ell corner project
DESCRIPTION
A planning, marketing, and assessment plan for an urban high school library to implement a new service for its English Language Learner (ELL) students.TRANSCRIPT
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ELL Corner Project:
Documents for Planning, Marketing, and Assessment
designed for Brighton High School, Boston, MA
Susanna Hall
IST613 - Library Planning, Marketing and Assessment, Oakleaf
School of Information Studies, Syracuse University
Spring, 2011
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. ...........................................................................................LITERATURE REVIEW 1
Planning: project team, needs assessment
ESL and SEI instructional strategies
Marketing: tutor selection and training
Assessment: participatory approach
2. ....................................................................................................PROJECT PLAN 14
Relationship to library strategic planning and mission
User needs assessment: internal and external
Relevant literature, goals and outcomes
Budget, responsible parties, pilot test, scalability
Assumptions and limitations, SWOT analysis, reflection
3. ...............................................................................................MARKETING PLAN 34
Relevant literature, marketing goals and outcomes, target audiences
Positioning statement, key messages, message delivery strategies
Mockups of selected marketing materials, reflection
4. ............................................................................................ASSESSMENT PLAN 44
Goals and outcomes, relevant literature
Assessment plans for each outcome: 1-4
Recommended action plan and timeline (66)
Service impact rubric, reflection
............................................................................................................REFERENCES 78
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Planning, Marketing, and Assessment of Community Partnership and Peer-Tutoring Services to English-Language Learners in a High School Library: A Literature Review
INTRODUCTION
English-language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing student population in
U.S. public schools. In 2004–2005, approximately 5.1 million students, or 10.5 percent
of the U.S. student population, were ELLs (McBride, 2008). In 2006, the U.S.
Department of Education counted 5.4 million ELL students and predicted that this
number will increase to one of every four students by 2025. It is imperative that public
school librarians proactively develop collections and services that directly engage with
and provide access and resources to their ELL students.
Along with a host librarian at a public high school in Boston, MA, in which 28% of
students are ELLs [the district average (Boston Public Schools, 2011)], I am planning a
PMA project that will develop an ongoing, sustainable service to ELL students at the
school. The target population will likely be ELL students who are enrolled in Sheltered
English Instruction (SEI) classes, which provide the strongest supports for English
language learners--content instruction in both their home language and English as a
second language. This service, though still in the design stage, will include strong library
staff collaboration with SEI students and ELL/SEI teachers at the school. It may focus
on partnerships with and/or outreach to immigrant-serving and/or literacy-based
community organizations, and/or may potentially develop into a pilot peer-tutoring
program.
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Most of the school library literature on the topic of ELLs focuses on (1) collection
development issues such as leveled texts, high interest-low level texts, website design,
and audiobook technology, and (2) on facility issues such as the creation of a
welcoming physical space through multilingual signage. Additionally, there is very little
information in this literature about the collaboration between school librarians and SEI/
ESL (English as a second language) teachers. Therefore, I have conducted this
literature review mainly within the broader fields of SEI/ESL education and public library
services to immigrants1 and have limited my scope to peer-reviewed journal articles, a
few key research reports, and one book. The most relevant literature related to the
planning, marketing, and assessment of this type of service has come from an
unexpected corner of the library world--the community outreach and public health
publications of the Medical Library Association and the National Network of Libraries of
Medicine (Ottoson & Green, 2005; Warner, Olney, Wood, Hansen, & Bowden, 2005).
Together, these professional fields seem remarkably well-aligned; theories,
methodologies, findings, and recommendations in this literature are relatively consistent
across authors.
PLANNING
Project team development
Many librarians and library students are not formally trained in providing services
to English-language learners, so creating a project team through collaboration with ESL/
2
1 One cannot assume that all ELL students in a SEI program are recent immigrants, however, anecdotal evidence suggests that students in Boston’s SEI program are likely to have more limited English language proficiency than their ELL peers in general education classes, thus requiring the extra support available in the SEI setting. A needs assessment of the target population will determine the extent to which local immigrant resources may be appropriate to a project.
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SEI professionals and students is essential to the success of any initiative in which ELL
students will participate.
The comprehensive Med High Peer Tutor MedlinePlus Pilot Project (Warner, et.
al., 2005), which “used high school peer tutors as one method of introducing [the]
MedlinePlus [consumer health website] to the Hispanic community in the Rio Grande
Valley of south Texas,” had strong funding (from the National Library of Medicine) and a
large project team. The project team leaders were staff members (including a dedicated
evaluation specialist) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
(UTHSCSA) and a librarian from a UTHSCSA regional branch library. “Key participants”
included the head librarian at Med High and her staff. In this case, a university-based
research team partnered with an affiliate public librarian, who, in turn, interviewed high
school library staff and administrators before drafting initial pilot project objectives and
evaluation methods.
Not only did this project team benefit from rich collaboration between institutions,
but it was also able to successfully transfer aspects of project leadership to high school-
aged peer tutors and community participants. The report states, “Leadership for the
project came from the community. The participants set their own goals and
strategies. . . .Although the project leaders did not always find it easy, we believe that
permitting participants to design and carry out their own project is critical to developing
a sustainable outreach program” (Warner, et. al., 2005). The success of this leadership
model can be an inspiration for project team development on any scale.
On a smaller scale, for the Urban Libraries Council report “Welcome, Stranger:
Public LIbraries Build the Global Village,” research was led by Ashton and Milam (2008),
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who conducted online surveys with thirty-five ULC member public libraries and select
interviews with twelve library and community professionals in order to gather data “on
the ways in which urban public libraries are involved with the transition of immigrants
into American life.” A grant from the Institute for Museum & Library Service supported
their research. This report, and others like it, can provide important data to leaders of
more modest projects.
For a project that is designed and implemented at the school library level with no
funding and a limited scope, a project team will necessarily be small, and project design
data and recommendations will likely come from a combination of a literature review
and community needs assessment interviews and/or focus groups with “cultural liaison”
staff at the high school (ELL/SEI teachers, literacy coordinators, and/or family
engagement coordinators) and ELL students themselves. Depending on the focus of the
service, further data and recommendations may come from interviews with local
professionals working in immigrant organizations and ESL literacy and tutoring centers.
Community needs assessment and project design
Regardless of the size of the project team, project planning must begin with a
well-developed community needs assessment so that project design and organization
will lead to successful and sustainable implementation. The literature states some of the
specific needs of ELL students and gives clear recommendations for effective program/
project design.
Ashton and Milam (2008) report a number of needs common to new residents in
America and provide recommendations for public library services that can meet those
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needs. Immigrant families often have “survival needs” such as access to job-hunting,
health and nutrition, and citizenship preparation information. Parents of K-12 students
need support with school engagement, so public libraries should “[help] parents learn to
advocate for their children in school, adjust to bi-cultural teen behavior, and navigate
public and private education institutions.” Newcomers have civic engagement needs
that can benefit from opportunities for public discussion of the challenges that face them
in America. Students and parents can also benefit from one-on-one tutoring, technology
training, conversational English opportunities, and reading clubs that include “authors
familiar to immigrant groups.” These needs can also be met through school library
programs and partnerships. In fact, since “the best program organization is one that is
tailored to meet linguistic, academic, and affective needs of students,” public school
teachers, librarians, and staff are natural partners who are likely already working to
provide holistic services to this population.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ “Library Services for Immigrants:
A Report on Current Practices” (2010) notes the same needs as above, adding
examples of well-designed “bridge programs” that can help immigrants understand and
integrate into their communities: cultural activities and holiday events, free seminars by
immigration lawyers, roundtable discussions on immigrant issues, and “an agency book
club with peers from other community agencies to learn more about the immigrants in
the community.” This last suggestion may be especially relevant to school library staff
members who want to design services and projects for ELL students but may have a
limited understanding of their ELL students and families. An agency book club could
provide a regular, informal gathering for professionals across disciplines that could
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enrich their understanding of immigrant issues. As Ashton and Milam note, “When
libraries understand neighborhood-level information about new residents, their needs,
and the resources available to them, libraries can shape their services and form their
partnerships effectively” (2008).
Setting partnership priorities
The USCIS report (2010) discusses the communication, cultural, and resources
“gaps” that can be bridged through agency partnerships. Borrett and Milam, in the
“Welcome Stranger” toolkit (2008), provide an excellent list of questions that aim to help
library project planning teams “define productive partnerships”:
• Which partnership is the best match with our library? Why?• Which partnership yields the highest impact on the immigrant population in our
library and community? Why?• If we could only pick one partnership to expand, which one would it be? What
resources would be required to expand it? Would that partnership still be viable in 5 years?
• What partnership do we not have, but wish we did? What resources would it take to see it become a reality? What barriers keep it from becoming a reality? What are the community barriers? What are the library barriers?
• What partnerships are valuable and effective now, but may diminish in importance within the next 5 years? Why?
• What partnerships are a low priority now, but may be more important in the next 5 years? Why?
ESL Standards and SEI instructional strategies
Library project planning teams can also benefit by becoming familiar with the
curriculum standards created by ESL/ESOL professionals and the instructional
strategies they commonly employ. ESL Standards for Pre-K-12 Students was first
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published in 1997 by Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.
(TESOL)2. Naidoo (2005) aligns ESL and AASL (American Association of School
Librarians) standards so that “ESL teachers can assist the school library media
specialist in meeting the informational needs of ELL students while also providing
instructional strategies for teaching information-seeking skills to ELL students.” Some of
these standards include:
• Students will interact in, with, and through spoken and written English for personal expression and enjoyment.
• Students will use learning strategies to extend their communicative competence.
• Students will use appropriate language variety, register, and genre according to audience, purpose, and setting.
Other researchers in the literature focus on effective instructional strategies in the SEI
classroom. For instance, teachers should:
• “Provide opportunities for students to talk within a variety of group settings, e.g., cooperative groups, buddy system, and small groups” (Echevarria, Graves, and Vogt, 1996),
• “Encourage elaborated responses in teacher-student interaction, i.e., reciprocal questioning: ‘Tell me more...’; ‘What made you think or say that?’; ‘Tell me what you mean by that?’; ‘Okay, and so...?’; and ‘In other words...?‘ (Echevarria, Graves, and Vogt, 1996),
• “Allow ELLs to use their first language (L1) in the classroom when appropriate, as well as the use of L1 texts and resources that will serve to clarify academic concepts in the second language (L2)” (Hansen-Thomas, 2008),
• “Consider language learners' home experiences as well as educational background, first and second language and literacy proficiency, and cultural and religious norms.” (Hansen-Thomas, 2008),
• “Use. . .role-playing” (Hansen-Thomas, 2008),• “Use explicit teaching of learning strategies” (Hansen-Thomas, 2008),
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2 The most recent edition is PreK-12 English Language Proficiency Standards, published in 2006 by TESOL, Inc.
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• “Use nonverbal communication [such as] smiling, shaking hands, and using a tone of voice that is comforting without being condescending” (Dawkins, 2008),
• Use thematic learning and connect content to students’ life experiences: “the students decide what topics we will discuss; alternatively, I will propose a topic that connects to experiences they have discussed” (Dawkins, 2008), and
• Increase vocabulary knowledge “by making connections with oral language, multiple exposures to words in a variety of rich contexts, pre-instruction of word meanings before reading, and active engagement of the learner in acquiring and using vocabulary” (Corona & Armour, 2007).
Librarians who become aware of these standards and practices will be more able to
provide effective instruction and design effective services for their ELL students. Many
of these practices are just “good teaching” and are also used by general and special
educators.
