to Calm, Cool, and Collected. This four-week, self-paced course facilitated by Paige Jaeger will run from Feb. 4 – March 1, 2013. During the course, participants will be guided through how and why inquiry-based instruction supports the
CCSS and will learn how to repackage current research projects into Common Core State Standard (
CCSS) aligned research endeavors that foster higher level thought. Registration and course information are available on the
AASL e-Academy page.
Professional Development and School Library Collections Research Discussed in New SLR Articles
Two new research articles covering the topics of professional development offerings available to school librarians at state-level conferences and the instructional role of the school library collection are now available online as part of
AASL's peer-reviewed online journal,
School Library Research.
Education News
New Report Available for Parents and Educators on "Pioneering" Digital Apps
Technology changes so quickly that browsing the app store can feel like a digital version of entering the Wild West. Parents and educators receive little information on how or if digital apps designed to teach young children to read and live up to their claims. A new report from the New America Foundation and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop - Pioneering Literacy in the Digital Wild West - scans the market of digital apps, shares promising practices, and encourages families to use digital media together to help develop needed literacy skills.
The Role of Technology in Schools and Communities
A new report from the National Association of State Boards of Education addresses how states can ensure schools are ready for the impacts of rapid technological change on the processes of teaching and learning. The study also examines how educational technologies intersect with other reforms like the Common Core, newer data systems, next-generation assessments, and virtual courses and schools.
Will Schools be able to Handle New Testing Technology?
The state-led Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium has released guidelines with specific technology requirements schools need to administer new online standardized tests. However, the guidelines bring into question how feasible online testing will be for all schools, especially those with older technology and smaller budgets. The non-profit State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA) has also published guidelines that outline how schools should prepare in order to administer tests and warns that schools spending less than 5 percent of their budgets on technology will have trouble meeting existing and future needs for online testing.
US DOE Seeks Feedback on Digital Learning Report
The US Department of Education is soliciting public comment on a new report, “Expanding Evidence Approaches for Learning in a Digital World,” which calls for smart uses of emerging data generated by the use of learning technologies. It presents educators, policymakers, and funders with an expanded view of evidence approaches and sources of data that can help them with decision-making.
Surveys Illustrate Differences in Reading Habits Across Communities
Surveys by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project reveal interesting variations among urban, suburban, and rural communities. Residents of these communities (ages 16 and older) vary in their purposes for reading, their use of digital content, their engagement with public libraries, and where they turn for book recommendations
New Connected Education Survey Results Announced
A new survey of educators by edWeb, MMS Education, and MCH Strategic Data shows substantial growth in the number of connected educators, awareness of the benefits of connected education, and the adoption of education-specific social networking platforms. The report, A Survey of K-12 Educators on Social Networking, Online Communities, and Web 2.0 Tools 2012, shows 82% of educators have joined a social network - a 34% growth since 2009.
New Report on College Graduates and Problem Solving in the Workplace
A report from Project Information Literacy - Learning Curve: How College Graduates Solve Information Problems Once They Join the Workplace - finds a distinct difference between today’s college graduates who demonstrate savvy online research skills and seasoned employers who recruit graduates, in part, for their online searching skills but still expected and needed more traditional research competencies.
High Poverty, High Success
A new report from Public Impact investigates why some schools in high-poverty communities produce remarkable success where others fail. The report examines how principals, teachers, parents, and students define the keys to success, and highlights specific strategies and decisions in these high-achieving schools. It also looks at how schools sustain effective practices and what helps them weather reductions in funding.
Asking Students about Teaching
A review of Asking Students about Teaching: Student Perception Surveys and Their Implementation - a recent report from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation about its Measures of Effective Teaching Program (MET) - completed by National Education Policy Center finds potential in the uses of student surveys in the evaluation of and feedback for teachers. However, the reviewer finds the report's stance lopsided, placing too much weight on the strengths of student surveys and too little on their weaknesses.
