School Library Systems – Advocacy Toolkit

Testimony Samples

I am here to attest to four realities, each born out in an array of research on student achievement, each occurring in the daily dynamics of schools with quality school library programs, each empowering New York State's learners, each far from reaching the potential to make a difference for every child. Indeed some children, in regard to these realities are left behind.

The first reality is now born out by 15 state studies in student achievement, with two more state studies imminent. A related study in the City of New York reinforces the key findings of this body of research. Schools in need of improvement across the U.S. have carefully documented trends in increased student achievement, improved reading scores, and improved performance on local and state assessments, even standardized tests, when this reality becomes a force for learning in their schools. Michigan, Florida, California and other states moved closer to this reality and saw the scores rise. Further, improvement in reading scores was in double digits, up 35%. In a local analysis of student performance on the fourth and eighth grade tests, recently done in the Capital District, student achievement correlated directly with the presence of this reality. Schools with it had success. School without it did not. A superintendent in the Wayne Finger Lakes area, with a budget stretched thin and poor student performance on state tests, invested in a single professional to begin the climb to achievement. He read this research and hired a school library media specialist.

What is the first reality?

This force in student performance is the school library media program. !5 national studies emerge which clearly and empirically correlate student achievement with the availability of a school library media center and a professional school library media specialist, along with staff that frees that professional to pursue collaboration and instruction in information problem solving. Since the Colorado studies, proof of the power of school media programs to improve student performance is at hand. Boost in student achievement and improved reading scores correlated with access to quality information resources and quality selections for the development of universal literacy.

Simultaneously, an array of ancillary studies focused on the constructivist approach to learning and brain research have forged a consistent picture of how children learn best. The essential attributes of learning environments and instructional models that enhance achievement parallel closely the processes and opportunities provided in school libraries that foster information literacy. Many school library media specialists with information rich media centers, a high degree of curricular integration, and professional collaboration, exhibit no surprise in the outcomes of the now 15 national studies starting with Colorado One. That the media center, its resources, and the teaching/collaborating role of the SLMS are the number one indicators of student achievement in these studies is in line with outcomes observed every day in high functioning school media programs. The opposite has consistently been true in library impoverished schools, long before, after and during standards reforms such as the one in progress in New York.

Reality number 2 is the achievement of STANDARDS.

When New York targeted higher achievement for all learners, the advice of the Business Council and researchers in effective learning models pointed to the essential elements of resource based learning as a key to success. Indeed, accessing, using and presenting of information shapes the new Core Curricula and Resource Guides in New York. Information problem solving, interdisciplinary connections, eliciting meaning from primary, secondary and literary resources, reading, writing, speaking and listening for information, for critical evaluation and analysis, use of technology to access and process information - these are the focal points of the New York State Standards. With these concepts as the foundation, a plan is constructed to improve learning outcomes for all. Authentic products and processes embracing the real world characterize the instructional dynamic. And where did this new reality bring teachers and students? To the school library!

To quality information resources. To the solving of information problems. To critical thinking. To cognitive efficacy.

Let me illustrate my point. These performance outcomes are delineated in the Early Literacy Guidance Pre-Kindergarten - Grade 3 Core Curriculum. These outcomes are in the standards for reading for information and understanding for grade two:

Collect data and facts
Interpret information represented in pictures, illustrations, and simple charts and webs
Distinguish between important and unimportant information
Draw on prior knowledge and vocabulary to understand new data and facts
Locate and use classroom and library media center resources - both print and electronic - with assistance to acquire information
Select informational books with assistance

This can only happen when quality information resources, print and electronic, are available to every child. School Library Systems enhance the availability of resources for every child through the NOVEL electronic databases, interlibrary loan, and in service training for teachers and school library media specialists in collaboration and
Resource based learning. School Library Systems deliver resources to every child in New York City, in rural schools, in impoverished schools, in urban schools. EQUITY is a reality because of our services.

Graduates of New York's schools must master the information problem solving process to fulfill standards in the Social Studies, ELA, Science, Technology, Career Education and Occupational Studies, and Health and Family and Consumer Science.

Commencement competencies stated in Core Curricula include:

Obtain information from a variety of sources
Analysis and integration of data, facts and ideas to communicate information
Evaluation of sources of information, recognition of advantages and limitations in varying sources
Differentiation between fact and opinion
Check on the completeness of data and question hypothesisi based on evidence

Reality 3 is EQUITY of access to quality resources.