MARKETING
Tutor selection and training
For library projects that include adult or peer tutors, the literature provides
recommendations for selection and training, and outreach methods during the early
implementation period of a project can be considered marketing. The Med High Peer
Tutor MedlinePlus Pilot Project (Warner, et. al., 2005) used “diffusions of innovations
(DI) theory” to identify and target school community members considered to be “early
adopters [of technology] (usually 16% of a given community or population).” This
methodology was well-suited to their objectives--to help Hispanic community members
understand and be able to navigate a consumer health website. Their initial pilot of the
program included four peer tutors, and with these, they used a “train the trainers
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approach” that succeeded in part because MedlinePlus “attract[ed] the interest of the
school librarians and some high-achieving high school students” (the peer tutors were
also paid with grant money) (Warner, et. al., 2005). When teens expressed interest in
applying for the project, they underwent a rigorous interview process in which they had
to be nominated by teachers and approved by the school principal. Tutor training
sessions made use of case studies and role playing exercises, which “sometimes paired
a librarian and a peer tutor on a problem-solving exercise. The partnership between the
librarians and the peer tutors always guided the sessions, which were often led by the
peer tutors” (Warner, et. al., 2005). This case demonstrates the use of technology as a
draw that sparks the enthusiasm of school librarians and students alike, and its training
sessions are shaped largely by the needs of the trainees. It is also heartening to note
that even the most comprehensive and well-funded programs need to begin with small
pilot initiatives.
Dawkins (2008), who works as an ESL tutor and tutor trainer for library-based
literacy councils in rural western Pennsylvania, defines tutors as “cultural brokers” who
“help a newcomer to get around the community and learn certain acculturation
processes.” Unlike the MedHigh project, Dawkins was unable to attract potential tutors
with the promise of teaching a web-based technology. It is also unclear whether or not
her tutors were paid. Since her tutors were recruited with the objective to teaching
English as a second language, Dawkins often needed to allay the fears of future tutors
who felt they were not qualified to teach English. She had to market her program by
assuring tutoring applicants that they “already have many of the qualifications needed.”
“Experienced ESL tutors know that we do not have to have a flawless grasp of the finer
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points of English grammar and usage--we need to guide our students in the ways of
everyday American language and culture” (Dawkins, 2008). Dawkins’ training sessions
focused on developing ESL teaching techniques and intercultural awareness and
sensitivity in her tutors. This case demonstrates the need for a project team (1) to plan
and market a program in a way that will attract strong interest and many tutoring
candidates, and (2) to be aware of potential barriers that may affect tutor confidence.
Finally, for a school that does not regularly train teens to be peer tutors to ELL students,
it is important to consider partnering with a library-based or community literacy council
that already offers low-cost (or free) training for literacy tutors.
ASSESSMENT
The most thorough article relating to assessment is Ottoson and Green’s
“Community Outreach: From Measuring the Difference to Making a Difference with
Health Information” (2005), which explores a participatory approach to program
planning and evaluation through the lens of medical libraries’ community-based
outreach programs. The authors note three components of evaluation theory:
1. Use: Evaluation is intended to be useful for stakeholders to make decisions. A useful evaluation is credible, timely, and of adequate scope. Participatory approaches to evaluating increase use of evaluation findings include engaging end users early in planning the program itself and in deciding on the outcomes of the evaluation.
2. What is being evaluated: Participatory approaches to evaluating outreach include having end users, such as health practitioners in other community-based organizations, identify what components of the outreach program are most important to their work.
3. The process by which value is placed on outreach. What will count as outreach success or failure? Who decides? Participatory approaches to
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valuing include assuring end-user representation in the formulation of evaluation questions and in the interpretation of evaluation results.
Ottoson and Green stress that the planning, marketing, and assessment process should
be collaborative from beginning to end. From the initial needs assessment stage
onward, stakeholders should help decide what outcomes are important to accomplish,
to that they can help determine what outcomes will be considered successful, relevant,
and valued by the community. This participatory approach, argue Ottoson and Green,
can best guarantee that the results of an evaluation will be used by members of the
participating community. Because “who is at the table and who is not” is a key
component of the perceived success and usefulness of a project, a participatory
approach to assessment should be actively developed by a project team from the start.
The Med High peer tutor project team did not use a participatory approach to
evaluation since it hired a professional project evaluator, but leaders admit that an
“important [success] factor was including a project evaluator on the planning team from
the outset” (Warner, et. al., 2005). This evaluator was constantly at work, evaluating
both the process and the outcomes of the project using a traditional battery of
quantitative and qualitative methods such as focus group interviews, individual
interviews, pre- and posttests of training sessions, surveys, and Web statistics (from the
MedlinePlus site).
This case demonstrates that sustainable programs can be developed even when
participants do not hold an integral place in assessment design. Instead, the
participatory roles of school librarians and students during the planning and
implementation of the Med High peer tutor project contributed heavily to its success.
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The authors report that “library staff had moved beyond their support function to
become leaders and active team members in the school curriculum as a result of their
participation in this project. The school librarians also have become more involved with
other librarians in the region.” (Warner, et. al., 2005). They also note that the project
“enhanced the role of school librarians as agents of change at Med High. The project
continues on a self-sustaining basis.”
CONCLUSION
The literature produced by public and medical library researchers, as well as SEI/
ESL educators and theorists, can be instrumental to the planning, marketing, and
assessment of school library projects that provide services to ELL adolescents
regardless of their English language proficiency or program placement (in SEI or
general education classes). Both public and medical libraries have strong and growing
traditions of providing literacy and community outreach services to this population, and
there is also a broad focus on adult, family, and community involvement--in addition to
student involvement--that is a refreshing change from the narrow focus of much of the
school library literature.
As my project planning moves forward, this literature will inform my decisions.
The National Network of Libraries of Medicine website (http://nnlm.gov/evaluation/
guide/) offers useful Evaluation Guides that will enable me to include participatory
assessment design throughout my project. I also plan to investigate comparable
services at peer libraries within the Boston Public Library network and within the Boston
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Public Schools and to meet with professionals at the Boston Public Schools’ Office of
English Language Learners, Family Resource Centers, and local literacy centers.
Though planning, marketing, and assessing a project can feel complex and
overwhelming, it is important to start small with SMART outcomes (specific,
measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) and a reasonable scope. After all, “If
a library is just beginning to serve immigrants, taking some small, thoughtful steps
toward attracting and assisting immigrants is more likely to succeed than creating an
elaborate plan that may prove difficult to implement” (USCIS, 2010).
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PROJECT PLAN
Introduction
Although 28% of the student body at Brighton High School in Boston, MA, is
classified as English Language Learners (ELLs), many of these students do not come to
the school library during their independent time (before school, during lunch, or after
school). The physical resources the library currently holds that would attract ELLs,
particularly books for independent reading, are not yet displayed in a space set aside for
ELL patrons. The human resources, particularly the readers’ advisory skills of the library
staff, are also not being utilized by this population. The library and ESL staff at Brighton
High School feel that the creation of a welcoming “ELL Corner” in the library, in addition
to improved library communication with staff and students about current ELL resources,
could improve the rate at which ELL students come to the library during independent
time, ask readers’ advisory questions, and take out books for independent reading.
This project, therefore, will pilot the creation of an ELL Corner in the school
library and will also recommend communication and marketing tools for the library staff
to use so that existing ELL-related resources are communicated effectively to staff and
students. The target population for this project will be the 14.1% of ELL students at
Brighton who are in bilingual education, otherwise known as Sheltered English
Instruction (SEI) (about 160 students) (Boston Public Schools, 2009). These SEI
students are segregated from their peers in general education classes since their
course work is taught in a blend of English and their native languages.
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The project will add welcoming multilingual signage, reposition book shelves, and
relocate independent reading books (fiction and nonfiction) to a new ELL Corner. This
corner will not be isolated from the main area of the library for two reasons: (1) so that
the ELL students will have an opportunity to be more integrated with their general
education peers while in the library, and (2) because many of the books that will be
placed in the ELL Corner will also be books that circulate frequently amongst all patrons
(i.e. anime, graphic novels, high-interest/low-level series books).
The general end goals of this service are (1) for SEI students to feel welcomed
and confident in navigating the library and asking readers’ advisory questions, (2) for
SEI students to independently come to the library, find, and take out books for
independent reading, and (3) for SEI students to feel more integrated with the student
population at large. This service will initially be limited to independent/pleasure reading
because SEI teachers have reported that SEi students are academically exhausted
after a full day of classes.
Relationship to Library Strategic Planning
The library director at Brighton High School stresses that the library’s mission is
in support of the overall mission of Brighton High School: “Brighton High School is
committed to providing a personal and engaging high school experience, leading to life-
long academic and civic excellence. By creating an inclusive community and offering
challenging curricula, we empower our students to be successful in their post-secondary
education and beyond” (Brighton High School, 2010).
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Dominic J. Bruno Library Media Center Mission: The mission of the library media
program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and
information.
This mission is accomplished:
• by providing intellectual and physical access to materials in all formats
• by providing instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in
reading, viewing, and using information and ideas
• by working with other educators to design learning strategies to meet the
needs of individual students. (Brighton High School, 2010)
There are no strategic planning documents for the library at this time, but the ELL
Corner project can clearly be mapped back to the mission statements above. Brighton
High School aims to create an engaging and inclusive community that will “empower our
students to be successful in their post-secondary education and beyond.” In order for
ELL students to succeed in post-secondary education, they will need to become familiar
with their high school library and the resources it provides so that they will become
regular and confident users of their college library in the future. Their high school library
will need to provide an engaging and inclusive environment for them so that they can
develop this ownership of the space and its resources (human and physical).
In terms of the library mission statement, the ELL Corner will create greater
physical and intellectual access to materials for ELL students, and once these students
begin to come to the library on their own volition, opportunities for library staff to provide
“instruction to foster competence and stimulate interest in reading, viewing, and using
information and ideas” will abound. This project also builds in collaboration between
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library staff and ESL classroom teachers that will lead to the design of ongoing
strategies that will meet the needs of this specific sub-population of the student body.
User Needs Assessment
Internal Stakeholders
Though SEI students are the end users of this project, a small group of key
internal stakeholders are crucial to the planning and implementation of the ELL Corner.
These include Ms. Kathleen Ross, Librarian, Ms. Laurelle Mathison, Library Assistant,
Ms. Martha Boycell and Ms. Bridget Driscoll, ESL teachers and department heads, and
Ms. Louisa McCarthy, Simmons College library intern. Other cultural liaison staff, such
as the Family Engagement Coordinator and/or the ESL guidance counselor may also
become key players if Ms. Ross considers family needs as she expands her collection,
or if/when this program expands to include evening family events.
Internal Assessments
It is demographically significant that over one in four students at Brighton High
School are classified as English Language Learners, and that 14.1% of the student
population is placed in SEI classes. Ms. Kathleen Ross, the librarian at Brighton High
School, has identified ELL students as being the most important stakeholders to target
in terms of program and collection development, since her library’s service portfolio
currently does not include services to this student population, and she very much wants
to get these students into the library on a regular basis (personal communication,
January 20, 2011). She doesn’t gather behavioral data on the SEI population, but
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anecdotally, she perceives that most of them are occasional users of the library, i.e. they
have “used the library more than once in the past year, but less than once per
quarter” (Fisher & Pride, 2006, p 15-16). There has actually been a perceived decrease
of library use in this population over the past year, since SEI teachers who used to bring
their classes into the library on a semi-regular basis no longer come. Ms. Ross wonders
whether these students and teachers are mainly relying on their classroom libraries (the
main “competition” of the ELL Corner, along with BPL branch libraries) and/or whether
they may not understand what kinds of resources are available to them at the school
library. She wants to turn this trend around (personal communication, Jan. 20, 2011).
