September/October 2006
AASL Community Column
Spotlight on ELMSS
(Educators of Library Media Specialists Section)
Dr. Lesley Farmer
Who are we?
We are 600+ educators in colleges and universities whose programs, affiliated with education, information science and other colleges, focus on school library media education and the training of graduate and undergraduate school librarians. Most of our programs are accredited by state agencies; several are accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) or the American Library Association.
What’s the goal?
As stated in our section’s description on the AASL site, we in ELMSS exchange ideas, review and study curricula, and develop research activities...".
What have we been doing?
For the last five years, ELMSS has focused on NCATE accreditation issues. We began by creating a series of committees (chaired by Ken Haycock, Marilyn Shontz, and co-chairs Gail Dickinson and Frances Roscello) to revise the guidelines for graduate library media specialist programs. The drafts were shared and revised at conferences (national, regional, and state), in focus groups, open hearings, via mailings, publications and listservs. The revised guidelinesincorporate the 1988 and 1998 AASL library media program guidelines in Information Power, and update the professional research base and literature review.
After the guidelines were adopted, ELMSS conducted workshops and trainings to help our members assess and improve their programs. Program coordinators have shared their accreditation documents for peers to examine and discuss. NCATE reviewers have also shared their insights at AASL and ALA conference workshops, providing participants with tips to help their graduate programs for library media specialist preparation get ready for upcoming NCATE accreditation.
Why are we doing this?
The need for systematic assessment and continuous program improvement constitutes an important difference in the new NCATE accreditation review process. Earlier accreditation review processes examined mainly curriculum and instruction. Under the new guidelines, ELMSS members have been discussing how to select or develop instruments to assess candidate outcomes, and how to use that data to improve programs. Ideally, six to eight major assessments would address the major standards:
· Use of Information and Ideas
· Teaching and Learning
· Collaboration and Leadership
· Program Administration
Rather than use one major assessment per course, the same kind of assessment, such as grades for projects or a portfolio assessment might bridge several courses. However, to systematically collect the data, analyze the results, and act upon those results depends upon consistent grading or evaluation practices across instructors, courses and institutions. Has data been disaggregated to uncover subgroup disparencies based on demographics (i.e., ethnicity, gender, age) or prior career positions (school or public library work, classroom teacher)? If the latter is the case, is there a way to provide those candidates additional support so they can succeed?
Just as in K-12, the major trends in assessment include:
· Rubrics -- define the critical factors and weigh their relative importance;
· Multiple measures – provide several opportunities to demonstrate competence;
· Authentic assessment - integrate field experiences and service learning throughout the program;
· Technology – collect evidence of student learning through threaded discussion and online chat, maintain statistics about student use of course resources, analyze student online peer review of projects;
· Communities of practice – develop mutual learning and review through telecommunications and peer-to-peer learning; get studies published in peer-reviewed journals; and
· E-portfolios – provide an evidence-based means for learners to select, organize and align their student work to program and professional standards.
Assessment of professional dispositions has been another area of work. Liz Haynes, University of Southern Mississippi, has identified those dispositions that are explicitly addressed in the AASL/NCATE Standards for School Library Media Specialists:
Standard 1: Use of Information and Ideas
1. Works successfully with others
2. Adheres to and communicates legal and ethical policies as well as codes of the profession
3. Enjoys reading
4. Advocates for flexible and open access to resources, services, and information in all formats as well as the library media center and its services
5. Has ability to plan and organize
Standard 2: Teaching and Learning
1. Models and promotes collaborative planning with classroom teachers and other education professionals
2. Believes all students can learn, regardless of diverse abilities, needs and learning styles
3. Advocates for instruction in information skills as an integral part of the curriculum
Standard 3: Collaboration and Leadership
1. Models personal responsibility and willingness to undertake a leadership role
2. Understands the importance of being involved in school and district committees and staff development
3. Pursues self-learning strategies to keep current with developments in the field
4. Advocates for the role of the library media center as an important component in the overall school program
5. Understands the importance of professional publications and involvement with professional associations
6. Models, shares, and promotes ethical and legal principles of education and librarianship
Standard 4: Program Administration
1. Works collaboratively with the school community to develop and improve the library media program
2. Supports intellectual freedom and privacy of users
3. Believes in the importance of meeting diverse user needs.
At the 2007 annual conference, the ELMSS program will provide guidance to library media specialist (LMS) educators on ways to assess professional dispositions and develop interventions that can help pre-service LMS.. On a more modest basis, ELMSS members are beginning to share assessment instruments in order to develop best practices. Interested parties should send their assessment contributions to Allison Kaplan, who has agreed to serve as the section’s web mistress, or section chair Lesley Farmer.
Curriculum and Communication
Curriculum and its application continue to be discussed in ELMSS, both in response to changes in the profession as well as advances in technology. The 2006 annual conference ELMSS session featured Liz Haynes and Allison Kaplan, who shared the challenges of teaching Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) and other new cataloging/classification content.
In the meantime, the section listserv has been used regularly to discuss local and national education concerns. Members benefit from the experiences of their peers. As the association’s website is being revamped and the online environment stabilized, ELMSS will be even more responsive and "alive" through valuable links and documents.
ELMSS members are actively collecting presentation podcasts and other learning objects to mount on the ELMSS online community page. Ideas and contributions should be sent to section chair Lesley Farmeror to Allison Kaplan . ELMSS has over 600 members so the possibilities are impressive – and the section hopes that even more LMS educators will join in order to enlarge and enrich this exciting community of practice.
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Dr. Lesley Farmeris a professoratCalifornia State University, Long Beach.
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