To: Mrs. Tami FlowersFrom: Ms. Melissa LewisCC: Ms. Mary Anne HeimTopic: Library Media Program Evaluation Rubric

As a team, Ms. Heim and I recently completed the Georgia DOE Library Media Program Self-Evaluation Rubric. This gave us an opportunity to evaluate the media program in four categories on the scale of basic, proficient, or exemplary. The four categories were Student Achievement and Instruction; Staffing; Facilities, Access, and Resources; and Administrative Support. Overall our program meets or exceeds the standards, but there were areas that we found could be better improved in order to categorize our media center program as exemplary across the board.

Collaboration is an essential part of the success of any school program. All staff members must work together to effectively educate the student body. During our evaluation collaboration was a trouble spot that we found. Although we determined that collaboration between the media center and classroom teachers in encouraged, it is not extensively present. The only categories our program was evaluated as basic was in the category of collaboration. Information literacy skills are taught in our school, but in isolation and not fully integrated in to the curriculum. Ms. Heim makes recommendations for projects and lessons, but does not directly collaborate with teachers to create and implement lessons within the classroom or assess students on curriculum standards.

In order to address these categories related to collaboration that were rated as basic Ms. Heim and I developed several strategies that can be implemented. First, we agree that she should begin attending monthly grade level team meetings. During these meetings she can begin to directly collaborate with teachers on each team and build an instructional relationship with them.

In the category of staffing our program was evaluated as exemplary due to the fact that we have a full time media specialist and clerk. Having two full time employees in the media center who are not shared by any other department in the school makes it possible for the program to be fully supervised, and for personnel to be available for support to students and staff during the entire instructional day.

One thing that Ms. Heim is very proud of and was found through the evaluation is the fact that our program truly runs on a flexible schedule. Students and staff have access to the facility and resources in media center throughout the entire instructional day. However, there are not additional hours outside of the regular school day where the media center is open. This is something that we feel we can target and raise our rating from proficient to exemplary. We created an action plan for this category that is attached to the memo.

Overall, our media center shows exemplary aspects to it. There are great aspects to our program and students are given equal access to information that will help to foster a lifetime love of reading. However, through the evaluation it is clear that improvements can be made to raise our program to a higher excellence.