Ms. Ross has also gathered some statistics from the Headmaster and the Family
Engagement Coordinator at Brighton High (personal communication, January 20, 2011).
As of September, 2010, the non-English languages spoken and preferred by students
were self-reported to be: Spanish (175 students), Haitian Creole (27), Portuguese (19),
Cape Verdean (14), Other (10), Chinese (1), and Vietnamese (1). Also in September,
2010, the following home languages were identified by students as preferred languages
in which they would like to receive communication from the school to their homes:
Spanish (391 students), Haitian Creole (46), Cape Verdean (29), Portuguese (28),
Vietnamese (19), French (14), Somali (6), Russian (1), and Swiss (1). This data
indicates students who are not likely to speak English at home with their family
members and identifies the major non-English home languages present within the
student body. It does not indicate the English fluency level of the students or parents/
guardians, but of the language preferences of the adults at home. Perhaps more useful
for this project is the fact that “60% of ESL/ELL students at Brighton High have lived in
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America for 1-12 months,” which was also reported anecdotally by the Family
Engagement Coordinator. Many of the new immigrant students are placed in SEI
classes because they are new to learning English, so these students’ needs can also be
viewed as new/recent immigrant needs.
External Assessments
The literature review I produced for this project detailed some of the specific
needs of ELL students, particularly new or recent immigrants:
Ashton and Milam (2008) report a number of needs common to new
residents in America and provide recommendations for public library services that
can meet those needs. Immigrant families often have “survival needs” such as
access to job-hunting, health and nutrition, and citizenship preparation
information. Parents of K-12 students need support with school engagement, so
public libraries should “[help] parents learn to advocate for their children in
school, adjust to bi-cultural teen behavior, and navigate public and private
education institutions.” Newcomers have civic engagement needs that can
benefit from opportunities for public discussion of the challenges that face them
in America. Students and parents can also benefit from one-on-one tutoring,
technology training, conversational English opportunities, and reading clubs that
include “authors familiar to immigrant groups.” These needs can also be met
through school library programs and partnerships. In fact, since “the best
program organization is one that is tailored to meet linguistic, academic, and
affective needs of students,” public school teachers, librarians, and other cultural
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liaison staff are natural partners who are likely already working to provide holistic
services to this population.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ “Library Services for
Immigrants: A Report on Current Practices” (2010) notes the same needs as
above, adding examples of well-designed “bridge programs” that can help
immigrants understand and integrate into their communities: cultural activities
and holiday events, free seminars by immigration lawyers, and roundtable
discussions on immigrant issues.
These needs are very general, and may or may not apply to the SEI students at
Brighton High School. I recommend that the ELL Corner Project team spend time talking
with SEI students in order to ascertain which felt needs are most pressing to them,
specifically relating to this pilot project, which is mainly focused on independent reading.
It is possible that the SEI students at Brighton will voice reading needs related to
survival, civic engagement, school engagement, or immigrant issues. It is also possible
that they will want to read books by authors from their home countries, leveled books,
children’s book series, or anime. The team won’t know until they ask.
Following are some of the possible barriers that could present themselves as this
project moves forward:
• Potential inconvenience of the library’s location, which is on the first floor of the
school, whereas SEI classrooms are clustered on the second and third floors
• Potential language barriers between SEI students and library staff
• SEI students may not all have Boston Public Library (BPL) library cards
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• SEI students who are reluctant readers, or who struggle with decoding and
comprehension due to concurrent learning disabilities, may struggle to access
materials, even with expert assistance
• SEI students may experience frustration if they are unable to find an interesting
book to take out after browsing and/or consulting with library staff for a short time
• There may be competition for after school hours programming (jobs, other after
school programs, family needs)
• If students are most comfortable reading books from their SEI classroom
libraries, it may be a challenge to get them to come and use the library’s
resources, even though the library collection may include a greater selection of
resources
• If SEI students feel stigma about their reading needs (i.e. their need to read more
basic and/or “children’s” texts), they may not want to browse such texts in the
library in the potential presence of their general education peers
Wonderful benefits and opportunities await the SEI students who are willing to
take the time and the risk to develop a relationship with the library staff and get to know
the library’s well-rounded collection of independent reading books. Beyond the books
that are available in their classroom libraries and at their school library, they will have
access to all of the books and materials of the Boston Public Library--about three crates
of books are delivered to Brighton High from the BPL every Wednesday, and about
50-60 students use this service every week to get books and DVDs that the school
library does not own. They will be able to practice their conversational English with
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patient adults and talk about the kinds of books they want to read with library staff
members who know a lot about books that are popular right now with other students. It
may be difficult to step outside of the comfort zone of one’s own “sheltered” classroom,
but it is very important to get to know one’s school library and its resources because
when one graduates from high school and moves on to post-secondary education, one
will need to be able to navigate a college library as well. High school libraries provide a
safe space in which all students can learn how to talk with peers and adults about
reading and how to develop a love for reading, even if one is reading in a new language
and/or in a new culture.
The ELL Corner project is currently being initiated solely by library staff at
Brighton High, and it is more out of an awareness of a gap in service than it is a
response to an articulated student demand. The action plan below shows that the initial
roll-out of this service will include “open houses” to which classes of SEI students will be
brought by their teachers during class time (about 160 students total). Ms. Ross, the
Brighton High librarian, calls class visits “forced data” since the students are not
choosing to be in the library. However, as the project moves forward, students will
ideally begin to use the library during their independent time. At this time, the demand
for the service can be more accurately assessed and the data will feel more “true.”
External Stakeholders
The parents, guardians, and family members of Brighton’s SEI students are key
external stakeholders to this project, because their needs and desires may intersect
with or influence the reading needs and desires of the SEI students. The wider ELL
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student community are also key external stakeholders, since they could also clearly
benefit form the creation of an ELL Corner, enhanced readers’ advisory services, and
closer collaboration between library staff and ESL teachers in their school.
Relevant Literature
My literature review also reviewed recommendations for the development of a
project plan like this one. Most notably, the careful development of a collaborative
project team was highlighted. The case study of the Med High Peer Tutor MedLine Plus
Project (Warner, et al., 2005) demonstrated that a project team can successfully transfer
aspects of project leadership to high school-aged participants. Their report states,
““Leadership for the project came from the community. The participants set their own
goals and strategies. . . .Although the project leaders did not always find it easy, we
believe that permitting participants to design and carry out their own project is critical to
developing a sustainable outreach program.” The literature also recommends a
participatory approach to program planning and assessment. Ottoson and Green’s
“Community Outreach: From Measuring the Difference to Making a Difference with
Health Information” (2005) stresses that the planning, marketing, and assessment
process should be collaborative from beginning to end:
From the initial needs assessment stage onward, stakeholders should help
decide what outcomes are important to accomplish, to that they can help
determine what outcomes will be considered successful, relevant, and valued by
the community. This participatory approach, argue Ottoson and Green, can best
guarantee that the results of an evaluation will be used by members of the
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participating community. Because “who is at the table and who is not” is a key
component of the perceived success and usefulness of a project, a participatory
approach to assessment should be actively developed by a project team from the
start.
For this reason, I have listed only initial outcomes in this project plan (below), in hopes
that SEI students will be asked to participate in the development of the ELL Corner
project. This would include a student review of the proposed outcomes and editing of
these outcomes as necessary so that they will be judged as “successful, relevant, and
valued” by the target population themselves upon assessment of the project. If
sustainability is a goal for an evolving project or service, end users should be
encouraged to participate from the very start.
Recommendations for Action
Goals
• Goal 1: The creation of an ELL Corner will improve the rate at which SEi students
come to the library during independent time and take out books for independent
reading.
• Goal 2: As a result of visiting the ELL Corner, SEI students at Brighton High will
perceive the library as a welcoming place where their reading questions can be
answered and books can be found.
• Goal 3: SEI students who visit the ELL Corner will become more confident in
navigating library resources, more socially integrated with the student population at
large, and will continue to develop a love of reading.
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• Goal 4: improved communication between library staff and SEI teachers will ensure
that SEI students and teachers are kept well-informed of current collection materials
and new acquisitions.
Initial Outcomes3
• 100% of SEI students (160) will attend an open house at the ELL Corner with their SEI
teachers before the end of June, 2011 so that they can begin to perceive the library as
a welcoming place.
• 100% of SEI students (160) will be trained by library staff on how to navigate and use
the ELL Corner before the end of June, 2011 so the students can begin to gain
awareness, confidence, and ownership in their new access to a wider selection of
independent reading materials than are available in their SEI classroom libraries.
• 25% of SEI students (40) will enter the library and browse within the ELL Corner on
their independent time before the end of June, 2011, which will demonstrate increased
confidence that the library can meet their reading needs.
• 25% of SEI students (40) will ask at least one readers’ advisory question of a library
staff member, which will result in improved confidence in the use of conversational
English and improved satisfaction with the readers’ advisory services at the library.
• 25% of SEI students (40) will check out an independent reading book (fiction or
nonfiction) from the library before the end of June, 2011, which will lead to improved
student engagement with independent reading.
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3 Initial outcomes are defined as initial results or short-term benefits for the patrons. They are “milestones int the life of a project” (Rubin, 2006, p 21 & 114). As such, initial results assume that a service or project will expand beyond the pilot phase and then include more long-term outcomes.
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Budget
Human resources (time and effort) are the main requirements for planning,
marketing, implementing, and assessing an ELL Corner at the Brighton High School
library. The only actual items to be purchased during this phase of the project will be
multilingual signage, which I estimate will cost $50. Budget items based on hours spent
x hourly salary are listed in the action plan and timeline below. The following estimates
are used:
• Librarian = $30/hr
• SEI Teachers = $30/hr
• Library Assistant = $20/hr
• Library Intern = unpaid
• SEI students = unpaid
Responsible Parties
Ms. Ross, the librarian at Brighton High School, will have the primary
responsibility for the creation of the ELL Corner. She will schedule all meetings with
project team members, delegate responsibilities to other project team members, and
oversee the roll-out and assessment of the project. Ms. Mathison, the library assistant,
will be the “second in command” and will assist with all aspects of the project. Both of
these leaders will be required to use their competencies in readers’ advisory service,
collection analysis, and decision-making regarding the rearranging of bookshelves and
re-shelving of fiction and non-fiction books appropriate for SEI independent reading. Ms.
Boycell and Ms. Driscoll, the SEI teachers on the project team, will be expected to
contribute their expertise as needed based on their knowledge of and relationships with
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the SEI students at Brighton. Ms. McCarthy, the Simmons intern, will be primarily
responsible for obtaining and posting multilingual posters in the ELL Corner, and will
also assist with the physical building of the corner, including moving and reorganizing
bookshelves and books. She may also participate in the decision-making process
regarding which books from the collection will be included in the ELL Corner. All library-
based team members will be responsible for gathering and assessing data on library
usage by SEI students as the project is rolled out. Time commitments for these tasks
are detailed below.
Action Plan & Timeline
This service is at the introductory stage of its life cycle, at the initial pilot phase of
its life (Fisher & Pride, 2006, p 37). Assuming that more time will be taken to assess the
needs of SEI students and perhaps even add one or two SEI students to the project
team, time will need to be built in for objectives to be reviewed and edited as needed.
The following action plan chart builds these and other steps into a two month timeline,
with project development occurring in May, implementation during the first three weeks
of June, and assessment during the fourth week in June. (I do not yet know how many
separate SEI classes there are at Brighton, so my estimates on the number of open
houses may be inaccurate.)
[NB: This chart has been removed from the project plan because all of its items are
included in the assessment plan action plan chart. This was an earlier, incomplete
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version, and inclusion here would be confusing. The final budget at this point was
calculated to be $2,130 in salaried staff hours and $50 in supplies.]