Learners build understanding through interacting with resources. Learners build meaning for themselves, processing new ideas and knowledge through application, practice, manipulation, conversation, hypothesis, analysis and experimentation. Learners build understanding from inflexible knowledge by seeing connections, by relating, questioning, exploring, expanding, synthesizing, evaluating, sharing and producing. The stage for so much of this passage is the school library. The tools for so much of this passage are quality information resources. Information Power, Building Partnerships for Learning by ALA and AECT emphasizes three core principles for increasing student success in the greater learning community:

constructivist method in which the student posits questions and finds individual meaning,
disciplined inquiry in which the learner solves problems with information resources of the highest quality,
connections beyond the classroom where real world links, processes, authentic products and the greater learning community are an integral framework for learning.

The 15 state studies and a recent study in New York City prove again and again that students with equitable access to quality information resources perform better. Sharing resources, supporting access to databases, providing reduced costs for quality electronic resources, School Library Systems close the equity gap.

Reality 4 is the failure to fully realize the potential of school library media programs and school library systems to empower every child.

School districts that embrace the standards, embrace accountability, embrace improved performance often also embrace the power of quality school library media programs. School districts that attempt to close the achievement gap without the efficacy of a school library, access to quality resources, the instructional and collaborative role of a school library media specialist, fall short of doing everything in their power to accomplish their goal. Schools where a school library media program is not fully engaging the important functions that lead to increased student performance, are falling short of their potential.

Vision, true accountability with the will to redirect, and the funding to make the potential power of school libraries a REALITY for all are at the heart of the matter.

As often as these are shared and understood, the gap remains open. Children are left behind. Yet a clear solution is right here in front of us.

Simply engaging learners in the information problem solving process, in a safe and respectful environment, results in greater achievement. Information literacy results in enhanced ability to learn, to read, to think. Learners will achieve at a higher level in reading, local assessments and state assessments in an information rich environment, with a professional media specialist who teaches and collaborates, with technological resources that support instruction.


	School Library Systems - Advocacy Toolkit “It is not enough to care. You must act.” “In the budget equation, remember all learners.”


