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Volume 12, Issue 2
May 2013
In This Issue:
Association News
Education News
Resources for School Librarians
Grants & Awards
Partnership News
Member Spotlight
ALA Leadership Institute Applications Due May 10
There’s still time to consider applying or nominating a colleague for
Leading to the Future, a four-day immersive leadership development program for future library leaders offered by ALA at the Eaglewood Resort & Spa in Itasca, IL, August 12-15, 2013. Led by ALA President Maureen Sullivan with ACRL Content Strategist Kathryn Deiss, this inaugural Leadership Institute will include a structured learning track as well as the opportunity for individual development and is limited to 35 participants. Applications are due by
May 10.
Association News
AASL Offers Unique School and Educational Tours in Hartford
Prior to AASL National Conference, taking place Nov. 14-17, 2013, attendees have the opportunity to explore Hartford's school libraries and educational offerings:
An additional registration fee is required in advance of the event. Space is limited, so register today!
Premier Author Events at AASL National Conference
As a conference add-on, attendees can join colleagues to hear from today's leading authors, as well as meet authors for a book-signing post-event:
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Enjoy breakfast with Faith Erin Hicks, Jennifer and Matthew Holm, Jarrett Krosoczka and Raina Telgemeier before being treated to a rousing live demonstration of the art of creating graphic novels at the Author Breakfast on Nov. 17.
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Enjoy a delicious meal with Libba Bray and Shane W. Evans and learn the inspiration behind their ward-winning books at the Author Banquet on Nov. 15.
Books will be available for purchase at the events. An additional registration fee is required in advance of the event. Space is limited, so register today!
AASL Senior/Capstone Project Survey
The AASL Senior/Capstone Project Task Force is seeking information about the involvement level of high school librarians in required or elective Senior/Capstone Projects. If you are a high school librarian or a district supervisor with involvement in this area,
please take a minute to respond to this survey before Friday, May 17. The short questionnaire addresses the potential role(s) or tasks of the high school librarian in the Senior/Capstone Project. These potential roles or tasks include but are not limited to administrative, instruction/assessment, and professional development.
AASL Seeks Proposals for ALA 2014 Annual Conference Programs
AASL invites proposals for programs to be presented during the 2014 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference. The conference will be held June 26–July 1 in Las Vegas. The deadline for preconference submissions is 11:59 p.m. CDT on Monday, May 27, 2013. The deadline for concurrent session submissions is 11:59 p.m. CDT on Monday, Aug. 26, 2013.
AASL 2013 Election Results
Last week AASL announced the results of the 2013 elections. The successful candidates for the 2013 AASL Board of Directors and AASL Sections elections are outlined at
http://www.ala.org/aasl/about/elections.
ALA to Host 2013 Annual Virtual Membership Meeting June 6
ALA will host its 2013 annual virtual membership meeting (VMM13) on June 6, 2013, from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. (CDT). The meeting serves as a way for ALA leadership to update members about key topics. Like last year, questions and comments will be taken in advance via the ALAConnect group and during the VMM13 text chat. Registration opens May 10. System capacity limits registrants to 1,500. The ALA Committee on Membership Meetings is fielding a member survey, which will become available when you complete your registration, to help identify “hot topics” for the discussion portion of the agenda. Please respond to the survey before May 19 to share your opinions. A
special ALA webpage has complete information about VMM13 so members can easily access information related to VMM13.
Dollar General Recognized with AASL Crystal Apple
AASL President Susan Ballard has selected Dollar General as the recipient of the 2013 Crystal Apple. The Crystal Apple honor is given at the discretion of the AASL president to an individual or group that has had a significant impact on school library programs and students. Since 2006, the Dollar General Literacy Foundation has funded the AASL Beyond Words grant program, which provides relief to public school libraries affected by disasters. Over $1.3 million in grant monies and over 140 schools have been served by the Beyond Words program.
AASL Hands Out Awards
AASL recognized several award and grant winners last month:
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Keith Curry Lance is the 2013 recipient of the AASL Distinguished Service Award, sponsored by Baker and Taylor.
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The “Make a Difference” research project team from Scott Middle School in Lincoln, Neb., is the 2013 recipient of the AASL Collaborative School Library Award, sponsored by Highsmith.
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Scott Bacon, principal of Blue Valley high school in Stilwell, Kan., is the 2013 recipient of the AASL Distinguished School Administrators Award, sponsored by ProQuest.
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Two school library-related research projects, “The Principals’ Perspectives on the Value of School Librarians in Teaching and Learning Case Study” and “Bark If You R.E.A.D. in School Libraries: Can School Librarians with Therapy Dogs and Reading Support Skills Be an Effective Part of a School's Literacy Intervention Team?" are the 2013 recipients of the AASL Research Grant, sponsored by Capstone.