Pilot-Test
If the goals, objectives, and action steps listed above are overly ambitious and do
not feel attainable or measurable in the two-month timeframe they have been given
here, it may be better to scale back the project roll-out into a more limited pilot program
that includes smaller numbers of students served.
Conversely, if items have been omitted that could have been included above--i.e.
setting up dedicated computers in the ELL Corner that have software and/or
downloadable reading material installed--the project can easily be expanded to meet the
capabilities and ambitions of members of the project team.
Scalability
The ELL Corner project as articulated here is based on a variety of factors that
will either coalesce and move forward with few hitches or hit bumps in the road and
potentially derail themselves. If the service is enthusiastically well-received by the end
of the school year, library staff, teachers, and students should be sufficiently energized
to change and expand upon the project for the 2011-2012 school year. The new year
could bring a lunchtime or after school ELL reading or conversation club, new budget
money with which to purchase new titles for the library’s ELL independent reading
collection, and/or new ELL student leadership and creative ideas. This service model
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can be modified and expanded to reach all ELL students in the school, and/or even
provide services specific to cultural and language sub-groups within the student body.
On the other hand, if parts of the project do not coalesce and if buy-in and usage
data are low among any of the stakeholder groups, the project will have to be adapted
to respond to the barriers that are presenting themselves. The librarian and her project
team will need to step back to examine the problems that are occurring and may need
to reformulate the goals, outcomes, action steps, collaboration roles and
responsibilities, assessments, and timeline of the pilot phase of the project.
Assumptions & Limitations
This plan rests on a number of assumptions about the existence, willingness, and
support of leaders, library assistants, interns, teacher collaborators, and students. It
assumes that the librarian and her assistant will be able to carve out the time necessary
to bring the project to fruition--a big assumption based on the heavy flow of students
and classes into the library on a daily basis (and the constant threat of removal of the
library assistant’s job). It also assumes that SEI teachers will be willing to schedule
meeting times for collaboration and will be willing and able to give up an hour of class
time to bring their students to the open house events. It also assumes the presence of
an unpaid graduate intern until the end of May.
The limitations of this plan are noted in the SWOT Analysis diagram below.
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SWOT Analysis
internal attributes of the libraryinternal attributes of the library
HELPFUL to achieving the project’s objectives
Strengths
Strong existing collection of independent reading texts appropriate to SEI students
Strong readers’ advisory skills in library staff
Willingness of library and SEI staff to collaborate
High use of library by students in general; high circulation stats for independent reading
Access to the entire collection of the Boston Public Library catalog; books on hold delivered weekly.
Weaknesses
SEI students have not yet been directly consulted regarding their reading needs & desires
Library staff have limited non-English conversational skills
Library staff know little about fluency levels of SEI students
LIbrary materials are publicly displayed and circulated, as opposed to SEI classroom materials, which can be circulated more privately
Library staff may be unable to provide individualized services during busy times of the day
HARMFUL to achieving the project’s objectives
HELPFUL to achieving the project’s objectives
Opportunities
Rich conversations about reading and books between SEI students, library staff, and SEI teachers
Relationship building between staff and students; identification of avid readers (early adopters) within the SEI student population
Improved ability to develop collection based on greater knowledge of reading habits and needs of SEI students
Lots of opportunity to expand service offerings--perhaps creating conversation or book groups in future.
Threats
SEI teachers may be (1) better trained to provide Readers’ Advisory services to SEI students depending on fluency levels and (2) better positioned to provide individualized attention during class time
Direct competition from SEI classroom libraries and Boston Public Library branches in students’ neighborhoods
Independent time (before school, during lunch, and after school) may be dedicated to other pursuits
HARMFUL to achieving the project’s objectives
external attributes of the environmentexternal attributes of the environment
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Reflection
Further observations, reflections, and questions:
• I wonder how ongoing programs are sustained at Brighton in general. A major barrier
to any form of collaboration at Brighton is the fact that academic departments only
meet about two-three times per year. I imagine that teachers are quite isolated and
unsupported as a result, and a consistent set of values and/or teaching approach may
not be evident amongst the staff o the ESL department. This school structure is an
impediment to any kind of collaborative effort between staff members.
• As this project is developed, more data is needed: # of SEI classes, exact # of SEI
students, and specific countries of origin, particularly for Spanish speaking students.
This data will influence “lesson” and instructional planning, open house scheduling,
and ongoing collection development.
• I think it would be helpful to interview SEi students about their reading habits while
standing next to their classroom libraries, so specific books can be pulled out and
discussed.
• I may have underestimated the influence of language barriers on the project
development and implementation process. The need for a peer translator may
emerge, so that SEI teachers are not overly depended on to fill this role.
• I also may have underestimated the challenges the library staff will face when they
attempt to separate out books for the ELL Corner. Many of these books have a wide
readership with reluctant readers and other readers who struggle because of learning
or cognitive disabilities.
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• It’s really difficult to make time for in-depth conversations about reading--I struggled to
do this even as a literacy teacher because mandated curriculum always “got in the
way.” One must have a strong sense of purpose and a high interest in the reading
behaviors and literacy development of adolescents in order to prioritize these
fascinating and exciting conversations and incorporate them into one’s planning.
• This project is well-matched to the strengths of the library staff at Brighton. I have
been very impressed by the readers’ advisory work done here--with both high interest
fiction and non-fiction texts--and the circulation statistics are awe-inspiring. Between
September and December of 2010, this library circulated over 3,000 materials. In my
fieldwork there, I saw students constantly browsing the return bins and the
independent reading shelves. This library culture will be extended for the benefit of
SEI students as this project develops.
• The non-English languages of origin that are most common at Brighton High School--
Spanish, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Cape Verdean--are also four of the most
common in the district as a whole (with the addition of Chinese, Vietnamese, and
Somali). I want to work hard as a school librarian to become more familiar with these
cultures, languages, and literary traditions, since I plan to work within the Boston
Public Schools for the remainder of my career.
• I have nagging reservations about designing such a time-limited project here. In our
course textbooks, longer (1-2 year) plans are more the norm, and projects such as this
one are wrapped into strategic planning processes. This would be a helpful framework
for Brighton High School library since they do not yet have a strategic plan in place.
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The desire for an ongoing, sustainable program is there, but I worry that planning a
May and June series of events may not be enough to truly ensure sustainability.
• I love that Brighton High School has a Family Engagement Coordinator and an ESL
guidance counselor on staff. Amazing resources that should be tapped.
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MARKETING PLAN
Introduction
The ELL Corner Project at Brighton High School aims to improve the rate at
which ELL students, particularly students in SEI classes, come to the library outside of
class time, ask readers’ advisory questions, and take out books for independent
reading. A variety of marketing tools will be employed for this project. First, when the
ELL Corner is created and initially rolled out in June, 2011, open houses will be held for
all SEI classes in the building. These open houses will use traditional marketing
techniques such as flyers, table tents, announcements in SEI classrooms. Additionally, I
propose that 1-3 SEI or former SEI students (avid readers and/or current library users)
be recruited and trained as peer facilitators of these open houses. Ms. Ross, the
Brighton High Librarian, already provides unique library orientations for ELL students
each September, which provides a strong experience base for the open houses.
However, the use of peer-facilitators for the open houses can help ensure better
outcomes and greater sustainability for the project.
Ongoing marketing efforts, scheduled in intervals during the school year, will also
need to be put into place so that ELL staff and students are regularly made aware of
existing and newly acquired resources at their library. Ms. Ross does not yet regularly
communicate with ELL teachers or students about ELL-specific library resources. This is
a marketing gap that this project can help to close by suggesting ongoing
communication strategies that will help sustain this service.
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Relevant Literature
The literature review includes two sources that inform the ELL Corner marketing
plan. In fact, though this project has shifted from an outreach/partnership focus to an in-
house library service in the past months, the participatory and peer tutoring foci in the
literature has continued to inspire my thinking.
The first source is the Med High Peer Tutor MedlinePlus Pilot Project (Warner, et.
al., 2005), which identified and targeted students who were “early adopters” of
technology and then used a “train the trainers approach” to prepare them to be peer
tutors. When teens expressed interest in applying for the project, they underwent a
rigorous interview process. Subsequent tutor training sessions were “often led by the
peer tutors,” but were always guided by the “partnership between the librarians and the
peer tutors” (Warner, et. al., 2005). This model inspires me to add a peer-facilitation
element to the open house component of the ELL Corner project plan. The “early
adopters” in this case would be SEI (or formerly SEI) Brighton High students who are
avid readers and/or current users of the library. They would be identified, selected, and
trained by the librarian to be co-facilitators of the open house sessions introducing the
ELL Corner. Their experiences and input would be sought and incorporated into the
open house presentation. This practice would expand the timeline for the roll-out of the
project, but I believe it would pay off in the end with deeper student engagement with
the ELL Corner and the library in general.
The efficacy of this kind of partnership between library staff and students is
supported by a second source from the literature, Susan Dawkins (2008), who trains
ESL tutors for library-based literacy councils in rural western Pennsylvania. Dawkins
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defines tutors as “cultural brokers” who “help [newcomers] to get around the community
and learn certain acculturation processes.” Peer facilitators would act as cultural brokers
in this case, and they could help erase some of the barriers identified in the project
plan--namely, potential language and cultural barriers between SEI students and library
staff, a familiarity with SEI classroom libraries and knowledge of the ways in which the
library collection can meet different reading needs, and the ability to model a comfort
level with the library that will be more powerful than if the library staff were sole models.
Ideally, the 1-3 peer facilitators would be identified and selected with consideration for
their native language. For instance, having three peer facilitators who represent three of
the main home language groups of the SEI population at large (Spanish, Haitian Creole,
Cape Verdean, Portuguese, or Vietnamese) would increase the ability of these cultural
brokers to make the ELL Corner and the library in general an accessible, engaging, and
welcoming place.
Marketing Goals and Outcomes
Goal 1: SEI students will be engaged and motivated by open house sessions.
Outcomes: Library staff will identify and select 1-3 SEI student “peer facilitators” who
will co-plan and facilitate open house sessions.
100% of SEI students will be able to list positive benefits of the ELL
Corner after participating in co-facilitated open house sessions.
Goal 2: Library staff will market open houses through in-class announcements and
flyers/table tents.
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Outcome: 100% of SEI students and teachers will know when they will attend an
open house and what to expect during the open house session.
Goal 3: Library staff will regularly update SEI students and teachers through email
announcements and classroom flyers about ELL-related library resources
and new acquisitions on a term-by-term basis during the school year.
Outcome: 100% of SEI students and teachers will read these emails and/or view
these flyers at the start or end of each academic term.
Target Audiences
There are three key internal target audiences for the marketing of the ELL Corner
project:
1. the approximately 160 SEI students at Brighton High School
2. the 4-8 SEI teachers at Brighton High School
3. 1-3 SEI or formerly SEI students targeted for recruitment and training as co-
facilitators of the open house sessions.
Marketing messages will be received by internal target audiences as follows:
1. The 1-3 peer facilitators will be identified through conversations with their SEI
teachers. The library staff will ask SEI teachers to identify avid readers, talk with
them during class, and send them to the library for details about this opportunity.
2. Open House flyers and table tents will be placed in every SEI classroom, and
announcements will be made in-class by SEI teachers.
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3. ELL-related resources and acquisitions announcements will be communicated
via email (to SEI teachers) and flyers/table tents placed in all SEI classrooms
each term.
There are four external target audiences for the marketing of the ELL corner
project, who will receive marketing messages as follows:4
1. The principal of Brighton High will be notified in person by the head librarian
about the ELL Corner project and its open house and peer facilitator aspects.
