White House Conference on School Libraries

Building Student Learning through School Libraries

Dr. Kathleen D. Smith
Cherry Creek High School
Greenwood Village, CO

It is such a pleasure and honor for me to be here today. I am one of those people who loves books. I love the smell, the feel, the touch, and the wonderful images created by the interesting, descriptive words. I've always loved reading books and libraries from the time I was a little girl in North Dakota and took the bus to the public library every Saturday, as our elementary school did not have a library, to my high school days of hanging out in the library to check out the books and, of course, the boys, to college where I would sit by the hour in the stacks, actually any stack, and pull out books and learn about topics that were foreign to me, to my graduate school days of trying to figure out how to run the microfilm and microfiche machines, to today, where each day I try to walk through the portal of knowledge through which we pass to become independent learners. The information literacy that is necessary today and presented through our school library media center is fabulous. My journey has been a joyful one and that is my hope for each one of our children.

School library media centers in the 21st century can, and should be, hubs for increased student achievement and positive focused school reform. Student achievement involves skill development, knowledge acquisition, research analysis of ideas and results, and, of course, integration of concepts and resources. These "windows to the world" serve as points for our continual drive for rigorous scholarly work and increased achievement for each student. Presently I serve as principal of a large urban/suburban high school in Denver, Colorado, where the library media program is the center and focal point of the school, both literally and figuratively. It is located in the center of an 80-acre campus with classes housed in four buildings. Student's travel back and forth all day, and the library media center is the only facility on the second floor, where the students have fondly named the staircase "the stairway to knowledge." Academic achievement is the heart of the philosophy and the accompanying programs of the school with personalized individual achievement manifesting itself in the fact that it is cool to be smart at Cherry Creek High School. Raising student achievement takes focused, intense, continual efforts founded in research, supported by the entire learning community, and fostered through a climate conducive to inquiry, discovery, and challenge. It can be done!

A quick profile of student achievement at Cherry Creek High School for the past 10 years reveals data that may be interesting to you. This school of 3500 students has increased graduation rate by 5% to 96% of students, decreased the drop-out rate to .8%, 90% of the graduates attend college, and in the past 10 years the National Merit Finalists have increased in number from 8 to 32 with Hispanic scholars and African-American scholars also represented. There has been a 400% increase in AP tests administered from 381 to this year's number of 1,565. Next year there should be over 2,000. At the same time scores have increased from 81% receiving a 3 or higher on the AP test to over 93% receiving a 3 or higher. There has been a concurrent increase in ACT and SAT scores, and last year State testing was administered at the high school level for the first time, and Cherry Creek High School received an "excellent" rating. This school is a comprehensive one, as many of our high schools in this country are, offering 25 sports, over 90 clubs and a myriad of volunteer opportunities. CCHS is known as a "community of scholars" based upon Roland Barth's work on community of learners. With increasing issues and demands, I maintain that one of the most effective and efficient ways to increase student achievement and love of learning is to leverage the power that library media centers can have in this process. There are five essential elements of this power:

1. Access - The library media center should serve as the physical and philosophical center of the school. I realize that there are constraints certainly with the physical location but I strongly believe that the outward representation of the importance of reaching higher and stretching past the four walls of the school are incredibly important to the internal importance placed on learning. The focus on knowledge acquisition should be represented with information at the core and access for all students at all times. If possible, library hours should be extended to afford students who are busy during the day opportunities to access services after school. Libraries should never be closed during the day for meetings or parties or other administrative types of functions. They should be available, warm, and welcoming places. At Creek we have been able to keep our library open three hours each day after school ends and one night a week even later with a program that was begun by the football coaches called "The Huddle." During The Huddle, students receive tutoring, small group instruction and have access to information. Sessions are supervised by coaches and volunteer teachers, and assistance for students is provided with any topic that is needed. Over 45% of our students use the library each day.
   
2. Data Driven - Library media centers must use data to assist with making decisions about resources whether it involves personnel or materials. Services and materials should reflect the learning community's needs and the instructional priorities of the school. The CCHS librarians keep data on the use of materials. They know what materials and sources are used, by which students, and for what purpose. An example is that a few years ago the librarians presented me with data that indicated a dramatic shift from student use of periodicals to use of on-line databases. We were able to, therefore, move our resources into an area that was leveraging student learning. At the same time keeping track of this kind of information gives one an overall picture of the curriculum and academic program. With the changes we have made we are able to offer databases to students that can be accessed at home as well as audio technological services not even thought of five years ago. Which brings me to the next step…
   