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School librarians Joseph Landor and Judy Russell are the recipients of the 2013 AASL Information Technology Pathfinder Award, sponsored by Follett Software Company.
AASL award winners will be honored at
AASL's Awards Luncheon during the 2013
ALA Annual Conference in Chicago. The luncheon will be held Monday, July 1. Ticket information can be found on the
AASL website at
www.ala.org/aasl/annual.
AASL Announces Winners of School Library Month Video Contest
AASL is proud to announce the winners of the "Communities matter @ your library" Student Video Contest. Contestants were urged to let loose their creativity and use humor, drama, music and/or special effects to illustrate how the school library program fosters a sense of community in their school. Three ranked winners were selected based on scores awarded by a panel of judges. The winning entries are:
Student winners will receive Amazon.com gift cards and their school library will receive a $50 gift certificate for ALA Graphics. In addition, winning entries will be featured on the AASL and SchoolTube websites and social networking platforms.
AASL Executive Director, Julie Walker, to Retire as of July 2013
Julie Walker, executive director of the AASL, will retire in July 2013 after sixteen years with the association. During her tenure as AASL executive director, Walker has been responsible for directing a number of national programs, including the development and implementation of two iterations of the association’s learning standards and program guidelines for school library programs.
New SLR Articles Explore Audiobook Use and Information Literacy
Two new research articles covering the topics of the use of audiobooks with struggling readers and high school students’ information literacy skills were recently published in AASL’s peer-reviewed online journal, School Library Research (SLR). “Use of Audiobooks in a School Library and Positive Effects of Struggling Readers’ Participation in a Library-Sponsored Audiobook Club” explores the impact of the use of audiobooks with struggling readers. “Information Literacy and High School Seniors: Perceptions of the Research Process” examines how high school students apply their information literacy skills when conducting research.
Education News
Common-Core Writers Issue Math Publishers’ Criteria
The lead writers of the Common Core State Standards in mathematics have finalized a set of guidelines for curricular materials that seek to promote “faithful” implementation of the new standards at grades K-8. The document is intended to guide the work of educational publishers in developing textbooks and other instructional materials, as well as states and school districts as they evaluate and select materials or revise existing ones.
Next Generation Science Standards Released
The final set of standards aimed at reshaping the focus and delivery of science instruction in U.S. schools was released last month. The Next Generation Science Standards are designed to provide a greater emphasis on depth over breadth in studying the subject. They seek to provide students with a foundation of essential knowledge and to lead young people to apply their learning through scientific inquiry and the engineering-design process to deepen understanding.
CEE Introduces National Standards for Financial Literacy
The Council for Economic Education (CEE) introduced the National Standards for Financial Literacy, a framework for the body of knowledge and skills that should be contained in a K-12 personal finance curriculum. The standards outline the six areas of knowledge and understanding that are fundamental to personal finance: Earning Income; Buying Goods and Services; Using Credit; Saving; Financial Investing; and Protecting and Insuring.
Report Argues Spending on Standardized Testing Must Support Higher-Quality Assessments
A report from the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education finds that the question for policy makers has shifted from “Can we afford high-quality assessments of deeper learning?” to “Can the United States afford not to have high-quality assessments?” The authors state that the answer is that assessments of deeper learning are needed to provide the impetus for students to develop skills for the knowledge economy, as a prerequisite for global competitiveness, and for the long-term well-being of the nation.
Report Finds American Students Doing Reasonably Well in Reading, Math, and Science
A new report from the Brookings Institution finds that American students did “reasonably well” in reading, math, and science. Despite these encouraging results, there is room for improvement. Over the past decade, countries joining TIMSS have been economically developing nations or, in the case of the Middle East, nations possessing abundant national wealth but lacking a tradition of public schooling. Such compositional changes can make international averages easier to surpass. Leading the world in reading, math, or science remains a challenge for the U.S.
Comprehensive School Redesign Needed for Student Achievement
A report from the Carnegie Corporation of New York calls for a focus on how schools can bring all students to the greater levels of achievement that the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards will demand. Titled “Opportunity by Design,” the report calls for a comprehensive school redesign effort, and puts forward 10 design principles that can produce school models that help all students.
Brief Shows Progress for Student College-Readiness
A new brief from Jobs for the Future reports that over 75,000 high school students nationwide—most from underserved populations—are learning college-level material and earning free college credits in early college high schools. The brief reports that 94 percent of early college students earn some college credit for free, an average of 36 college credits, saving 30 percent toward a bachelor's degree or 60 percent toward an associate's degree.