Support for the project will be requested at this meeting. The principal will be be
given an email and flyer notification about the open houses and will be invited to
attend an open house at his/her convenience.
2. The parents or guardians of the 1-3 peer facilitators will be contacted by phone
by the head librarian (or other staff members who speak the students’ home
languages) to discuss the peer facilitation role. A permission slip will also be sent
home with the students explaining in writing the role and expectations of the peer
facilitators and requesting parent/guardian permission.
3. The Family Engagement Coordinator and the ESL guidance counselor will be
informed by the librarian about which students are acting as peer facilitators.
They will also receive Open House flyers and table tents and be personally
invited via email to attend an Open House session at their convenience.
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4 There is currently no Library Advisory Board at Brighton High. If there is a Board of Directors for the school, they should be included as an external target audience.
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4. The entire faculty of Brighton HIgh, who all teach ELL students, will be sent
quarterly library email announcements about ELL-related resources and
acquisitions beginning in fall, 2011.
Positioning Statement
The Brighton High School library provides a wide variety of specialized
independent reading books and and readers’ advisory services for SEI and ELL
students. The library boasts a welcoming ELL Corner where exciting and engaging
books await you. The library staff are experts in reading--we will help you find a perfect
book or resource for your independent reading needs. Additionally, you have access to
the entire catalog of the Boston Public Library, with books and DVDs being delivered to
the school library every Wednesday. Come to us for all of your independent reading
needs, and become comfortable and confident in your school library at the same time.
Once you have read every book in your classroom library, come to us for more! There’s
no need to go to your local BPL branch when your books are delivered directly to school
for you!
Key Messages
Here are key messages for each of the internal target audiences listed above:
1. For the SEI students at Brighton High School:
English Language Learners: find a perfect book at your school library!
2. For the SEI teachers at Brighton High School:
Your students can find a perfect book at their school library.
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3. For the SEI student peer facilitators:
Help us spread the word--we have perfect books for English Language Learners!
Message Delivery Strategies
Marketing tools
The marketing tools used to promote the ELL Corner are as follows:
• word of mouth: library staff will contact SEI teachers to identify peer facilitators,
• displays: faced out books and multilingual signage in the ELL Corner of the
library (atmospherics of the ELL Corner itself),
• open house sessions: to introduce the ELL Corner and readers’ advisory
services at the library,
• announcements: in-class announcements by SEI teachers about the open
house sessions and agenda,
• flyers/table tents: to announce the open houses sessions and agenda, and
• emails: to principal and all faculty quarterly to announce ELL resources and new
acquisitions
Action Plan, Timeline, Responsible Parties, and Budget
The action plan below integrates the existing tasks from the project plan document
with new marketing tasks developed in this document. The marketing tasks are
highlighted in yellow. Because I am proposing the addition of a peer facilitator
component, I am creating this timeline with the assumption that life cycle of the ELL
Corner service will be extended--May and June, 2011 are now set aside for planning,
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staff and student training, and the physical setup of the ELL Corner, while the roll out of
the service is now scheduled for September, 2011, at the start of the new school year.
This is merely a suggested action plan; it is intended to be flexible and
responsive to the needs and aspirations of the Brighton High library staff. As in the
previous action plan, budget items are based on hours spent multiplied by hourly salary.
The following estimates are used:
• Librarian = $30/hr
• SEI Teachers = $30/hr
• Library Assistant = $20/hr
• Library Intern = unpaid
• SEI students as peer facilitators = unpaid
The Brighton High School library has no budget to pay for this service; the entire
project will come out of existing staff salaries and existing resources. The $50 for
multilingual signage will likely come out of pocket, and color photocopies will be limited
and done on the library printer. If an extra $500 were to appear, it would likely be used
to pay peer facilitators a stipend, provide food at the open houses, purchase a few new
ELL-related books, and buy a celebratory luncheon for the project team.
[NB: Again, only the final action plan is being included in this final document. It
represents a merging and re-ordering of all of the elements/tasks from the earlier action
plans.]
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Mockups of Selected Marketing Materials
The flyers, posters, and/or table tents announcing the ELL Corner and its open
houses will be designed by peer facilitators with help as needed from the assistant
librarian. I will not include a formal mockup here, although I would suggest that these
flyers include a border made up of the flags from the many countries represented in the
ELL/SEI student body. Based on the student demographics described in the project plan
document (and my familiarity with the student population of the Boston Public Schools),
these countries would include: Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, El Salvador,
Honduras, Haiti, Cape Verde, Brazil, Vietnam, China, Barbados, Cuba, Trinidad/Tobago,
Guatemala, Guyana, and Somalia. Consistently sized, high quality digital images of the
“flags of the world” are provided for free download on the CIA World Factbook website
(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/flagsoftheworld.html).
These could be easily resized and formatted into a page border using Microsoft Word,
Publisher, or Photoshop. The key message “English Language Learners: find a perfect
book at your school library!” could be used as a header, and the basic agenda of the
open house sessions could be included in simple language in bullet point form.
Reflection
The marketing aspects of the ELL corner have expanded the scope and timeline
of the project significantly, particularly the inclusion of the peer facilitator aspect. I am
uncertain whether this new component will be adopted by the host library, since it will
require many more hours of staff time and effort, and, depending on the English
language fluency of the peer facilitators, staff translators may need to be present at the
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interview and training sessions, which could present a significant accessibility and
scheduling barrier. I hope the host librarians will consider adding this component, since I
believe it is an excellent way to ensure better outcomes and sustainability for the
project. It helps to build a deeply inclusive, participatory, and collaborative library culture
that has not yet existed during project or service planning, and I believe that these are
values the host librarians would want to embed into their workplace.
Questions remain about the evolving life-cycle (timeline) of this project. I
anticipate that my assessment plan will add even more items to the action plan, and the
whole project may begin to feel daunting to the host librarians. The outcomes may need
to be revised if staff buy-in is low; to keep the outcomes “SMART,” they will need to
remain achievable and realistic.
Finally, I have been reflecting on a bullet point listed on the title page of the
Barber and Wallace handout (2005), a quote from Brinckerhoff (1997): “Market driven
libraries . . .don’t fear the competition.” For the ELL Corner, I have identified the
competition as the SEI classroom libraries and the local Boston Public Library branches
that SEI students may use. But these are not competitors to be “afraid” of; they are
competitors to be embraced. Yes, marketing requires one to position one’s collection
and services over and above others, but I see the ELL Corner service as one that
supplements and expands upon the SEI classroom library resources and makes it more
convenient for SEI students to access materials from the Boston Public Library
collection. After all, we are all working towards the same goal--improved literacy and
improved immersion in and enjoyment of the world of reading.
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ASSESSMENT PLAN
Introduction
This assessment plan provides methods and tasks for assessing each of the four
outcomes originally stated in the project plan document. Since I have scaled back the
scope of the project from serving all of the SEI students and teachers at Brighton High
School to serving about 40 SEI students and 2-3 teachers (2-3 classes), these
assessment methods have been made more manageable and achievable than they
would have been if the project had remained as large as was originally proposed. I have
also replaced the “open house” terminology with the more fitting “orientation” to signal
that this is now a smaller, pilot program that will be tested out on some SEI students
before being expanded to serving all SEI and ELL students at the school. The proposed
action plan that begins on page 23 of this document includes all steps of the ELL Corner
Project--planning, marketing, and assessment--and the assessment tasks certainly
increase the already-demanding workload of the library staff at Brighton. However, my
goal is to propose a project that is ambitious and thorough in its design and framework,
so that the library staff (along with peer facilitators chosen for this project’s planning and
implementation) can revise and refine it to more realistically meet their needs and
capabilities. This plan can result in clear value and benefit to SEI students and teachers
at Brighton High, and will hopefully be motivating, rather than exhausting, for all
involved.
Goals
These goals are the same as stated in the project plan.
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• Goal 1: The creation of an ELL Corner and a specialized orientation to it will improve
the rate at which SEI students come to the library during independent time and take
out books for independent reading.
• Goal 2: As a result of being oriented to the ELL Corner, SEI students at Brighton High
will perceive the library as a welcoming place where independent books can be found
and their reading questions can be answered.
• Goal 3: SEI students who visit the ELL Corner will become more confident in
navigating library resources, more socially integrated with the student population at
large, and will continue to develop a love of reading.
• Goal 4: Improved communication between library staff and SEI teachers will ensure
that SEI students and teachers are kept well-informed of current and newly acquired
ELL-related collection materials.
Initial Outcomes
I have scaled these back from the project plan outcomes after consulting with my
host librarian. These outcomes now reflect that the project will be a pilot program
targeting two or three SEI classes (about 40 students) rather than all SEI students
(about 160 students) at the school. The chosen SEI classes will be made up of students
who are juniors or seniors in September, 2011. This will make it more likely that the
students have already used the library at some point of their time at Brighton High, and
fewer SEI students will likely enter these classes as new students in September (this
will result in more accurate pre- and post-assessment data). Ideally, the 1-3 peer
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facilitators will be members of these classes and returning students; this way, library
staff and SEI teachers can more easily identify avid readers (or “early adopters” in terms
of current library use) from these classes to become peer facilitators because they will
have relationships with them from the current and past school years. Also, the peer
facilitators will already have relationships with members of their classes, which will help
ensure smoother communication between peers and more success for the project.
1. 25% of SEI students (40) will attend an orientation and be trained by library staff and
peer-facilitators on how to use the ELL Corner before September 30, 2011 so the
students can feel welcome in the library and begin to gain awareness, confidence,
and ownership of specific independent reading materials at the library.
2. 12.5% of SEI students (20) will ask at least one readers’ advisory question of a
library staff member during their orientation and/or before October 31, 2011, which
will demonstrate an increased knowledge of and comfort with readers’ advisory
services at the library.
3. 25% of SEI students (40) will check out at least one independent reading book
(fiction or nonfiction) from the library after their orientation and before the end of
October 31, 2011, demonstrating an independent visit to the library and an improved
engagement with independent reading.
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4. 100% of SEI students and teachers will receive clear, targeted communication
(written and oral announcements) about current and/or new ELL-related collection
materials by December 1, 2011.
The above outcomes are written both chronologically and in the order in which
they will be assessed. Since the orientations to the ELL Corner will take place in
September, 2011, they will be assessed first. The asking of readers’ advisory questions
and the checking out of materials will occur between September and October 31, 2011,
so these behavioral measures will be assessed next. Finally, by December 1, 2011, the
communications to all SEI students and teachers will go out, therefore making these the
last measures to be assessed.
Relevant Literature
The participatory approach to program planning and assessment design I am
advocating is directly inspired by Ottoson and Green’s “Community Outreach: From
Measuring the Difference to Making a Difference with Health Information” (2005), which
uses evaluation theory to stress that the planning, marketing, and assessment process
should be collaborative from beginning to end. The authors note three components of
evaluation theory:
1. Use: Evaluation is intended to be useful for stakeholders to make decisions. A useful
evaluation is credible, timely, and of adequate scope. Participatory approaches to
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evaluating increase use of evaluation findings include engaging end users early in
planning the program itself and in deciding on the outcomes of the evaluation.
2. What is being evaluated: Participatory approaches to evaluating outreach include
having end users. . . identify what components of the outreach program are most
important to their work.
3. The process by which value is placed on outreach. What will count as outreach
success or failure? Who decides? Participatory approaches to valuing include
assuring end-user representation in the formulation of evaluation questions and in
the interpretation of evaluation results.
In accordance with these components, I recommend that library staff identify,
interview, and select 1-3 peer facilitators in June, 2011, so that they can be included in
reviewing the initial goals and outcomes of this project and contribute to their revision if
they do not meet needs, do not feel important, or will not result in meaningful findings.