3. Integration of Technology - Technology is a means to an end, not an end in itself, a tool not a product. It is marvelous and affords ease, expedience, and efficiency, but it must be integrated through strategic planning within the instructional program. Parameters must be established for use and teachers must be trained. In the past five years we have been able to construct a program with dual platforms where 154 networked computers are housed in the library media center, including two complete computer labs. Seventy computers are located in various areas of the facility to accommodate individual student and faculty needs ranging from searching the internet, using e-mail, and accessing purchase databases, to video editing and multi-media production. Nineteen computers are available in offices for direct use by teachers and support staff. We are no longer confined by the traditional boundaries limiting access and delivery of information. Library resources are available throughout our campus through a networked environment. A library resources web page allowing students, staff, and community members access from the school campus and home is located at Cherry Creek High School. Students are encouraged to use the school resources from home and are given the necessary passwords to access the web page. The resource page has links to purchased on-line databases including thousands of full text magazines, newspapers, encyclopedia, and specialized subject area databases. They also include links to district on-line catalogues, district film library catalogues, and a myriad of lists of statewide periodicals, Colorado virtual library resources, web pages created for specific class projects and many other helpful sites. Furthermore, the students and teachers can use inter-library loan request systems to borrow resources from all district schools and the district professional libraries. This increased accessibility to in-depth material supports the content covered in the classroom and encourages discovery and inquiry. There are no games played in this area. Learning is serious; learning is joyful; and students understand the purpose of technology.
   
4. Connections between Teaching and Learning - The teaching/learning process must be emphasized through the model of a teaching library. Librarians must be viewed and behave as teachers - of teachers, of students, and the community. They must serve as leaders to form instructional teams and promote professional growth. Membership on important instructional leadership committees as well as offering direct services to staff and students is vital. A basic foundation of the school must be that information literacy has to be incorporated throughout the entire program. At CCHS when teachers design research assignments they do so in collaboration with a teaching librarian. At present we have 6 ½ positions for teaching librarians. When teachers bring groups of students to a lab or to the library they do so in conjunction with work that has been planned with a librarian. When portable hubs of computers are taken to classrooms for student work, the lessons are planned with the librarians. Numbers and incidence of various kinds of research and lessons are kept on file to help others in the planning process. Examples of successful assignments are available at any time, and individual students often seek out librarians for assistance. Our data indicates that an average of 55 classes per month are held for purposes of research in the library. Another 120 classes per month are taught in the library using technology and over 50 students plan individually with librarians for research on a myriad of topics in all discipline areas. A Creek Technology Center has been funded through a program called "Bricks for Bruins," where patrons purchase a brick to be placed in a prominent walkway and this funds the CTC. It is a multi-media program that will be expanded next year to include a full broadcast studio with two courses per day being offered to students.
   
5. Advocacy - A commitment to information literacy must permeate the culture of the school. Upon entry to school at Creek, students receive a day-timer that is supported by the school and the PTCO organization and "Write-It" which is a guide to acceptable writing formats for research at the school. Expectations of the school are addressed by administrators and librarians who then introduce student's to all of the services available through the library media center. The sessions are mandatory and a core part of the orientation of the school. At CCHS no man or woman is an island, and the connections with information and the people who can help the students in their quest for learning must be emphasized. Continual reminders are in place with celebrations of American Library Week, hosting authors, having speakers talk about their love of books, reading and research, showcasing student work through receptions and gallery exhibits, having available bookmarks which students have designed, and having fun and informative displays. An example is that when the summer reading list becomes available, summer lawn chairs pop up in the library, and free leis are given to students who check out books for the summer. CCHS has a mandated summer reading program and it's important that everyone read in the school. Large posters with pictures of students, staff, and even the mascot, the "Bruin," reading his or her favorite books, are posted throughout the school and are changed on a regular basis. The screensavers for many of the thousand computers in the school are individual pictures of students and faculty members showing their favorite books. Recognition is given to outstanding teachers, volunteers, and visitors by permitting them to select a book of their choice to be placed in the library with a dedication page to them.

At Cherry Creek High School our goal is that each graduate is a young independent thinker who is capable of academically competing with his or her worldwide counterparts and is a person who knows how to give back to the community. The school goal is entwined with the library media program of helping students gather the information to be lifelong learners and effective users and evaluators of ideas and information in both their academic and their personal lives. Our students are being faced with incredible ethical and moral decisions in a rapidly changing physical, political, economic, and social environment. They must be prepared to make these decisions and I believe very strongly that the only way they will be equipped is for schools to support their library media programs and to totally integrate these programs into the learning process of the school. No longer can students just rely on textbooks for needed information; students must access new information on a daily basis and be taught to integrate that information into their existing framework. Resources, of course, are an issue, but more importantly a belief and a willingness to turn that belief into action are important to increase student achievement through the leadership of library media programs. Through access for each student coupled with instruction with high expectations and guided practice, the library media specialists can leverage their leadership to increase student achievement. Critical thinking and information literacy provide this framework. Advocacy promotes the relationship between faculty and students as well as the community. All students are active learners engaged in the research that is deliberately designed to give them the information literacy skills and experience needed to be successful citizens in an information based society. It's cool to be smart in this rigorous academic environment where the community of scholars continually collaborate to bring more and more information to students who are able to integrate and apply their knowledge to real world issues. Obviously, I am incredibly proud of the kinds of things that occur at Cherry Creek High School and I welcome any and all of you to come see us and share the ideas of a constantly changing program that is dedicated to offering the best program possible to each student.

