Angie says: Let the Librarians Lead

One of our very own, Angie Miller (Library Media Specialist at Inter-Lakes Jr/Sr High School) was asked to write a blog post for Education Week on teacher leadership. She says, "I used the opportunity to promote all that you do in your schools! Thanks for the daily inspiration; so proud to be working among your ranks now!"

Her article begins:  

"When I was in the classroom, I yearned to have a colleague who knew my curriculum and could counsel me in literacy practices and effective and efficient technology integration. A peer who understood adolescent development and would problem solve by my side. One who could talk through the intricacies and complications of guiding students through analytical research. A collaborator and innovator to help push me deeper into my own practice. I was looking for somebody who had superpowers, and she was nowhere to be found.

So I decided to become her myself: I became a librarian."

Read the rest of Angie's article here: Let the Librarians Lead

Libraries vs. Poverty

In the latest issue of Knowledge Quest, the Journal of the American Association of School Librarians, *Steven Krashen criticizes the Common Core.  While I don't necessarily agree with his position, I am glad to know that there are educational experts who are questioning and evaluating this new direction.  His stance posits that the real problem in our schools is an epidemic of poverty.  I found the following conclusions very interesting and worth noting:

Lack of access to books 
There is very clear evidence that children from high-poverty families have very little access to books at home, at school, and in their communities (Newman and Celano, 2001; Duke, 2001; additional studies reviewed in Krashen, 2004). Studies also show when children have access to interesting and comprehensible reading material, they read (Krashen, 2001; 2004). And finally, when children read, they improve in all aspects of literacy, including vocabulary, grammar, spelling, reading and writing ability (McQuillan, 1998; Krashen, 2004). In fact, the evidence is strong that reading for pleasure, self-selected reading, is the major cause of advanced literacy development. Making sure that all children have access to books makes literacy development possible. Without it, literacy development is impossible. 

Libraries 
Libraries are often the only source of books and other reading material for children of poverty and they are a potent source: A number of studies confirm that providing access to books via libraries has a positive impact on reading development: The better the library (more books, presence of a credentialed librarian, better staffing), the higher the reading scores (e.g. Lance and Helgren,

2010) Krashen, 2011). Multivariate studies show that the positive impact of school libraries can be as strong as the negative impact of poverty on reading achievement (Achterman, 2008; Krashen, Lee and McQuillan, 2012): in other words, a good library can offset the effect of poverty on literacy development. 

*Stephen Krashen is professor emeritus at the University of Southern California.  He is a linguist, educational researcher, and activist.  Click here to go to his blog: http://skrashen.blogspot.com