In terms of migrating current titles over to the ELL Corner, peer facilitator
interviews should include questions about their reading preferences and needs, and
those of their peers. This will help library staff make informed decisions about the types
of books to include on the ELL shelves--from leveled books, children’s book series, and
manga to cultural and immigrant issues.
In terms of assessment design, having peer facilitators (as end-users of the
service) co-create assessment measures (like survey questions) and assist with the
analysis of findings and subsequent decision-making can help the entire assessment
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cycle feel more valid and meaningful to all stakeholders. This requires that peer-
facilitators be seen as full project team members, and are not only involved in designing
and facilitating ELL Corner orientation sessions, but are fully involved in the entire
process.
Assessment Plan for Outcome One
Outcome One – 25% of SEI students (40) will attend an orientation and be trained by
library staff and peer-facilitators on how to use the ELL Corner before September 30,
2011 so the students can feel welcome in the library and begin to gain awareness,
confidence, and ownership of specific independent reading materials at the library.
Target Audience – 40 SEI juniors and seniors are the target audience for this outcome,
which is appropriate since they are the end users of the ELL Corner. Also, since they will
attend these orientations as a class, their SEI teachers are also a secondary target
audience for this outcome.
Methods & Tools for Evidence Collection – It will be important in June to choose and
communicate with the 2-3 SEI teachers whose classes will be scheduled to attend
orientations, so class time in September will be willingly set aside for the orientation.
The library staff can thus ensure the first outcome, that 40 students will attend this
orientation. It will also be necessary for the SEI teachers to give permission to the peer
facilitator(s) in their class to perhaps be excused from an class in early September in
order to help plan and/or rehearse the orientation “lesson.” Class lists will be obtained
by the library staff during the first week in September, and library staff will take
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attendance at each orientation. If students are absent, then an extra orientation may
need to be scheduled to complete this outcome.
A brief pre-assessment survey will be given to all students at the start of the
orientation. It will measure their recent/current school library use and their opinions on
the library atmosphere (do you feel welcome? how do you feel about speaking with the
library staff about books?) and resources (do you know what kinds of books are
available to you as an ELL? how confident are you that you can find a perfect book for
independent reading?). Peer facilitators will be asked to co-create this survey, and the
survey may need to be made available in several languages (Google Translate5 should
suffice here, if a native speaker is also available to fix the few phrases that will be
awkward or incorrect as a result of mechanical translation). A post-assessment survey
with the same questions will then be administered during class time in the first week of
November in order to measure students’ changes in perception. The data from these
surveys will accurately measure the criteria of this outcome; they will provide much-
needed information about this target population and lead to improved programming for
SEI and ELL students in the future.
Recommendations for Pilot Assessment – I recommend that these surveys be co-
developed and translated by library staff along with peer facilitators in June, 2011, and
the peer facilitators themselves should take the pre-assessment survey, so that the
library staff can become aware of any barriers they may not have thought of previously
and revise the surveys accordingly.
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5 Unfortunately, Google Translate does not yet include Cape Verdean or Somali translations, but all other common native languages spoken in Boston Public Schools are available.
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Alternative Methods & Tools – A post-assessment focus group of 8-12 SEI students
may be helpful in addition to the post-assessment surveys in terms of fleshing out some
of the responses orally (if oral communication is not too much of a barrier because of a
lack of English fluency), and if the focus group interview is recorded, testimonials to the
efficacy of the service may be transcribed later and used in assessment reporting with
student permission.
Analysis of Evidence (Data Plan) – The attendance assessment is relatively simple to
measure, and the surveys need only be about five questions long. The library staff
(Librarian and Assistant Librarian) should organize, facilitate, and analyze the survey
and focus group data. Because these are small in scope, they should be reasonable
tasks. If possible, the peer facilitators should take part in the focus group in the same
role as the SEI students, but afterwards, it might be helpful for library staff to share their
initial results / analysis with the peer facilitators for feedback.
How Assessors Will Know the Outcome Has Been Met – Likely the surveys will ask
respondents to rank their perceptions/experiences on a scale of 1-5. If the numbers go
up from the pre- to the post- assessment, the outcome will be met. Positive results,
particularly large gains in perception on all questions, will demonstrate the best
outcomes.
Result Scenarios & Decision Making Indicators – The attendance outcome will most
likely be met, since class visits are teacher and library staff-initiated, and absences from
school on the day of the orientation would likely be the only possible barrier here. The
survey and/or focus group assessments will likely show some gains in perceptions of
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the library, since many students will be introduced to the library in new ways and they
will hopefully have a positive experience as this project rolls out. Positive results can
help librarians and teachers feel more motivated to continue this kind of work in the
future, improving it based on the data gathered. Perhaps the librarian would consider
developing other specialized library orientations for different target groups, such as
students in special education classes or students interested in Latin American or LGBT
resources. If initial assessment results from the surveys are inconclusive or negative, it
will be important to hold a focus group that can get at the barriers students experienced,
so the program can be improved in the future. The SEI teachers involved should also be
interviewed about difficulties they experienced during the process.
Recommendations for Reporting – Attendance data and dates/numbers of orientation
sessions should be reported in bullet point formal along with a summary of the
orientation “lesson” content/format and the roles of peer facilitators. The survey data
can be presented in one line graph, and any focus group data can be presented in a
brief narrative, with pull quotes for testimonials if available. This data should be
gathered into a single report that is presented to the SEI teachers and the school
administration, ideally during a presentation meeting. If the program is very successful,
it would be beneficial for the whole staff to hear about it in an all-staff meeting or
professional development session (however, this is not likely, since all-staff meetings
and teacher-led PD are rarely held at this school). A copy of the report should also be
given to each peer facilitator, and assistance should be offered to help them understand
the data and to add their peer facilitation work to their resume.
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Responsible Parties – The Librarian and Assistant librarian have the bulk of the
responsibility for this assessment work, although the peer facilitators are also involved
during every step of the process.
Timeline for this outcome –
May, 2011, wk 3: prepare pre-assessment survey
peer-facilitators review survey questions and take survey
June, 2011, wk 1: ask SEI teachers to set aside one class in September for an orientation session, for permission for peer facilitator(s) to miss one additional class, and to give a post-assessment survey during class during the first week of November.
June, 2011, wk 2: type up and translate surveys as necessary
Sept, 2011, wks 1&2: obtain class lists for SEI classes attending orientation
schedule orientation sessions
Sept, 2011, wks 3&4 hold orientation sessions, give pre-assessment surveys
Nov, 2011, wk 1 give post-assessment surveys in class
hold focus groups if able
By Dec 1, 2011 gather, compile, chart, and analyze survey data and focus group data. Show data to peer facilitators for feedback.
By Jan 1, 2012 write ELL Project Plan report and present to SEI teachers and administrators; give peer facilitators copies of final report and assist them in adding this experience to their resume.
Assessment Plan for Outcome Two
Outcome – 12.5% of SEI students (20) will ask at least one readers’ advisory question
of a library staff member during their orientation and/or before October 31, 2011, which
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will demonstrate an increased knowledge of and comfort with readers’ advisory services
at the library.
Target Audience – 40 SEI juniors and seniors are the target audience for this outcome,
which is appropriate since they are the end users of the ELL Corner.
Methods & Tools for Evidence Collection – All students at Brighton High wear their
official ID cards on lanyards around their necks; these ID cards have a barcode on them
that is used to check out library books. When the SEI students attend an ELL Corner
orientation in September, 2011, they will be given a small sticker to affix to the back of
their ID card--this sticker will help measure the second and third outcomes from the day
of each student’s orientation until October 31st. These students will be asked to show
this sticker to a library staff member every time they come to the library to (1) ask a
readers’ advisory question, and/or (2) take out a book (see objective three). This can be
done discreetly, so the student does not have to announce that they are part of an ELL
project. When a library staff member sees one of these stickers, they will ask the
student’s name and write their initials next to the appropriate transaction on a form that
will be kept at the circulation desk:
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Because I anticipate that a majority of these students will lack the internal motivation to
visit the library on their own time--never mind ask a question of a staff member or take
out a book (because of shyness, inexperience, a reluctance to read, or a language
barrier)--I propose that an incentive be added so that this outcome can be met (and
hopefully exceeded). I recommend that students be told during their orientation that for
every time they either ask a readers’ advisory question or take out a book/material from
the library until October 31st, their name will be entered into a raffle. This means that if a
student asks two questions (on two separate visits) and takes out one book, their name
will be entered three times into the raffle, thus increasing their chances of winning a
prize. The prize could be a $25 iTunes gift card, the purchase of a book of their choice,
or a gift certificate to a local mall or movie theater. During the first week of November,
the library staff will hold this raffle and the winner will be announced to all SEI classes
who attended orientations. Perhaps a certificate could be made for the winner as well,
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using a template in Microsoft Word or Powerpoint. Hopefully, this outcome will be met
with the assistance of this incentive.
Recommendations for Pilot Assessment – Since the scope of the outcomes has
been narrowed, it’s reasonable for this part of the assessment to be done in “full
deployment” mode from the start.
Alternative Methods & Tools – The ID card can easily measure circulation
transactions, but not readers’ advisory questions. The sticker and raffle idea is in
response to my anticipation that library staff, after meeting these 40 students (many for
the first time) at orientation, will not be able to identify them quickly and accurately if
they enter the library on their own before school, during lunch, or after school, which are
all very busy times at the library. The library staff already field about 30-50 readers’
advisory questions on a daily basis, and the large student population means that the
staff often have conversations about books with students they barely know, including
ELL students who are not in SEI classes. I wanted to create a method that would be
subtle and unobtrusive that could still accurately measure this outcome.
A list with 40 names on it is manageable, but if this project is expanded in the
future to include hundreds of students, this method will not work. If that happens, maybe
there could be an effort to track ALL readers’ advisory questions by having a clipboard
on which staff members write down the 6-digit ID number of every student who asks a
readers’ advisory question, and then data (name, grade, ELL/SEI status) could be
retrieved once the ID number is entered into a database? This seems really onerous,
though. Could there be an automated way to somehow gather this data through the
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swiping of the ID card (i.e. “Swipe your card here if a librarian helped you find a book
today”)? Alternative methods are hard to imagine for this particular outcome.
Analysis of Evidence (Data Plan) – The library staff (Librarian and Assistant Librarian)
should create the Readers’ Advisory and Circulation Form and collect and analyze this
data. Because the numbers are small, these should be reasonable tasks.
How Assessors Will Know the Outcome Has Been Met – If If the data shows that all
40 SEI students who attend an orientation ask at least one readers’ advisory question
between the day of their orientation and October 31st, this outcome will be met.
Result Scenarios & Decision Making Indicators – I predict that this outcome will be
met. If the incentive is desirable for most of these 40 students, I predict that it alone will
bring students into the library. Others will come out of curiosity and/or a renewed
interest in or comfort with the library as a result of the orientation session. If October 1st
or 7th arrives and numbers are still low, perhaps the peer facilitators could be relied on
again to give reminder announcements to the relevant SEI classes. I recommend that
the library staff discuss and decide what constitutes a readers’ advisory question that
“counts” so that this data will be reliable. For instance, “Can you help me find a book
about X?” might count, whereas “Where do you keep the ELL books?” would not count.
These examples should be given to students during the orientation sessions.
Recommendations for Reporting – This data can easily be compiled into one bullet
pointed sentence within the report detailed above.
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Responsible Parties – The library staff (Librarian and Assistant Librarian) should
create the Readers’ Advisory & Circulation Form and collect and analyze this data.