White House Announces New AmeriCorps Program for STEM Education
At the third White House Science Fair, President Obama announced the new AmeriCorps program for STEM education. The new effort will be a multiyear initiative to place hundreds of AmeriCorps members in nonprofits around the country to help “mobilize STEM professionals to inspire young people to excel in STEM education.” In its first phase, 50 full-time AmeriCorps members will be placed with FIRST, a nonprofit founded by inventor Dean Kamen that aims to engage students in the STEM disciplines through robotics competitions.
Microsoft Project to Research 21st-Century Skills and Teaching Assessment
Microsoft is sponsoring a project to research 21st-century skills and build knowledge and policy for their assessment and teaching. Microsoft, in partnership with Intel, Cisco and The University of Melbourne, formed the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills (ATC21S) project in 2009. The research focuses on five main areas: defining 21st-century skills, methodological issues, technological implications, new assessments and learning environments and policy implications.
U.S. Department of Education Releases Blueprint to Elevate and Transform the Teaching Profession
The U.S. Department of Education released the Obama Administration’s blueprint for elevating and transforming the teaching profession, also known as the Blueprint for RESPECT (Recognizing Educational Success, Professional Excellence, and Collaborative Teaching). RESPECT was first launched in February 2012 as a national conversation on the teaching profession, shortly after the President committed to support the development of a new, comprehensive teacher policy in his state of the union address.
Report Gauges Teacher and Professor Perceptions of Student Readiness for College
A survey from ACT finds that high school teachers think their students are ready for college, but college professors beg to differ. The survey, titled “2012 ACT National Curriculum Survey,” finds that 89 percent of high school teachers report their students are “well” or “very well” prepared for college-level work in the subject they teach, while just 26 percent of college instructors say incoming students are “well” or “very well” prepared for entry-level courses. This discrepancy in perception has remained consistent to the 2009 survey results.
Study Finds Middle Class Schools Aren’t Keeping up with Other Countries
A report from America Achieves finds that low-income schools should not be the sole focus of educational performance improvement initiatives. The study, titled “Middle Class or Middle of the Pack? What Can We Learn about Benchmarking U.S. Schools against the World’s Best?” finds that a large percentage of American middle class high schools have not kept pace with other countries like Singapore, Finland, Korea, and Germany. The study used new analyses of math and science data from the 2009 PISA results and the results of a pilot study involving 105 American high schools that took a new test known as the OECD Test for Schools (based on PISA).
Report Finds Parents with Minor Children Have More Interactions with Libraries
A recent survey from Pew Internet finds that the vast majority of parents of minor children feel libraries are very important for their children. The survey, titled “Parents, Children, Libraries, and Reading,” reports that 84 percent of these parents say a major reason they want their children to have access to libraries is that libraries help inculcate their children’s love of reading and books, and 81 percent say a major reason libraries are important is that libraries provide their children with information and resources not available at home.
Grouping Teachers in Performance Categories Leads to Mistakes
A paper from the Carnegie Knowledge Networks examines the trade-offs of using teacher value-added scores in personnel and compensation decisions. The report, titled “What Do We Know about the Tradeoffs Associated with Teacher Misclassification in High Stakes Personnel Decisions?” finds that grouping teachers in performance categories inevitably leads to mistakes, regardless of when is a teacher is evaluated or how the evaluation is conducted. The authors conclude that better measurement can reduce misclassification and better balancing of errors, and careful consideration of the consequences of these errors can reduce the harm of misclassification.
Resources for School Librarians
AASL Infographic and Resources
A new infographic and resources created by the AASL Legislation Committee demonstrates the benefits of having a strong school library. The infographic, titled
Strong School Libraries Build Strong Students, is freely available for download by members of the media and general public provided no alterations are made and that the posting is for education, noncommercial purposes only.
School Libraries Count! Personalized Reports Available for AASL Survey Participants
Personalized reports are now available for participants in the AASL School Libraries Count! longitudinal survey at
www.ala.org/aasl/slcsurvey. As an additional resource, the AASL publication “
The Power of Data” discusses the use of data sets to establish goals for school library programs. The book guides school librarians in the effective use of existing data and in articulating the analysis of that data to principals, superintendents, school boards, parents, teachers, and students. Participants are also encouraged to view the
AASL webinar demonstrating how to use their data to advocate for their school library program and how to draw connections between the data outputs generated using the Planning Guide module and their personalized reports.
New Webinars Added to eCOLLAB
The archives of the recent webinars, “PBS LearningMedia™ Launches Blended Literacy Lessons,” “A School Librarian’s Role in Preventing Sexting & Cyberbullying,” and “Envisioning New Library Spaces” are now available online as a part of the AASL professional development repository,
