School Libraries and Learning: 20+ Evidence-Based Strategies

1. School Libraries and Learning:  20+ Evidence-Based Strategies Dr Ross J Todd Director, Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries Professor, School of Communication & Information Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey rtodd@rutgers.edu www.cissl.rutgers.edu www.twitter.com/RossJTodd www.facebook.com/RossJTodd

2. Evidence-Based Practice Gathering evidence in YOUR local school You are able to provide convincing evidence that answers these questions: “What differences do my school library and its learning initiatives make to student learning outcomes? “What are the differences, the tangible learning outcomes and learning benefits of my school library”?

3. Holistic Model of Evidence-Based Practice for School Libraries

4. 22 Evidence-Based Strategies

5. 1. Mission Statements and Policy Documents • School Library Policy and Mission Statements: Shift in focus from School Library to Inquiry and Student Learning Outcomes • Test criteria: “Celebrate the Understood, not the Found” Does your mission and policy statements do this?

6. 2. Your Role Statement • How are you defined in your school? • Positioning of the School Librarian as the Information-Learning / Inquiry Learning Specialist

7. Positioning of the School Librarian: Information / Inquiry Learning Specialist • Implement inquiry-based instruction in the curriculum? • An instructional designer for integrating information, technical and critical literacies into the curriculum? • Reading for learning and living in the digital age? • Continuous improvement of learning outcomes through resource-based learning • MEETING CONTENT STANDARDS

8. 3. Library Systems • Number of classes in the library • Number of library items borrowed • Number of students using the library at lunch times • Number of items purchased annually • Number of web searches • Changes after instructional interventions Additional data?

9. Did they learn anything?What knowledge of the curriculum did they come away with? 4. Charting Knowledge Outcomes: Content Outcomes QUALITY TEACHING = MOST POWERFUL EFFECT ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

11. Deep knowledge: • Knowledge is deep when focus is sustained on key concepts and ideas Evidence: • Sustained focus on specific topic • Explanatory detail • Knowledge of hierarchical and associative relationships

12. Deep understanding: • Students are able to demonstrate meaningful understanding of the central ideas and the relationships between them Evidence: • Organized, structured sequence of ideas • Appropriate recall • Presentation and discussion

13. Problematic knowledge: • Students are encouraged to address multiple perspectives and/or solutions and to recognise that knowledge is constructed Evidence: • Students understand the various arguments, evidences, counterarguments • Acknowledge conflicts in information

14. Higher-order thinking: • Students are engaged in thinking that requires them to organise, reorganise, apply, analyse, synthesise and evaluate knowledge and information Evidence: • Students use information from more than one web site, compare it, select the best to use for the purpose, decide what is relevant for each aspect of task

15. Metalanguage: • Lessons explicitly name and analyse knowledge as a specialist language Evidence: • students use complex terms relevant to their subject • students learn to search relevant databases using complex language

16. Substantive communication: • Students regularly engage in sustained conversations about the concepts and ideas – can manifest in oral, written, artistic forms Evidence: • Increased confidence in presentations • Increased quality of classroom discussion after library visits • Increase in quality and frequency of questions about research topics • Increased retention of content which is utilized in later discussions

17. PERSONAL AGENCY • “learned to follow a set plan and be organized” • “help me through papers in high school, college and life in general” • “getting genuine information is hard and tedious work” • “learned the basics of writing a more professional research paper” • “research approach is more complicated but creates a much better paper” • “my project is amazing. I have put a lot of hard work into it”

18. Examples of claims • Following an inquiry-based unit of work, 70% students showed improved ability in formulating essential questions that directed their inquiry as compared to their previous research task • As a result of instructional interventions focusing on the development of arguments, students showed stronger ability to identify claims, provide supporting evidence and to identify rebuttals • Students’ final products showed improved ability to analyze and synthesize information • Students’ research reports showed improved ability to draw conclusions and state implications of their findings • Students’ presentations showed ability to present different viewpoints and to provide a strong and supported case for their own position • 83 % of the class show improved ability in thoughtfully analyzing and evaluating major alternative points of view

19. Example of Claims • 93% of the students showed mastery of strategies for evaluating websites for misinformation and bias • Following instructional interventions that focused on establishing the quality of websites, 100% of the students’ bibliographies showed use of high quality websites • Based on a pre-test of initial and final knowledge of the Grade 8 science curriculum topic, students knowledge of their topics changed form descriptive and random listing of facts to statements that showed explanations, conflicting knowledge and making predictions • The analysis of the final bibliographies submitted by the students compared to the initial research plans of the students showed a change from generalist background information to specialist, detailed, information sources • Students; products showed increasing complexity of language used to describe their knowledge, and the ordering of this knowledge into conceptually coherent units

20. INTELLECTUAL QUALITY • Higher order thinking: movement from description to explanation and reflection • Deep knowledge: Evident in the nature of the sources students accessed, and the changing search patterns from generalist background information to specialist, detailed, information sources • Evident in increased specificity of topic focus • Deep understanding: evident in extent of recall and in the types of causal and predictive relationships portrayed • Substantive conversation: Valuing of dialogue between teacher, librarian and students; fluency in written statements • Knowledge as problematic: In some cases, students identified dealing with dealing with factual conflict or conflicting viewpoints and formulating their own (choice of topic); also evident in constructing arguments that show a basis for the claims they were making • Meta-language: Use of language specific to the topic domain: not just provision of terms, but clarity of understanding these terms • Increasing complexity of the language used to describe their knowledge, and the ordering of this knowledge into conceptually coherent units