Timeline for this outcome –
Sept, 2011, wk 1: obtain class lists for SEI classes attending orientation
type student names into a Readers’ Advisory & Circulation Form (Fig. 1)
Sept, 2011, wks 3&4 hold orientation sessions, affix stickers, explain process and raffle
Sept, 2011, wk 3 - Oct 31, 2011: gather data on RA & Circ Form
Nov, 2011, wk 1 Hold raffle, announce winner, give out prize
By Dec 1, 2011 compile and analyze data from the RA & Circ Form
By Jan 1, 2012 write ELL Project Plan report and present to SEI teachers and administrators
Assessment Plan for Outcome Three
Outcome – 25% of SEI students (40) will check out at least one independent reading
book (fiction or nonfiction) from the library after their orientation and before the end of
October 31, 2011, demonstrating an independent visit to the library and an improved
engagement with independent reading.
Target Audience – 40 SEI juniors and seniors are the target audience for this outcome,
which is appropriate since they are the end users of the ELL Corner.
Methods & Tools for Evidence Collection – Since the numbers are small, the easiest
way to measure this outcome will be to use the manual method of the Readers’ Advisory
and Circulation Form (Fig. 1, above).
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Recommendations for Pilot Assessment – Since the scope of the outcomes has
been narrowed, it’s reasonable for this part of the assessment to be done in “full
deployment” mode from the start.
Alternative Methods & Tools – If the Readers’ Advisory and Circulation Form fails, it
may also be possible to generate a circulation report using the Horizon automated
system. I am unsure about the details of generating such a report--it is possible that this
would not be an efficient use of time if the report only generates circulation totals along
with a long list of student names and IDs that would then have to be manually matched
to a separate list of project participants. I do not believe that the student data is detailed
enough in Horizon to include grade levels or other identifying factors such as ELL or SEI
status.
Analysis of Evidence (Data Plan) – The library staff (Librarian and Assistant Librarian)
should create the Readers’ Advisory and Circulation Form and collect and analyze this
data. Because the numbers are small, these should be reasonable tasks.
How Assessors Will Know the Outcome Has Been Met – If the data shows that all 40
SEI students who attended an orientation have checked out at least one independent
reading book (fiction or nonfiction) from the library after their orientation and before the
end of October 31, 2011, this outcome will be met. Note: I would guess that 99% of
books/DVDs circulated at the Brighton High School library are independent reading
materials. From my fieldwork hours, my perception is that it is very rare that a student
checks out a book for an academic assignment. My methods here reflect the
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assumption that all circulation data is independent reading data. If this is incorrect, this
method may need to be revised.
Result Scenarios & Decision Making Indicators – I predict that this outcome will be
met. The Brighton High School Library has a strong selection of independent reading
books, and hundreds of high interest books and DVDs circulate through weekly
deliveries from the Boston Public Library. I have faith that when the SEI students see
the strong and varied collection of manga, graphic novels, hi/low books, travel books,
etc. that will be gathered in the ELL Corner, they will have a desire to check them out.
The challenge here will be the outcome’s requirement that only books/materials
checked out after the orientation session will “count” towards this data. [Of course,
students will be encouraged to take out books at the end of the orientation session, but
they will not “count” towards the data, since the purpose here is to assess independent
(non-class) visits to the library.] This is why the incentive of the raffle prize is crucial to
the success of this outcome. Circulation data from Horizon may be helpful to ascertain
what kinds of books are being circulated most often by this sub-group of students, but
again, the reports may not be detailed enough to use without extensive manual sorting.
Yet even anecdotal evidence will help the library staff to get a feeling for the kinds of
books that are circulating amongst SEI students, and this data can help the staff make
more accurate collection development decisions in the future.
Recommendations for Reporting – This data can easily be compiled into one bullet
pointed sentence within the report detailed above.
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Responsible Parties – The library staff (Librarian and Assistant Librarian) should
create the Readers’ Advisory & Circulation Form and collect and analyze this data.
Timeline for this outcome – See timeline for outcome two, above.
Assessment Plan for Outcome Four
Outcome – 100% of SEI students and teachers will receive clear, targeted
communication (written and oral announcements) about current and/or new ELL-related
collection materials by December 1, 2011.
Target Audience – 160 SEI students and their 8-10 teachers are the target audience
for this outcome. This is an appropriate audience for this outcome because it is an
opportunity for the library staff to pilot what will hopefully become an ongoing practice of
regular communication with students and staff at Brighton High School about specific
resources found at the library.
Methods & Tools for Evidence Collection – A first method to use here is a brief email
survey of the 8-10 teachers using SurveyMonkey, whose free account allows for
surveys with up to 10 questions and 100 responses. If the SEI teachers receive an
“Library Newsletter” announcing ELL resources on December 1st, then a survey should
be sent via email about a week later, giving teachers a week to respond. This survey
could ask whether or not they received the newsletter, whether or not they had had the
opportunity to read the newsletter, and to what extent they had found the resources
listed in the newsletter helpful. The final two questions could be open-ended, giving the
teachers an opportunity to express any other comments or questions regarding SEI/
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ELL resources at the library, and to write in titles of books or resources they would like
to see added to the collection.
A second method to use, with the SEI students, would be to create a small series
of bookmarks, flyers, or table tents introducing new books/materials of interest with
images and a few exciting pull quotes from 1-3 new titles. These materials would be
distributed in SEI classrooms by December 1, 2011. Circulation statistics on these few
titles could then be examined on February 1 to see whether any SEI students had
checked them out. This would require manually checking SEI student names or ID
numbers against a circulation report from Horizon.
Recommendations for Pilot Assessment – Since the scope of the outcomes has
been narrowed, it’s reasonable for this part of the assessment to be done in “full
deployment” mode from the start.
Alternative Methods & Tools – It is difficult to measure a user’s interaction with
promotional materials or newsletters, since it is hard to know whether users actually
read, take in, and respond to the content of the communication. Some companies add
incentives to their product announcements, and Twitter has become a great place for
companies to write, “Be the 21st person to come into the store today and receive a
free. . .” Within an educational organization, however, this method is uncommon. Ideally,
because the “advertiser” is a teacher in one’s own building, teachers will pay attention to
resources that are available to themselves and their students. Yet teachers’ non-urgent
emails often go unread, and even the most well-meaning teachers may delete an email
like this because it is non-essential to their day-to-day functioning. A five question
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survey is the best way to start, and if teacher responses are low (more deleted emails),
then perhaps a small incentive could be offered (i.e. $5 Dunkin Donuts gift card), though
for a library with no budget, this is not very feasible. Informal assessment may be more
fruitful--during one week, a library staff member could approach about 4 of the SEI
teachers one-on-one during their prep periods and briefly ask whether they received the
email, what they thought of it, and if they have any suggestions of titles to add to the
collection.
Assessment of student behaviors in reaction to library announcements is simpler
because it can be measured through circulation statistics of the particular books
highlighted on the flyers or table tents. If the promoted books are not circulating
amongst SEI students after the first two months, perhaps the librarian could go into a
few SEI classrooms and give a book talk on the books to boost circulation. I suppose
that certain books could be held for SEI students specifically (giving them “first access”
to new titles), though this may go against the ethics of full access for all students to
library materials.
Analysis of Evidence (Data Plan) – The library staff (Librarian and Assistant Librarian)
should create, email, and evaluate the teacher survey and manually check the
circulation reports for advertised titles against SEI student names and ID numbers.
Because the numbers are small for this pilot initiative, these are reasonable tasks.
How Assessors Will Know the Outcome Has Been Met – Since the outcome states
that “100% of SEI students and teachers will receive clear, targeted communication,”
then the outcome will be met solely if the teacher surveys indicate receipt of the email
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and if the flyers and/or table tents are posted in the SEI classrooms for students to see.
Adding additional survey questions (beyond “did you get the email?”) and checking
circulation data on the books in question are actually data collection measures that
exceed the outcome.
Result Scenarios & Decision Making Indicators – Ideally, new titles should generate
excitement in teachers and students--teachers may see in the titles a new possibility for
lesson planning, and students may get excited about a new story. However, based on
my experience of teaching in a public high school, It is most likely that there will be an
incomplete or tepid response by teachers to the email newsletter and the survey
request, since teachers are often extremely busy and inundated with informational
emails and survey requests. Sometimes the value of sending a quarterly or per-
semester email announcement is simply in opening the doors to regular communication
between staff members in a school, and active responses to a newsletter are not
necessarily required, so a tepid response at first should not be discouraging. I would
recommend that the library staff keep plugging away at adding great new titles to their
collection (or finding amazing new titles available through the Boston Public Library
system) and announcing them on a regular basis. It is simply good practice, and will
surely yield positive results in time.
Recommendations for Reporting – Any positive data that results from this outcome
should be recorded as a bullet point item in the report detailed above.
Responsible Parties – The library staff (Librarian and Assistant Librarian) should
create the Readers’ Advisory & Circulation Form and collect and analyze this data.
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Timeline for this outcome –
By Dec 1, 2011 send first email newsletter to all SEI teachers announcing current and/or new ELL-related collection materials
By Dec 1, 2011 place flyers/table tents/bookmarks announcing current and/or new ELL-related collection materials in all SEI classrooms
Dec 7, 2011 send SurveyMonkey survey via email to all SEI teachers
Dec 14, 2011 close teacher survey, gather and analyze data
By Jan 1, 2012 include teacher survey data in the ELL Project Plan report
Feb 1, 2012 examine circulation statistics to see whether SEI students are checking out the books “advertised” on the flyers/table tents.
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Proposed Action Plan for ELL Corner Project at Brighton High School Library: May, 2011 - Feb, 2012
timeline task responsible parties
competencies required time commitment
estimated budget
based on salary
meet with administrator to get support for project and peer facilitator component
librarian advocacy skills 30 mins $15
May, 2011,
identify potential peer facilitators (3 maximum candidates), send to library
SEI teachers (avid readers), librarian (current users)
knowledge of SEI students
2-3 teachers, 30 minutes each
$45
May, 2011, wks 1&2
prepare sheet with peer facilitator roles and responsibilities for interviews; prepare permission slip
librarian and assistant librarian
collaboration, Word
1 hour together+ 30 mins permission slip creation by assistant
$60
meet with potential peer facilitators, select
librarian and assistant librarian
may require additional staff to translate
2 hours $50
May, 2011, wks 1&2
send permission slips home to peer facilitator parents/guardians
assistant librarian (with possible multilingual staff assistance)
may require translation and/or phone calls home in native languages
3 hours $60
marketing tasks highlighted in yellow assessment tasks highlighted in green
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timeline task responsible parties
competencies required time commitment
estimated budget
based on salary
interview peer facilitators to ascertain reading needs (peer facilitators in consulting role)
librarian, assistant librarian, peer facilitators
may require additional staff to translate
3 hours librarian,1 hour for 2 SEI teachers, 1 hour for library assistant
$170
May, wk 3
peer facilitator review and editing of project’s initial outcomes (peer facilitators in consulting role)
librarian, peer facilitators
may require additional staff to translate
1 hour $30
prepare pre-assessment survey for students; peer-facilitators review survey questions and take survey
librarian, assistant librarian, peer facilitators
may require additional staff to translate
1 hour $50
May,all month
research and obtain multilingual signage
library intern Web searching, ordering
2-3 hours $0$50 for posters
May, wk 4
choose physical space to be “remodeled” into ELL Corner
librarian, library assistant
vision of atmospherics
1 hour $50
begin reviewing current collection, make initial decisions about books to be relocated to ELL Corner
librarian, assistant librarian, library intern
knowledge of collection
1 hour $50
marketing tasks highlighted in yellow assessment tasks highlighted in green
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timeline task responsible parties
competencies required time commitment
estimated budget
based on salary
May, wk 4
meet with SEI teachers to review and seek advice regarding readers’ advisory techniques to use with SEI students (how to stimulate interest in reading).
