Assessing Student Learning
in the School Library Media Center
October 13-15, 2006 
Warwick, Rhode Island
in the School Library Media Center
October 13-15, 2006
General Session
What is Assessment and Why Should the School Librarian be Involved?
Keynote Speaker - Violet HaradaSession I
Assessing Information Fluency
Presenter - Barbara StriplingBreakout Session I
What Does Assessment Look Like in the School Library Media Center?Breakout Session II
Item Analysis: What are the Skills Needed to Answer Standardized Assessment Questions and What is the Connection to the SLMP?Session II
Assessment Tools
Presenter - Marjorie PappasSession III
Who Gives You the Authority to Do What You Are Doing?
Presenter - Allison Zmuda
General Session 
Saturday, October 14, 9:30–10:30 a.m.
What is Assessment and Why Should the School Librarian be Involved?
Keynote Speaker - Violet Harada
Reform measures in all of our schools challenge every member of the educational community to identify what students are learning and how well they are learning it. If we envision our libraries as centers of active engagement and learning, what evidence of student performance do we have that goes beyond statistical counts of the books circulated and lessons conducted?
Don’t miss Violet Harada, professor of library and information science at the University of Hawaii, as she launches the 2006 Fall Forum by posing critical questions about what school librarians teach and how they can determine the impact of their teaching on demonstrated student performance. Harada incorporates examples of practice as she discusses how assessment: (1) involves students in critical self and peer discoveries; (2) informs and shapes teaching; and (3) becomes a powerful tool for library advocacy. Her keynote presentation will serve as a framework for the rest of the institute’s sessions, which expand on assessment with concrete ideas and tools enabling participants to build their own assessment components in alignment with standards and school goals.
Harada presently coordinates the specialization for school library media preparation at the University of Hawaii. She also has been a secondary English teacher, a curriculum designer, an elementary school library media specialist, and a state-level administrator. Harada publishes frequently in scholarly and popular journals, and she has spoken on libraries and learning at numerous state, national, and international conferences. Along with Joan Yoshina, she coauthored Assessing Learning: Librarians and Teachers as Partners (Libraries Unlimited, 2005) and Inquiry Learning Through Librarian- Teacher Partnerships (Linworth Publishing, 2004). In her current research and publications, she focuses on inquiry-based approaches to information-seeking and use, and on the dynamics of collaborative instruction and assessment.
Session I Saturday, October 14, 11 a.m.–12 p.m.
Assessing Information Fluency
Presenter - Barbara Stripling
We all want our students to be fluent in information skills. We want them to be able to access, evaluate, and use information in any academic or personal situation. How do we know if they have developed these skills?
Join Barbara Stripling, director of library services for the New York City Department of Education as she discusses how library media specialists can consider both formative and summative assessments as they develop units and lesson plans with classroom teachers. In this session, attendees will investigate formative strategies to help students keep on track as they are conducting inquiries, such as progress logs, process logs, and reflection. You will also explore final assessment products that fulfill the characteristics of authentic assessment and turn kids on to learning! What students wouldn’t want to create their own avatars for the historical personage of George Washington? Together, we will investigate a K–12 Information Fluency Continuum and plan effective assessment of student-skill development and content-learning.
Stripling has had a thirty-year career in education as a classroom teacher in Colorado and North Carolina, a K–12 library media specialist in Arkansas, a Library Power director in Tennessee, a school district director of instructional services in Arkansas, and director of library programs at New Visions for Public Schools, a local education fund in New York City. She has written or edited numerous books and articles, including her latest, Curriculum Connections Through the Library: Principles and Practice (Libraries Unlimited, 2003). She is a former AASL president and a former member of the ALA Executive Board.
Breakout Sessions
Breakout Session I
What Does Assessment Look Like in the School Library Media Center?Breakout Session II
Item Analysis: What are the Skills Needed to Answer Standardized Assessment Questions and What is the Connection to the SLMP?Attendees will separate into groups by grade level for two breakout sessions. Keynote speaker Violet Harada will facilitate high school sessions and session presenter Barbara Stripling will facilitate middle school sessions.
Sharon Coatney will lead the elementary group. After thirty years as a teacher and librarian, Sharon has "retired" to become an acquisitions editor for Libraries Unlimited and Teacher Ideas Press. She has also been an adjunct professor for Ottawa, Baker, and Emporia universities in Kansas.
Coatney’s publication credits include: “Assessment in the School Library Media Center”, chapter in Principles and Practice: Curriculum Connections Through the Library (Libraries Unlimited, 2003.), and a list of other publications.
Session II Saturday, October 14, 3:45–4:45 p.m.
Assessment Tools
Presenter - Marjorie Pappas
Assessment tools for information literacy and inquiry learning include checklists, rubrics, journals, logs, and organizers. Marjorie Pappas, PhD, writer, consultant, and virtual professor of library science, will demonstrate the use of these tools within the context of lessons and show participants examples of these tools available on the Web. Participants will receive a webliography of examples.
Pappas is the coauthor of Pathways to Knowledge®, an information process model. She coauthored the book Pathways to Knowledge® and Inquiry Learning (Libraries Unlimited, 2002) and has written many articles on information literacy, inquiry learning, and virtual libraries. Marjorie has been a library science professor at several universities and taught many courses online. She presents frequently at state and national conferences.
Session III Sunday, October 15, 8:30–9:30 a.m.
Who Gives You the Authority to Do What You Are Doing?
Presenter - Allison Zmuda
The relationship between the library media specialist and the staff in a school can be a complex one. You are accountable for helping all students perform at high levels in their ability to access, synthesize, and present information, but can only complete that task if classroom teachers bring their students to your learning environment. How do you get students in the door? How do you create a powerful learning experience? How do you assess whether students’ time in the library media center was effective?
Don’t miss Allison Zmuda, senior education specialist for the Capitol Regional Education Council (CREC) in Hartford, Connecticut, as she explores the reasons why the library media center is at the heart of a school's mission to help all students achieve at high levels and how to define, redefine, and communicate to staff that your position is a partnership.
Zmuda is a member of the Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development’s (ASCD) national Understanding by Design Cadre. As a senior education specialist for CREC, she works with staff to design curriculum, assessment, and instruction. She began her career in education by teaching social studies in a public high school for seven years. Inspired by her work in the classroom with students and in schools with educators, Zmuda coauthored The Competent Classroom (Teachers College Press and National Education Association, 2001), and High Stakes High School (Simon & Schuster, 2001). Her latest book, Transforming Schools: Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement (ASCD, 2004) was the ASCD April 2004 member book.
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The AASL Fall Forum is a multi-day national institute held during non-AASL National Conference years.