Track It! Documenting Instructional Impact

Gerry Solomon Dr. Donna Shannon Dr. Karen Gavigan

Why is it important to document impact on teaching and learning?

Why

To inform our practice

To demonstrate the library program's contribution to student learning and teacher effectiveness

To advocate for the library program

"The library media center professional staff collect and correlate data annually to demonstrate the positive effect of the school library program on student learning and achievement and formally report to the school leadership the results of the impact studies." Achieving Exemplary School Libraries: Standards for South Carolina School Library Media Programs, Objective 5

“The school library media program is guided by regular assessment of student learning to ensure the program is meeting its goals.”

(Empowering learners: Guidelines, 2009)

What Informs Instruction?

Standards Skills Charts Learning Outcomes Information literacy

models

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Crosswalks by AASL standard. This document provides evidence that the national standards of our program are directly related to the Common Core standards.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Crosswalk by curriculum content – SS. Information literacy standards are embedded within the Common Core content areas.

Social Studies Academic Standards – Grade 6 SC Department of Education

Benchmarks

http://www.trails-9.org/

How Is Evidence Gathered?

Gathering Evidence Involves:

Output Measures

Output Measures

Collaborative Planning Notes

Collaborative units Lesson Plans Checklists of skills covered

for each class/grade level

collaborative planning notes

lesson plans collaborative units

with differentiation strategies

Gathering Evidence: Monitoring Progress in Learning Outcomes

“A learning outcome is one sentence that indicates what students should represent, demonstrate, or produce as a result of what they learn.”

Maki, Peggy (2004). Assessing for learning: building a

sustainable commitment across the institution.

Quote shared by Diane Harvey, NCLA-BIG Workshop, May 21, 2010.

"No one way of tracking is recommended as superior, however, not tracking would be a disaster. Evidence-based practice requires tracking, assessing, and reporting if improvement is an important part of the program. Such tracking need not be time intensive, but it needs to be informative and should stimulate reflection." (Loertscher, 2003)

http://slmimpact.wikispaces.com/

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Presentation Notes

The most important section for you may be the Tools page which is organized by categories of resources.

http://www.accessola.com/osla/toolkit/Resources/Collaboration%20Checklist.pdf Ontario School Library Association (Toolkit)

Purposes for Assessment Assessment OF LEARNING

Assessment FOR LEARNING

Assessment FOR ADVOCACY

Harada AASL Fall Forum 2006

Assessment OF Learning Summative, judgmental Involves grading Places responsibility on instructor Focuses on programmatic and

system accountability Examples: high stakes testing, unit

tests, culminating products

Harada AASL Fall Forum 2006

Presenter

Presentation Notes

On the Tools page, we have provided links to many rubric makers – perhaps you will find several you have not used before and might want to try or share with teachers when you are collaborating. We also have examples of how to capture student self-assessment and reflection which is part of metacognition.

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html

http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/middlelschresearchrubric.html

http://pblchecklist.4teachers.org/testing.php?idunique=3&max=6&checklist=13

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Presentation Notes

For this example, I selected Organization. From here, I can select all or only certain aspects I want to include in the final checklist.

How to Monitor Learning Growth

Assessment FOR Learning Formative, ongoing, reflective Involves student and instructor as

partners in assessment Involves pre-assessment to diagnose

what students already know or don’t know

Harada AASL Fall Forum 2006

THE SETTING •K students discover a strange insect on campus.

•They want to find out what it is and its potential danger.

•They work with teacher, LMS, and tech coordinator.

•They use library resources and contact an entomologist by email.

Harada AASL Fall Forum 2006

Chart 1: What we know about inquiring (pre)

Harada AASL Fall Forum 2006

Have a question Find the

information

Chart 2: What we know about inquiring (post)

Harada AASL Fall Forum 2006

Find something interesting

Think about what we already know

Have wonderings

Find the information

Check in different places

Try to find the information

Share what we learned

Don’t make up the information!

Assessment FOR learning Focuses on student’s evolving

performance ◦ Where am I going? ◦ Where am I now? ◦ How do I close the gap?