librarian, assistant librarian, 2 SEI teachers
collaboration skills
1 hour $110
discuss potential barriers to the success of the project; brainstorm ways to overcome these
librarian and assistant librarian
honesty, brainstorming
1 hour $50
June,wk 1
ask SEI teachers to set aside one class in September for an orientation session, for permission for peer facilitator(s) to miss one additional class, and to give a post-assessment survey during class during the first week of November.
librarian collaboration skills
1 hour $30
begin emptying and rearranging bookshelves
librarian, assistant librarian
physical labor 3 hours $150
June,wk 1
identify fiction and non-fiction independent reading books to be relocated to ELL Corner
librarian, assistant librarian
knowledge of collection
2 hours $100
marketing tasks highlighted in yellow assessment tasks highlighted in green
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timeline task responsible parties
competencies required time commitment
estimated budget
based on salary
June,wk 2
continue rearranging bookshelves, relocating books to new shelves, facing out & displaying books, hanging multilingual signage
librarian, assistant librarian
physical labor, vision of atmospherics
3 hours $150
type up and translate student surveys as necessary
librarian use of Google Translate
1 hour $30
June,wk 3
hold peer facilitator meeting to develop orientation sessions (agenda, content, and materials)
librarian, assistant librarian, peer facilitators
lesson planning skills, may require additional staff to translate
2 hours for librarian and assistant librarian
$100
wk 3peer facilitators design posters / flyers / table tents
assistant librarian, peer facilitators
Word skills, may require additional staff to translate
1 hour assistant librarian, 2 hrs students
$20
June,wk 4
review orientation plan with involved SEI teachers, ask for advice/feedback
librarian, SEI teachers
collaboration skills
1 hour librarian, 20 minutes for 3 teachers
$80
Sept,wk 1
obtain class lists for SEI classes attending orientation
librarian, SEI teachers
collaboration skills
1 hour $30
marketing tasks highlighted in yellow assessment tasks highlighted in green
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timeline task responsible parties
competencies required time commitment
estimated budget
based on salary
type student names into a Readers’ Advisory & Circulation Form
library assistant using tables in Word or Excel
1 hour $20
Sept,
schedule orientation sessions for 40 SEI students (2-3 classes)
librarian, SEI teachers
collaboration skills
1.5 hours librarian
$45
Sept,wk 1 print posters / flyers / table tents
to announce orientation, purchase small stickers
assistant librarian
Word skills, color printer capability
1 hour $20$25 copies and stickers
distribute orientation posters / flyers / table tents to all SEI classrooms
assistant librarian, peer facilitators
knowledge of SEI classroom locations
30 mins $10
rehearse orientation session with peer facilitators
librarian, assistant librarian, peer facilitators
may require additional staff to translate
1 hour librarian and assistant librarian
$50
Sept, wk 2
SEI teachers announce orientation to their classes
SEI teachers n/a approx 10 teachers at 6 mins ea.
$30
Principal given email and flyer notification and invited to attend an orientation
librarian advocacy skills 10 mins $3
marketing tasks highlighted in yellow assessment tasks highlighted in green
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timeline task responsible parties
competencies required time commitment
estimated budget
based on salary
Sept, wk 2
Family Engagement Coordinator and ESL guidance counselor emailed and invited to orientations
assistant librarian
advocacy skills 10 mins $2
Sept, wk 3
first week of orientations held with SEI classes (each orientation is one hour long)
librarian, assistant librarian, peer facilitators, SEI teachers with their classes
instructional, collaboration, & presentation skills; may require additional staff to translate
3 hours for librarian and assistant librarian; 1 hour each for ~3 teachers
$240
wk 3 give pre-assessment surveys during orientations
librarian, assistant librarian
classroom management skills
above included above
affix stickers to student IDs, explain RA and circulation (assessment) process and raffle
librarian, assistant librarian
classroom management skills
above included above
Sept, wk 3- Oct 31
gather data on Readers’ Advisory & Circulation Form
librarian, assistant librarian
ability to gather daily data in busy environment
3 hours $150
marketing tasks highlighted in yellow assessment tasks highlighted in green
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timeline task responsible parties
competencies required time commitment
estimated budget
based on salary
Sept,wk 4
second week of orientations held with SEI classes
librarian, assistant librarian, peer facilitators, SEI teachers with their classes
instructional, collaboration, & presentation skills; may require additional staff to translate
3 hours for librarian and assistant librarian; 1 hour each for ~3 teachers
$240
give post-assessment surveys during SEI classes
librarian (distrib surveys), SEI teachers (give surveys)
classroom management skills
30 mins $30
Nov,wk 1
hold focus groups with select SEI students if able
librarian, assistant librarian
ability to structure and run focus group
1 hour $50
hold raffle, announce winner, give out prize
librarian, assistant librarian
write names on papers, put in bowl
30 mins $50
by Dec 1
compile and analyze data from the Readers’ Advisory & Circulation Form
librarian, assistant librarian
ability to compile and analyze data
1 hour $50
marketing tasks highlighted in yellow assessment tasks highlighted in green
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timeline task responsible parties
competencies required time commitment
estimated budget
based on salary
gather, compile, chart, and analyze student survey data and focus group data. Show data to peer facilitators for feedback.
librarian, assistant librarian
ability to compile and analyze data
2 hours $100
by Dec 1
send first email newsletter to all SEI teachers announcing current and/or new ELL-related collection materials
librarian knowledge of collection, communication skills
2 hours $60
place flyers/table tents/bookmarks announcing current and/or new ELL-related collection materials in all SEI classrooms
librarian, assistant librarian
knowledge of SEI classroom locations
30 mins $35
Dec 7, 2011
develop and send SurveyMonkey survey via email to all SEI teachers
librarian knowledge of SurveyMonkey and email
1 hour $30
Dec 14, 2011
close teacher survey, gather and analyze data
librarian knowledge of SurveyMonkey and email
1 hour $30
by Jan 1,2012
write ELL Project Plan report including all data gathered and present to SEI teachers and administrators
librarian and assistant librarian
report writing, summarizing data, analyzing data
4 hours $200
marketing tasks highlighted in yellow assessment tasks highlighted in green
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timeline task responsible parties
competencies required time commitment
estimated budget
based on salary
by Jan 1,2012
give peer facilitators copies of final report and assist them in adding this experience to their resume.
librarian photocopying, resume writing
1 hour $30
Feb 1, 2012
examine circulation statistics to see whether SEI students are checking out the books “advertised” on the flyers/table tents from Dec 1
librarian familiarity with generating and interpreting Horizon reports
1 hour $30
Estimated Final budget = $2935 in salaried staff hours;
$75 in supplies (multilingual signage, color photocopies, small stickers)
NB: If additional staff members are required to assist with translation at trainings and events, this budget could
increase significantly.
ELL Corner books and resources may need to be re-catalogued and/or labelled with “ELL” spine labels. This
adds a potentially time-intensive step to the project.
marketing tasks highlighted in yellow assessment tasks highlighted in green
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Service Impact Rubric
I propose that the rubric below, which includes criteria that revisit the overall
goals of the ELL Corner Project Plan, be completed independently by the librarian and
the assistant librarian in June, 2012, about six months after the bulk of the ELL Corner
project is completed. This will provide them with a quick, structured way to look back on
the overall experience of implementing the ELL Corner project and note whether there
have been positive trends over the past six post-project months. After completing the
rubric and considering the questions at the end, the librarian and assistant librarian can
compare and discuss their responses and make decisions about next steps in the
ongoing work of meeting the needs of SEI and ELL students at Brighton High.
criteria needs more work / goal not met
great work / goal met
exemplary work / goal exceeded
SEI students come to the library during independent time
SEI students are not coming to the library on their own
the 40 SEI students who attended orientations are coming to the library on their own
the 40 SEI students are regularly coming to the library and are bringing friends
SEI students check out books for independent reading
SEI students are not checking out independent reading books
SEI students are checking out independent reading books
SEI students are regularly checking out independent reading books
SEI students perceive the library as a welcoming place
SEI students are not coming to the library on their own
SEI students appear to be relaxed and happy while visiting the library
SEI student active and happy presence in the library has increased significantly
SEI students know they can find independent reading books at the library
SEI students are not coming to the library to browse or check out books
SEI students are sometimes seen browsing the ELL/ independent reading shelves at the library
SEI students are regularly seen browsing the ELL/ independent reading shelves at the library
SEI students know they can ask reading questions of the library staff
SEI students are not asking readers’ advisory questions.
SEI students are beginning to ask readers’ advisory questions.
SEI students are regularly asking readers’ advisory questions.
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criteria needs more work / goal not met
great work / goal met
exemplary work / goal exceeded
SEI students are confident in navigating the ELL Corner
SEI students are not browsing or using the ELL Corner, or seem unsure about how to find independent reading materials
SEI students are familiar enough with the ELL Corner to locate most materials on their own.
SEI students browse in the ELL Corner with confidence
SEI students are more socially integrated with the student population at large as a result of time spent in the library
SEI students do not interact with other students while in the library
SEI students interact a little bit with other students while in the library
SEI students interact regularly with other students while in the library
the library is helping SEI students to develop a love of reading
SEI students are not checking out books or talking about books with library staff
SEI students are sometimes checking out books and talking about them with library staff
SEI students are regularly checking out books and talking about them with library staff
Communication has improved between library staff and SEI teachers
The communication and collaboration done for this project felt like a burden to the library staff and/or SEI teachers.
Library staff and SEI teachers show some interest in continuing to collaborate and communicate about resources.
Library staff and SEI teachers feel energized by their collaboration and want to continue communicating regularly
• Was the ELL Project Corner project successful overall?• What were our biggest successes?• What were our biggest struggles / barriers to success?• Were the project’s goals, outcomes, and scope achievable, motivating, and relevant
to the needs of SEI students and our own day-to-day workload?• How would we like to move forward to continue working with SEI and ELL students at
Brighton through our library collection and services?
Reflection
It is always a centering and fulfilling (through grueling) exercise for me to design
authentic assessments whose data will measure clearly stated objectives. I am used to
doing this as a classroom teacher while designing course syllabi and nine-week
thematic teaching units. The process gives me a clarity of vision for my work and
confidence that I will effectively and thoroughly assess my students’ learning and
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improve their academic and intellectual confidence through my teaching. I likewise feel
confident that I have designed a project here that I would be willing to undertake myself
as a high school librarian.
I am satisfied that the timeline for this project has expanded beyond May and
June, 2011, to encompass six months (May, 2011 - February, 2012). I feel that if library
staff are willing and able to do a few hours of project-related tasks each week over a six
month period---rather than intensive project-related work for two months---there is a
better chance that a sustainable and cyclic culture of programming and assessment will
develop. I will keep this in mind for my own work as a library teacher.
I am looking forward to learning more about how the SEI students at Brighton
High will utilize the library as a result of this work, and how they will perceive the
library’s collection as a resource beyond their SEI classroom libraries. I am excited
about the peer facilitator component of the project as well, and I think it is a compelling
element that could result in strong and energizing student/staff relationships.
Currently, English language learners make up 28% of the student body at
Brighton High School; next year, the principal has reported that this number will jump to
42% (personal communication, Kathleen Ross, 4/04/11). This trend is evident in school
districts across the country. If school librarians learn how to listen and pay attention to
these students’ needs through program planning, marketing, and assessment, then
school libraries will continue to be welcoming and accessible places for students of all
languages and cultures well into the 21st century.
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References
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Ashton, R., & Milam, D. P. (2008). Welcome stranger: Public libraries build the global village. Urban Libraries Council. Retrieved from http://urbanlibraries.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=553.
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