Resources for School Librarians
New Webinars Posted to AASL eCOLLAB!
The archives of two recent webinars are now available online as a part of AASL's professional development repository, eCOLLAB:
AASL members can access the webinars via eCOLLAB by logging into the AASL website using their ALA-provided website login.
Stakeholder Advocacy Resources Available on Essential Links
Budget season is fast approaching and now is the time to get some advocacy strategies in place. AASL’s Essential Links can help! Visit Essential Links this month and get great ideas about connecting with parents, teachers, administrators, and policy makers along with general advocacy ideas. Being pro-active early in the budget process can be enormously helpful. If you have additional resources to share, please add them to the links!
Common Core Resources for Urban Schools
The Council of the Great City Schools has launched a new website aimed at helping big-city schools districts implement the Common Core State Standards. The site offers materials, information, and resources to help educators prepare. The site also includes a section for parents, containing roadmaps to help parents understand the expectations for children in each grade level.
Resources to Achieve the (Common) Core
Assembled by Student Achievement Partners, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, AchieveTheCore.org contains free, high-quality resources to educators implementing the Common Core State Standards.
Grants & Awards
Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries Extends Deadline for Hurricane Sandy Affected Schools
The Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries, a component fund of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region in Washington, D.C., seeks to provide books and reading materials to the school libraries and students that most need them. The foundation provides grants of up to $5,000 to help school libraries expand, update, and diversify their book collections. In the last funding cycle, the foundation made grants totaling more than $1.1 million to two hundred and thirty-eight schools. Schools affected by Hurricane Sandy may apply for LBF grants until
5:00 EST January 15, 2013.
US Department of Eduction’s 2013-14 Teaching Ambassador Fellowship
Applications are currently available for the US Department of Education’s 2013-14 Teaching Ambassador Fellowship, offering highly motivated and innovative school teachers and instructional leaders the unique opportunity to contribute their knowledge and experience to the national dialogue on education, and, in turn, facilitate discussions with educators across the country. Up to six Washington Fellows will become full-time federal employees in Washington, D.C., participating in policy discussions and working on education programs, while up to six Classroom Fellows will work on a part-time basis from their home communities, primarily by sharing public information and facilitating conversation among educators at the state and local level. Deadline:
January 29, 2013, by 11:59 p.m. Eastern
NEA Foundation: Learning & Leadership Grants
NEA Learning & Leadership Grants support public school teachers, public education support professionals, and/or faculty and staff in public institutions of higher education for one of two purposes. Grants to individuals fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences such as summer institutes or action research; grants to groups fund collegial study, including study groups, action research, lesson study, or mentoring experiences for faculty or staff new to an assignment. Deadline:
February 1, 2013.
NEA: Student Achievement Grants
The NEA Foundation Student Achievement Grants provide funds to improve the academic achievement of students by engaging in critical thinking and problem solving that deepen knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students' habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection. Deadline:
February 1, 2013.
2012-2013 Christopher Columbus Awards
The Christopher Columbus Awards is a national, community- based STEM competition for middle school students and teachers looking to make a difference in their community. Working in teams, students identify a problem in the community and apply the scientific method to create an innovative solution. Maximum award: $25,000 grant. Eligibility: schools (grades 6-8) and community groups. Deadline:
February 4, 2013.
Secret Millionaires Club "Grow Your Own Business Challenge"
The Secret Millionaires Club Learn & Earn program teaches financial literacy and entrepreneurship through activities for the classroom, home, and other settings where students and families learn. It was developed to extend the lessons of the Secret Millionaires Club webisodes and prime-time TV specials, both of which feature Warren Buffett. The "Grow Your Own Business Challenge" an annual national competition challenging kids throughout the country to come
up with new business ideas. The grand prize is $5,000 plus a chance to meet Mr. Buffett. Teachers can win prizes, too! Deadline:
February 15, 2013.
