No School Library Left Behind: Leadership, School Improvement, and the Media Specialist » (New Edition)

Collaborate with teachers, administrators, students, and parents to become the leading force in your school's improvement plan.

• Learn to create a library media program that is crucial to increasing information literacy, while meeting academic standards

• Prove the essential value library media specialists add to student achievement and to their schools

Here is a must-have tool for every school library media specialist who wants to prove the direct correlation between effective library media programs and student achievement. Library media specialists can learn to become leaders in the school by creating dynamic programs that students need, administrator's support, and teachers rely upon. Learn how to align the library media program with the school improvement process so that teachers, parents, and students will fight to maintain the valuable library program and the essential media specialist.

VOYA

A practicing elementary school library media specialist offers an introduction to the role of the media specialist in and outside of the school environment, beginning with a discussion of school improvement and leadership. Focusing on the media specialist as a teacher, Harvey offers methods and examples of instruction a media specialist can use to collaboratively teach the basic subject areas of reading and math. Technology integration is approached both from an instructional and a management standpoint. Also addressed is the importance of professional development for media specialists and their role in offering continuing education opportunities for classroom teachers. The role of the media specialist beyond the school, such as in conducting family nights and creating circulating parenting collections, is also considered. The scenarios of possible interaction between a media specialist and other stakeholders, such as building level administrators and teachers, would be very useful to future or current librarians who have not worked in a school environment. Appendixes include a program evaluation chart, an elementary student survey, and a collaborative planning and teaching log. Bibliographies of reading- and math-related children's trade books as well as Web sites and other resources relevant to the school library media profession are provided. Perhaps too basic for the practicing school library media specialist, this resource would be useful for those considering a career as a librarian within the PK—12 school environment. Reviewer: Ruth E. Cox Clark

Table of Figures vi

About the Author vii

Acknowledgments viii

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 School Improvement 1

Definition 1

Implementing School Improvement 5

Professional Learning Communities 5

Why Do Library Media Specialists Need to Be Involved? 6

Focus on Assessment 7

Accreditation 8

Reflection 10

Professional Resources 10

Web Resources 11

Chapter 2 The Leadership Role of the Library Media Specialist 13

School Improvement Snapshot 13

Be a Leader 15

Leadership Roles in School 16

Curriculum 16

Collaboration Tips for Standard 16

Resource Provider 17

Technology Leadership 17

Special Interest Groups 19

School Improvement Plan 19

Dissecting the Plan 19

Following the Plan 20

School Improvement Committee 21

Data Collection and Analysis 21

Technology Integration 22

Professional Development 22

Reflection 23

Professional Resources 23

Chapter 3 Literacy 25

School Improvement Snapshot 25

Definition 27

Alphabetics 27

Fluency 27

Comprehension 28

Free Voluntary Reading 28

Writing 29

Instruction 29

Know the School's Reading Philosophy 31

Gathering Information 33

Love of Reading 33

Adolescent Literacy 34

Collaboration 35

Writing 35

Special Interest Groups 35

Strategies 36

Alphabetics: Phonemic Awareness and Phonics 36

Phonics and Phonemic Awareness Bibliography 37

Fluency 37

Fluency Bibliography 39

Comprehension: Vocabulary Instruction 40

Comprehension: Vocabulary Instruction Bibliography 41

Comprehension: Text Comprehension 42

Comprehension: Text Comprehension Bibliography 43

Free Voluntary Reading 43

Adolescent Reading 44

Writing 45

Writing Bibliography46

Research Process 47

Copyright and Plagiarism 48

Collection Development 48

Leveled Texts 52

Reflection 53

Professional Resources 54

Web Resources 53

Chapter 4 Mathematics 57

School Improvement Snapshot 57

Definition 58

Number Sense 58

Computation 58

Algebra 58

Geometry 59

Measurement 59

Data Analysis 59

Problem Solving 59

Trigonometry or Calculus 59

Instruction 59

Match Maker 59

Special Interest Groups 60

Strategies 60

Number Sense 60

Number Sense Bibliography 61

Computation 61

Computation Bibliography 62

Algebra 63

Algebra Bibliography 63

Geometry 64

Geometry Bibliography 64

Measurement 65

Measurement Bibliography 66

Data Analysis 67

Data Analysis Bibliography 67

Problem Solving 68

Problem Solving Bibliography 68

Trigonometry or Calculus 69

Trigonometry or Calculus Bibliography 69

Collection Development 69

Reflection 70

Professional Resources 70

Web Resources 71

Chapter 5 Technology Integration 73

School Improvement Snapshot 73

Definition 74

Instruction 74

Strategies 75

Managing School Improvement 75

Ethics 76

Collection Development 76

Reflection 76

Professional Resourced 77

Web Resources 77

Chapter 6 Data Collection 79

School Improvement Snapshot 79

Library Media Specialist Role in Helping Collect Data 80

Reports 81

Collecting Library Media Center Data 81

Reflection 84

Professional Resources 84

Web Resources 86

Chapter 7 Professional Development 87

School Improvement Snapshot 87

Definition 88

Instruction 89

Strategies 91

Collection Development 92

Reflection 93

Professional Resources 93

Web Resources 93

Chapter 8 Beyond the School 95

School Improvement Snapshot 95

Parent Involvement 96

Family Night 96

Library Media Center Web page 97

Parent Collection 97

Funding 97

Reading First 97

Improving Literacy Through School Libraries 98

Other Grants 98

Reflection 98

Professional Resources 99

Web Resources 99

Appendix A Staff Survey of Impact 100

Appendix B Student Surveys 103

Appendix C Collaboration Log 105

Index 106

Table of Figure

Figure 1.1 State Department of Education Web sites 4

Figure 1.2 Accreditation Organizations 9

Figure 1.3 Connecting LMP to School Improvement Goals 10

Figure 3.1 Resources for Readers Theatre 38

Figure 3.2 Collection Development Resources 49

Figure 3.3 Leveled Library Guide 50

Figure 6.1 Data Collection Guide 85

Figure 7.1 Professional Blogs and Wikis 91