ALERT - Be part of the Sunflower Avalanche! ADVOCATE NOW! Sunflower Action Plan for School Library Systems 2008 ADVOCACY - Getting the ACTION started Introduction What are the Issues? Budget Hearing on Elementary and Secondary Education Contact NY Decision Makers How can I frame my message? School Libraries Do Make a Difference to KIDS Outcomes 21st Century Skills, the Workforce and School Libraries System Director's Legislative Visits Resources Brochures & Flyers Strategies Testimony Forms & Samples Advocacy Links AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner Survey Results of School Libraries Count!		Testimony Samples I am here to attest to four realities, each born out in an array of research on student achievement, each occurring in the daily dynamics of schools with quality school library programs, each empowering New York State's learners, each far from reaching the potential to make a difference for every child. Indeed some children, in regard to these realities are left behind. The first reality is now born out by 15 state studies in student achievement, with two more state studies imminent. A related study in the City of New York reinforces the key findings of this body of research. Schools in need of improvement across the U.S. have carefully documented trends in increased student achievement, improved reading scores, and improved performance on local and state assessments, even standardized tests, when this reality becomes a force for learning in their schools. Michigan, Florida, California and other states moved closer to this reality and saw the scores rise. Further, improvement in reading scores was in double digits, up 35%. In a local analysis of student performance on the fourth and eighth grade tests, recently done in the Capital District, student achievement correlated directly with the presence of this reality. Schools with it had success. School without it did not. A superintendent in the Wayne Finger Lakes area, with a budget stretched thin and poor student performance on state tests, invested in a single professional to begin the climb to achievement. He read this research and hired a school library media specialist. What is the first reality? This force in student performance is the school library media program. !5 national studies emerge which clearly and empirically correlate student achievement with the availability of a school library media center and a professional school library media specialist, along with staff that frees that professional to pursue collaboration and instruction in information problem solving. Since the Colorado studies, proof of the power of school media programs to improve student performance is at hand. Boost in student achievement and improved reading scores correlated with access to quality information resources and quality selections for the development of universal literacy. Simultaneously, an array of ancillary studies focused on the constructivist approach to learning and brain research have forged a consistent picture of how children learn best. The essential attributes of learning environments and instructional models that enhance achievement parallel closely the processes and opportunities provided in school libraries that foster information literacy. Many school library media specialists with information rich media centers, a high degree of curricular integration, and professional collaboration, exhibit no surprise in the outcomes of the now 15 national studies starting with Colorado One. That the media center, its resources, and the teaching/collaborating role of the SLMS are the number one indicators of student achievement in these studies is in line with outcomes observed every day in high functioning school media programs. The opposite has consistently been true in library impoverished schools, long before, after and during standards reforms such as the one in progress in New York. Reality number 2 is the achievement of STANDARDS. When New York targeted higher achievement for all learners, the advice of the Business Council and researchers in effective learning models pointed to the essential elements of resource based learning as a key to success. Indeed, accessing, using and presenting of information shapes the new Core Curricula and Resource Guides in New York. Information problem solving, interdisciplinary connections, eliciting meaning from primary, secondary and literary resources, reading, writing, speaking and listening for information, for critical evaluation and analysis, use of technology to access and process information - these are the focal points of the New York State Standards. With these concepts as the foundation, a plan is constructed to improve learning outcomes for all. Authentic products and processes embracing the real world characterize the instructional dynamic. And where did this new reality bring teachers and students? To the school library! To quality information resources. To the solving of information problems. To critical thinking. To cognitive efficacy. Let me illustrate my point. These performance outcomes are delineated in the Early Literacy Guidance Pre-Kindergarten - Grade 3 Core Curriculum. These outcomes are in the standards for reading for information and understanding for grade two: Collect data and facts Interpret information represented in pictures, illustrations, and simple charts and webs Distinguish between important and unimportant information Draw on prior knowledge and vocabulary to understand new data and facts Locate and use classroom and library media center resources - both print and electronic - with assistance to acquire information Select informational books with assistance This can only happen when quality information resources, print and electronic, are available to every child. School Library Systems enhance the availability of resources for every child through the NOVEL electronic databases, interlibrary loan, and in service training for teachers and school library media specialists in collaboration and Resource based learning. School Library Systems deliver resources to every child in New York City, in rural schools, in impoverished schools, in urban schools. EQUITY is a reality because of our services. Graduates of New York's schools must master the information problem solving process to fulfill standards in the Social Studies, ELA, Science, Technology, Career Education and Occupational Studies, and Health and Family and Consumer Science. Commencement competencies stated in Core Curricula include: Obtain information from a variety of sources Analysis and integration of data, facts and ideas to communicate information Evaluation of sources of information, recognition of advantages and limitations in varying sources Differentiation between fact and opinion Check on the completeness of data and question hypothesisi based on evidence Reality 3 is EQUITY of access to quality resources. Learners build understanding through interacting with resources. Learners build meaning for themselves, processing new ideas and knowledge through application, practice, manipulation, conversation, hypothesis, analysis and experimentation. Learners build understanding from inflexible knowledge by seeing connections, by relating, questioning, exploring, expanding, synthesizing, evaluating, sharing and producing. The stage for so much of this passage is the school library. The tools for so much of this passage are quality information resources. Information Power, Building Partnerships for Learning by ALA and AECT emphasizes three core principles for increasing student success in the greater learning community: constructivist method in which the student posits questions and finds individual meaning, disciplined inquiry in which the learner solves problems with information resources of the highest quality, connections beyond the classroom where real world links, processes, authentic products and the greater learning community are an integral framework for learning. The 15 state studies and a recent study in New York City prove again and again that students with equitable access to quality information resources perform better. Sharing resources, supporting access to databases, providing reduced costs for quality electronic resources, School Library Systems close the equity gap. Reality 4 is the failure to fully realize the potential of school library media programs and school library systems to empower every child. School districts that embrace the standards, embrace accountability, embrace improved performance often also embrace the power of quality school library media programs. School districts that attempt to close the achievement gap without the efficacy of a school library, access to quality resources, the instructional and collaborative role of a school library media specialist, fall short of doing everything in their power to accomplish their goal. Schools where a school library media program is not fully engaging the important functions that lead to increased student performance, are falling short of their potential. Vision, true accountability with the will to redirect, and the funding to make the potential power of school libraries a REALITY for all are at the heart of the matter. As often as these are shared and understood, the gap remains open. Children are left behind. Yet a clear solution is right here in front of us. Simply engaging learners in the information problem solving process, in a safe and respectful environment, results in greater achievement. Information literacy results in enhanced ability to learn, to read, to think. Learners will achieve at a higher level in reading, local assessments and state assessments in an information rich environment, with a professional media specialist who teaches and collaborates, with technological resources that support instruction.

Home \| Sitemap