Pathways Within Roads to Reading
Roads to Reading Initiative's
Annual Competitive Book Donation Program is designed to donate books to literacy programming in small and rural communities that have little or no means of purchasing quality-reading materials. Deadline:
March 30, 2013.
Lockheed Martin Offers Grants for Education
Lockheed Martin provides grants for K-16 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education. This includes Lockheed Martin's K-12 STEM Education Initiative, Engineers in the Classroom, as well as STEM-focused curricular and extracurricular programs that provide employee engagement opportunities in a community in which Lockheed Martin has employees or business interests. The maximum award varies. 501(c)(3) organizations that deliver standards-based science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education to students in K-16 are eligible.
The deadline is rolling.
Pearson Foundation Announces Student Digital Storymakers Award
The Pearson Foundation and digital publisher, Atavist, have announced the details of the first annual Digital Storymakers Award -- an award that recognizes excellence in original student nonfiction narrative that blends, text, photo, video, interactive maps and other rich media features. The award is open to high school, college and graduate students, including those studying journalism, graphic arts, writing, photography and documentary video/film who create a nonfiction, multimedia narrative. The 2013 grand prize is $5,000 and publication in the Digital Storymakers App. Story submissions accepted starting January 1, 2013, and due April 15, 2013.
Ezra Jack Keats Foundation Accepting Mini-Grant Applications
The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation is accepting applications from public schools and public libraries anywhere in the United States and its territories for program or event mini-grants of up to $500. The funding program provides an opportunity for educators, whose efforts are often inadequately funded or recognized, to create special activities outside the standard curriculum and make time to encourage their students. The application deadline is March 15, 2013.
Partnership News
AASL Partners with Carnegie Science Center to Inspire Girls to Pursue STEM Careers
Can*TEEN Career Exploration is an innovative resource to inspire girls to see themselves in STEM careers through gaming and online activities. The initiative encourages tweens and teens to challenge and expand their knowledge of diverse STEM subject matter with connections to related professions, potential career paths and women out in the world making a difference. AASL, working with the Carnegie Science Center: Girls Math & Science Partnership, and with support from the
Motorola Foundation, will distribute Can*TEEN Trivia Wheel Library Interactive CDs to more than 2,500 middle schools serving students ages 10-14. This offer is newly expanded to all states and any school librarian serving students ages 10-14. Opt-in here to receive the Can*TEEN Trivia Wheel Library now through mid-February!
Join the Movement to Transform Literacy Education in America
By registering in the Literacy in Learning Exchange for free, you will get recognition and support from AASL and the top foundations and professional associations serving educators, as well as access to videos, peer-reviewed articles, webinars, and other information resources. Once registered, you will have the opportunity to set up a group to put your school on the map as a site where professionals work together to advance student literacy learning! Your group will become eligible to get direct consultative support from NCLE staff and will be connected with others who are doing similar work to share what you know/learn.
Celebrate the Potential of Technology in Schools
Digital Learning Day is February 6, 2013! DLD is a great opportunity to highlight the school library program and its role in creating a digitally literate school community. Sign-up TODAY to join tens of thousands of educators in
a wave of innovation sweeping across our nation’s schools! Participation is free and easy and is open to all interested education leaders. This is a great opportunity to highlight the school library program and its role in creating a digitally literate school community! As a registered participant of Digital Learning Day you’ll receive tips and interactive lessons that you can use on Digital Learning Day and beyond.
Member Spotlight
Susan Kowalski Receives "I Love My Librarian Award"
Susan Kowalski, school librarian at
Pine Grove Middle School in East Syracuse, New York, is one of ten recipients of the 2012 Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times
I Love My Librarian Award. The
I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians. Each recipient receives a $5,000 cash award and were honored at a ceremony and reception in New York, hosted by The New York Times, on December 18. Robert K. Massie, winner of the 2012 Andrew Carnegie
Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, spoke at the ceremony.
