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West Virginia Drafts First-Ever Media Center StandardsSchool-library boosters in West Virginia achieved a milestone October 13, when the state department of education issued a draft of what will become the first-ever “Library Media Standards and Objectives for West Virginia Schools.” Public comments are being accepted through November 14 regarding the document.“We’re taking tiny steps, but we’re headed in the right direction,” Virginia Frank, library media specialist at Bridgeport (W.Va.) Middle School, told American Libraries. Chair-Elect of the West Virginia Library Association’s School Library Division, Frank explained that the initiative began taking root when Beth Yoke, formerly head of the school library media teacher preparation program at Fairmount State University, found out several years ago that there was no one at the education department to consult about library media programs. (Yoke is now executive director of the American Library Association’s Young Adult Library Services Association division.) The discovery led to a legislative resolution advocating the establishment of such a post—although no funding was appropriated. It also stirred area school librarians to mobilize, as they realized that the department might never establish a contents, standards, and objectives (CSO) statement for school libraries as it had for other curriculum components in compliance with No Child Left Behind regulations. So WVLA members decided to write the standards themselves, forming a committee of nine librarians from seven counties in 2003. The resulting document builds on the Information Power model from the American Library Association’s American Association of School Librarians division. The document defines the teaching of library media skills in NCLB terminology that school boards nationwide are using. “No Child Left Behind puts special emphasis on determining what educational programs and practices have been proven effective through rigorous scientific research,” the West Virginia draft standards state, going on to explain, “Quality school library media programs make a difference in student achievement [and] promotion of information literacy is crucial to help students achieve state standards, as well as to face the increasingly complicated world ahead.” Frank said the education department received the resulting school-library CSO enthusiastically October 12, one trustee asking, “Why did it take so long?” She anticipated that it would approve a finalized school-library CSO early next year. “We need to support the needs of 21st-century learning. It’s a very appropriate time to delve into this matter,” Superintendent of Schools Steven L. Paine told the Associated Press October 11. “Libraries are the center of learning for a school. They support all that goes on in every classroom.” Posted October 21, 2005. |
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