21. 5. Analysis of student bibliographies • Diversity of choice • Depth of knowledge • Accuracy of citation • Relevance to task • Use of multiple formats

22. 6. Checklists • Students & school librarians provide checklist or ratings of perceived levels of skills and / or knowledge acquisition • Use before and after instructional intervention so that comparisons of differences, changes in levels of knowledge and skills can be documented • Focus on identifying changes

23. 7. Rubric Strategies • Students’ performance in final products are scaled according to a set of criteria that clearly define what is the range of acceptable to unacceptable performances and/or information products look like. • EG Carol Gordon’s rubric on evaluating the research process • Compare with previous assignments where no instructional intervention took place

24. 8. Formal feedback strategies Examples • simple feedback survey every term on what the library does “best” and “least” to help students with their school work • Feedback at end of instructional unit: what helped and did not help • Feedback on quality of resources • Feedback on what students could do better at

25. Using Blogs / Twitter for reflections • What have I learned about this class activity? • What are my most important ideas? • What conclusions can I draw based on my understanding • What are implications, consequences of what I have learned? • What other questions come to mind that I could investigate? • What do I wish I had done differently? • What were some of the difficulties I encountered doing this task? • DIAGNOSTIC; REDESIGN OF LEARNING TASKS, SKILLS DEVELOPMENT

26. Personal Reflection • What worked well? • What pleased me? • How do I know that it was successful? • Who can/did I share my success with? • What did I do that helped me to: - prepare for the task - create new ideas - practise new skills - improve existing skills - modify my learning habits - find relevant information or materials - organise information or materials - correctly summarise information - understand unfamiliar ideas - take relevant notes - use my existing knowledge or skills - represent information in meaningful ways? • What could I do differently next time? • What factors influenced my ability to learn? • What might help me learn more about this?

27. 9. Comment Cards / Advice Cards • Advice to give to other students Build a kid’s guide to doing good research, using statements from the students, and put this on your library web site, or create a funky guide for giving out to students Distribute to Faculty, School Board, Parent community

28. 10. Conferencing Strategies • Group / individual review activities, students reflect on their work, on their constructive process and skills, and on benefits. • PQP = Praise, Question, Polish – peer review on drafts of products • Ask just a few questions, summarize responses (positive and negative); share responses back to students; report at faculty meetings • WIKI SPACES VERY USEFUL HERE

29. 11. Journaling Strategies /Search Log • Writing entries in journal that focus on the research process as well as on the outcomes of their research • Search strategies used • Search terms • Sources used • Feelings and attitudes • Next task

30. 12. Portfolio Strategies • Students construct a cumulative process of samples of their work collected over a period of time, matched to curriculum goals and information literacy requirements, as well as work progress reports, products, and self-assessments. • Can be electronic: available for whole school to peruse

31. 13. Library Surveys • (not of library use, but of library learning) of how students have helped them learn • Eg. Using part / all of Ohio Study to gather perceptions

32. 14. Analysis of standardized test score data • Matches between scores and high-use library groups • Matches between scores and reading enrichment programs • Improvement in critical thinking interventions • Target gaps in scores for Library Improvement Planning

33. 15. Reading Initiatives • Motivation to read: pre / post reading program • Access to reading materials • Readers’ Advisory logs • Reports of reading celebrations, events, initiatives, projects + student voice • Impact of SSR programs • Logs of reading amounts: free voluntary reading and topical reading • Classroom reading audit

34. 16. Photo voice • Video Recording of learning process (for showing at staff meeting, through school; utube) • Get students to use digital images, examples of searches and products created to construct a website of the unit being studied; use of class wikis as records of learning journey

35. 17. Exhibitions(digital and in-house) • Exhibitions, displays of products plus student self assessments of learning • Put up “the story” of learning, as well as the products of new learning • Let the “voices” of students tell the story

36. 18. Digital Storytelling • http://capzles.com/ • Combine videos, blogs, mp3s, photos, text into multimedia story lines • http://www.tikatok.com/ • Where children write, publish their own story • http://glogster.com • Interactive posters

37. 19. Motivation Board • Motivation Board (staff room and library) • Library Learner of the Month • Teacher Collaborator of the Month • Story statement: curriculum standards, key outcomes

38. 20. Faculty: Sources of Evidence • Student interaction with the school library • Quality products • Research Agency • Reading engagement • Information Technology capability • Student interaction • Student achievement • Learning attributes and outcomes

39. 21. Teacher-Related Strategies • Number of collaborations • Instructional focus (=information learning) of collaborations • Subject / grade levels • Teacher observations • Teacher summary of outcomes • Teacher summary of benefits

40. 22. Library Reports • Focus on Collaborations • Summaries of Instructional units • highlighting instructional interventions and links to curriculum standards • Summaries of learning outcomes • Distribute to principal, library website, board members • Include direct evidence: tallies, quotes • Send to multiple recipients: Principal, School Board, include in parent newsletters

41. Beating around the bush Jumping to conclusions Throwing my weight around Dragging my heals Pushing my luck Making mountains out of molehills Bending over backwards Jumping on the bandwagon Running around in circles Mouthing on Pulling out the stops Adding fuel to the fire Going over the edge Picking up the pieces Alternatives to Evidence

42. A TIME OF BOLD ACTION Edna St Vincent Millay 1892-1950 “Upon this gifted age, in its dark hour Rains from the sky a meteoric shower Of facts, they lie unquestioned, uncombined. Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill Is daily spun, but there exists no loom To weave it into fabric.”