One of the nomination letters for Susan read, "If it's happening at Pine Grove Middle School, Sue Kowalski is probably involved somehow. Sue should win this award because her positive attitude, boundless energy and passion for seeing students grow, learn, lead and reach their potential are evident in everything she does. It's no coincidence that her library is the heart of the building."
Nina Levine Named Top Innovator in Technology Integration
Nina Levine, school librarian at Hendrick Hudson High School (New York) has been recognized by the Center for Digital Education (CDE) as one of the nation's "Top 50 Educational Innovators". Nina was profiled in CDE's
2012 Yearbook: Technology Innovation in Education as an education innovator who has led the way and provided best practice models to imitate. Her profile states in part, "As the school librarian, she acts as a leader and an innovator. She has expanded her library to include a robust collection of databases and e-books, and she has trained staff and students on the effective use of those tools." She is honored for transforming the library program into a "true
21st-century learning space."
AASL Members Honored by the Indiana Library Federation & Association of Indiana School Library Educators
Karen Ault was awarded the Outstanding Media Specialist Award. This award honors and recognizes excellence and innovative leadership in the development of school library service and remarkable service to the profession. It is awarded for both ongoing leadership to an individual school library and for development of the profession. Karen was recognized for many strengths, especially her commitment to raising teachers' awareness regarding collaboration with their school librarians in educational pursuits and teaching.
Jennifer Brower was awarded the Outstanding New Media Specialist which honors and recognizes a current school librarian who is making contributions to student learning. Jennifer was recently admitted to the Indiana Leadership Academy, is active in AISLE district activities, and is a strong advocate for school libraries.
Vicki Builta was awarded the Peggy L. Pfeiffer Service Award. The service award honors and recognizes outstanding service to the Indiana Library Federation Association for Indiana School Librarian Educators (AISLE) and to school library programs within Indiana. Currently the director of the Daleville Community Library, a position she accepted after retiring from decades of service in the Anderson Community School System, Vicki was recognized for her "can do" attitude and tireless advocacy for libraries.
Robyn Young was presented the Esther V. Burrin (School Media) Award which honors and recognizes an exemplary project in an Indiana school library program or a project that impacts of supports school library programs throughout Indiana. Robyn was recognized for her creation of a rubric which allows schools to recognize the indispensable role of professional staff in providing school library services. The rubric has been linked to by the Indiana Department of Education and has been adopted by other states.
Article Published in NJEA Review
LaDawna Harrington's article,
Collaborative Learning in Digital Environment, was published in the New Jersey Education Association's December 2012 "NJEA Review." LaDawna, library/media specialist at Millburn High School, guides readers through how to use Google Docs to guide students through inquiry learning.
Kansas School Librarians Earn NBPTS Recertification
Three school librarians from the Blue Valley (KS) district received their re-certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards:
From left to right:
Ronda Hassig, Harmony Middle School
Rebecca Stith Munson, District Office
Ann Schuster, Valley Park Elementary School
Duluth High School Library Program Named Exemplary Program
The Duluth High School library program in Gwinnett County was recently named an "Exceptional Media Program" by the Georgia State Department of Education. The Exemplary/Exceptional Library Media program is the Department of Education’s method of honoring, saluting, and spotlighting outstanding Library Media programs throughout the state. The media centers and their staff are recognized for doing an exceptional job in the following areas: student achievement and instruction; staffing; facilities, access, and resources; administrative support; and staff development.
Kathy Mansfield Appears on Wheel of Fortune
Kathy Mansfield, school librarian at Shelby County (Kentucky) Public Schools and former library media consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education appeared on the Emmy winning game show on November 23rd. She blogs about her appearance - and her winnings - on two contestant blog posts appearing on the show site:
November 19 and
November 24. She writes, "I remember Pat Sajak asking me about my family during the introduction time, but I was so nervous I don't even remember what all I said! I know I gave a shout-out to the school where I teach: Heritage Elementary School in Shelby County, Kentucky. I knew the students and staff there would be cheering me on!!"
