Delaware, Massachusetts, and Michigan School Librarians Unpack ESSA
 On Sept. 17, more than seventy school librarians and educational stakeholders in Delaware, Massachusetts, and Michigan attended workshops dedicated to unpacking the provisions for school libraries in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Presented by AASL in collaboration with the ALA Office for Library Advocacy and the ALA Washington Office, the complimentary workshops are part of an outreach effort to AASL state affiliates to highlight opportunities within ESSA language for school librarians and school libraries to be addressed in state and local plans.
New Research Articles Examine Leadership, Capstone Projects, and Library Supervisors
Three new articles are now available in AASL's peer-reviewed online journal, School Library Research (SLR):
- “A Proposed Theory of School Librarian Leadership: A Meta-Ethnographic Approach” examines a core body of research conducted primarily by one iSchool research center that has bolstered its curriculum in support of school librarian leadership in the past decade.
- "A Practice-Centered Approach to Professional Development: Teacher-Librarian Collaboration in Capstone Projects“ reports on a professional development initiative that targeted teams of teachers and librarians working with high school students on strengthening an inquiry approach to capstone projects.
- “The Lilead Survey: A National Study of District-Level Library Supervisors: The Position, Office, and Characteristics of the Supervisor” presents findings related to the position and office of the supervisor.
Carnegie-Whitney Awards Up to $5,000
The American Library Association Publishing Committee provides a grant of up to $5,000 for the preparation of print or electronic reading lists, indexes, or other guides to library resources that promote reading or the use of library resources at any type of library. Applications must be received by November 6, 2016. Recipients will be notified by the end of February 2017.
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Kelsey Bogan Awarded Outstanding Student Librarian Award from PSLA
 Kelsey Bogan was announced as the winner of the Outstanding Student Librarian Award by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association (PSLA). Bogan graduated from CCI in 2015 with a Master of Science in Library and Information Science.
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Nicole Cruz Awarded Sam Houston State University's Mary Berry Award
 Nicole Cruz, lead librarian at Sharyland ISD in Texas, received Sam Houston State University's Mary Berry Award for Outstanding Alumnus. The award honors an outstanding librarian who graduated from the Department of Library Science at Sam Houston State University for her/his contribution to the field of school librarianship.
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Report Assesses "Digital Readiness"
Data show a narrowing digital access gap, with nearly 90% of Americans now having internet access, but access alone does not mean students are benefiting equally from online education resources and opportunities, according to a Pew Research Center report. The researchers using interviews with more than 2,750 people found barriers to digital resources for learning.
Department of Education Releases America’s College Promise Playbook
 The U.S. Department of Education released America’s College Promise Playbook, a comprehensive and up-to-date resource guide that provides practitioners with relevant and actionable information about how they can offer more students access to an affordable, high-quality education through which students can go as far as their talents and work ethic can take them.
Report Forecasts Future of STEM Education
A report by the American Institutes for Research and the U.S. Department of Education offers a vision for science, technology, engineering and math education. The report identifies six common traits of STEM education.
Video Games Can Help Improve Reading and Math Scores
A computer-based brain training program developed at Yale University helped improve student performance in reading and math, according to a Scientific Reports study. It found that reading and math scores increased significantly more in children who used the program Activate during the school year than in control classes.
Department of Education Launches STEM Teacher Leadership Website
The U.S. Department of Education launched a website that provides practical information and guidance on implementing and improving STEM teacher leadership. The website, "Building STEM Teacher Leadership," is authored by experts in the field of STEM teacher leadership for use by other practitioners. It is organized in a Q&A format, and aims to serve as a launching off point for educators “to examine issues and roles in building STEM teacher leadership.”
Report Identifies Top Education Challenges
Two top challenges -- how to eliminate the achievement gap and how to implement personalized learning -- exist in schools today, according to an annual report by the New Media Consortium and the Consortium for School Networking. The report includes a toolkit to help school districts navigate these challenges.
Department of Education Releases Guidance on Using Evidence to Strengthen Education Investments
The U.S. Department of Education released new guidance, Using Evidence to Strengthen Education Investments, to support evidence-based decision-making by states, districts, schools, educators, and partners. This non-regulatory guidance is intended to help stakeholders make more effective education investments by leveraging rigorous, relevant evidence to improve outcomes for kids under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).
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Resources for School Librarians
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Should Students Blog?
Blogging can be taught to students as a writing genre, suggests English-language arts teacher Alice Chen. In this blog post, she shares how blogging has opened up her students' work to audiences beyond the walls of the school.
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How to Use Vocabulary to Boost Reading
Developing students' vocabulary is essential to improving content-area reading comprehension, middle-grades educator John DePasquale writes in this blog post. He shares ideas and resources for selecting vocabulary words for study to improve reading and offers lesson ideas and resources for learning beyond memorization.
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3 Tips for Tech-Phobic Teachers
New technology can be daunting for teachers, writes Karen Owens, a library technology educator at Palmer High School in Colorado Springs, Colo. In this blog post, she suggests tips for tech-phobic teachers.
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How to Engage Students as Owners of Learning
There are three key ways that teachers can encourage students to become co-owners of their education, author Barbara Blackburn writes. She suggests, for example, that teachers offer students more choices, such as how students can display their understanding of the material.
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How to Use Padlet to Improve PD
Teacher Karly Moura suggests using a free web-based tool called Padlet to improve professional-development sessions. Here, she describes how the tool functions as a type of bulletin board and can help to facilitate back-channel conversations.
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Ideas for Teaching Using the Presidential Debates
The upcoming televised presidential debates offer students rich learning experiences in social studies, language arts and media literacy that also can prepare them to be future voters, media-literacy expert Frank Baker and freelance writer Karen Zill write. They share several lesson ideas and resources surrounding the debates.
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Innovate to Educate Awards
Share your story about the innovative technology initiative your school or district has undertaken and how it has advanced education for your students. Complete the entry form and submit either a short video or picture that illustrates your technology initiative. We’ll post your entry on the Innovate to Educate website, and share the link on our Facebook page to put your school in the spotlight. Submissions will be accepted through October 14, 2016, and will be judged by three industry experts.
Varkey Foundation 2017 Global Teacher Prize
The annual Global Teacher Prize was created to honor one outstanding educator who has made a significant contribution to their profession. The prize was created to bring awareness and recognition to the world's very best educators. Educators across the world can apply or be nominated. Applicants are judged on a variety of criteria, including impact in the classroom, contributions to the community, use of innovative teaching methods, and work with mentoring and coaching fellow educators. Deadline: October 14, 2016.
#MyParty16 Election Project
In this nationwide competition, student teams create their own political parties, including a unique name, logo, and platform. Then, "primary" elections are held within local schools with the winners going on to compete in a national election. A multi-week curriculum is available to help students explore the election, politics, and other aspects of democracy. Once the platform has been finalized, students then must create 30-second ads for their political parties. Deadline: October 24, 2016.
Congressional App Challenge
The Congressional App Challenge is a competition aimed at encouraging U.S. high school students to learn how to code by creating their own applications. The Challenge is intended to highlight the value of computer science and STEM education and encourage students to engage in these fields. The 2016 Congressional App Challenge will take place from July 18, 2016, through November 2, 2016, and is open to all U.S. high school students in participating districts.
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