Examples of instruments: learning logs, rating scales, checklists, conferences, graphic organizers, rubrics

Harada AASL Fall Forum 2006

Learning Logs Wiki

http://spring11ell.wikispaces.com/Learning+Logs

Google Images: Learning Logs

Student Self-Assessment Reflection

The Unquiet Librarian on Reflections

Survey Question Focus 1. How helpful the school library is with getting

information you need 2. How helpful the school library is with using the

information to complete your school work (lL skills)

3. How helpful the school library is with your school work in general (knowledge building, knowledge outcomes)

4. How helpful the school library is with using computers in the library, at school, and at home

5. How helpful the school library is to you with your general reading interests

6. How helpful the school library is to you when you are not at school (independent learning)

7. General school aspects –Academic Achievement

Dr. Ross Todd, Evidence-Based Practice

Reporting As Advocacy

Evidence Folders/Portfolios Summary Reports

Charting Your Course "To make our programs count and to be accountable,

we need to take a hard look at the research findings, assess where we are and decide what we need to do.. We can’t wait for someone else to do it for us. We have the academic proof now let’s build the grassroots proof. We need to set some achievable goals, and develop an action plan."

Making Library Programs Count: Where’s the Evidence? School Libraries in Canada, Koechlin

and Zwaan 2003

Advice Start where you are Track resources and services Build partnerships with faculty Increase collaborations Integrate ICT skills into units of study With teachers tackle assessments –

develop long-range plan

Possible contents of evidence folder

Link library’s mission with school’s mission statement.

Connect with school’s learning priorities.

Select samples of instruction that most closely align with school’s priorities.

Harada AASL Fall Forum 2006

Possible contents of evidence folder

Provide examples of student work for lessons included.

Display compiled assessment data for lessons selected.

Include samples of student and instructor reflections about progress and improvements.

Harada AASL Fall Forum 2006

Buffy Hamilton https://sites.google.com/site/theunquietlibrary/monthly-reports-3

http://www.prhslibrary.com/reports/report0510.pdf

Algonquin Middle School (NY) Quarterly Reports

Rebecca Ekstrom

Quarter 1 2011-2012

Quarter 2 2011-2012

AASL Knowledge Quest

Mar/Apr 2012 Issue Q: What is the key to successful

coteaching?

What Is Your Impact?

“…just as all politics are local, so are all assessments local. While decision-makers are usually quite willing to read and acknowledge studies done “elsewhere,” most still want to know the direct impact their local program is having. “

Doug Johnson, Demonstrating Our Impact 1

For More Information:

Gerry Solomon gsolomon@mailbox.sc.edu

Dr. Donna Shannon dshannon@mailbox.sc.edu

Dr. Karen Gavigan kgavigan@mailbox.sc.edu

Credits Photos: Microsoft Image Gallery American Association of School Librarians. (2012, March-April). 30

second thought leadership: Insights from the school library community. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/aaslpubsandjournals/knowledgequest

Ekstrom, R. (Producer). (2012). Algonquin middle school: Quarter 1 report 2011-2012. [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://animoto.com/play/X1hw2PN3KSFa9atIR9SPRw

Ekstrom, R. (Producer). (2012). Algonquin middle school: Quarter 2 report 2011-2012. [Print Photo]. Retrieved from

Hamilton, B. (2010, October 29). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/10/29/assessment-and-metacognition-blogging-research-reflections/

Harada, V. H. (Creator). (2006). What is assessment? Why should library media specialists be involved?. [Presentation].

Harland, P. E. A. (2010). Plymouth regional high school library annual report. Retrieved from http://www.prhslibrary.com/reports/report0510.pdf

Credits Johnson, D. (2007). Documenting our impact 1. Retrieved from

http://www.doug-johnson.com/dougwri/demonstrating-our-impact-1.html

Kalmon, S., & Nassar, N. (2010). Collaborative planning organizer. Retrieved from http://www.cal-webs.org/files/41697872.doc

Langhorne, M. J., & Rehnke, D. (2011). Developing 21st century literacies: A k-12 school library curriculum blueprint with sample lessons. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers.

Loertscher, D., with Ross J Todd. (2003) "We Boost Achievement! Evidence-Based Practice for School Library Media Specialists." Salt Lake City: Hi Willow Research & Publishing.

Ontario School Library Association. (2003). The teacher librarian's toolkit for evidence-based practice. Retrieved from http://www.accessola.com/osla/toolkit/home.html

Todd, R. J. (Creator). (2011). Evidence-based practice: What is the fingerprint of your school library program on student learning in the 21st century? [Presentation].