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School districts define the function of a library and the role of the library media specialist in a variety of ways. As a youngster growing up in Medford, Oregon, and graduating from its school system, I did not have an opportunity to meet a "real" librarian until entering junior high school in grade 7. In elementary school, classroom teachers filled the narrowly defined role of the librarian, which at the time was simply to assist students in checking out library books.

In 1985, after a 16 year absence, I returned to Medford and became superintendent of schools. At that time, I found that the function of the library had remained basically the same, that is, a warehouse of books, but support for those responsible to oversee it had deteriorated even more. Classroom teachers had minimal involvement in the library. Non-certified staff, with no formal training in instruction, no child development background, no knowledge of reading levels of students, and no course work in libraries were ordering library books and checking them out to students.

A concerted effort to place certified library media specialists in the district's thirteen elementary schools, two middle schools, and two high schools began in 1986 and was completed in 1990. At the same time, the classified employees previously assigned to the library media center were retained and inserviced to support the program to ensure that the certified library media specialists had time to perform the duties for which they had been trained.

In 1992, the district's certified library media specialists wrote the first library Media Guide which was adopted by the school board on March 16, 1993. In the guide, the media specialists wrote, "Effective library media programs are designed to help students find, use, and apply information which enables them to function successfully in the school program and to fulfill lifelong learning needs and reading enjoyment." They went on to say, "A library information skills curriculum is not simply a course of study to be covered at one specific time in the K-12 curriculum. It is a set of clearly defined locational, inquiry and investigation, reporting, literature appreciation, and reading guidance skills, initiated with the student's first introduction to the library media center and continued consistently through a sequential plan kindergarten through twelfth grade." Regarding the relationship of the media specialist and the classroom teacher, the guide stated, "The teaching of library information skills should be a cooperative effort between the library media specialist and the classroom teacher."

In 1995, patrons of Medford School District approved a bond issue to construct Abraham Lincoln Elementary School and totally renovate the two middle schools. This also included the design and development of model library media centers and adjacent computer labs in the three schools. Additionally, the bond issue contained funds to remodel, expand, or build contemporary library media centers and computer labs at all other district schools.

Throughout the development of library media centers, programs, and selection of library media specialists, Medford School District relied heavily on research and literature that define roles and responsibilities for each. The sources and valuable information are listed below:

Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning, the American Association of School Libraries and Association for Educational Communications and Technology,1998.

• The mission of the library media program is to ensure that students and staff are effective users of ideas and information.
• The goals of today's library media program point to the development of a community of learners that is centered on the student and sustained by a creative, energetic library media program. These goals include:

1. To provide intellectual access to information through learning activities.
2. To provide physical access to information through a carefully selected and systematically organized local collection of diverse learning resources.
3. To provide learning experiences that encourage students and others to become discriminating consumers and skilled creators of information.
4. To provide leadership, collaboration, and assistance to teachers.
5. To provide resources and activities that contribute to lifelong learning.
6. To provide a program that functions as the information center of the school.
7. To provide resources and activities for learning that represent a diversity of experiences, opinions, and social and cultural perspectives.

• We must teach students to be learners because in their lifetimes so much new knowledge will be generated that they cannot expect to stop learning when they leave school.
• The responsibility of the library media specialist falls in four categories.

1. As teacher, the library media specialist collaborates with students and other members of the learning community.
2. As instructional partner, the library media specialist joins with teachers and others to identify links across student information needs, curricular content, learning outcomes, and a wide variety of print, nonprint, and electronic information resources.
3. As information specialists, the library media specialist provides leadership and expertise in acquiring and evaluating information resources.
4. As program administrator, the library media specialist works collaboratively with members of the learning community to define the policies of the library media program and to guide and direct all the activities related to it.

• The library media specialist takes a proactive role in promoting the use of technology by staff, in determining staff development needs, in facilitating staff learning explorations, and by serving as a leader in staff development activities.

Good Schools Have School Libraries; Oregon School Libraries Collaborate to Improve Academic Achievement, Keith Curry Lance, Marcia J. Rodney, and Christine Hamilton - Pennel, 2001.

• A strong library media program is one that is adequately staffed; stocked and funded; whose staff are actively involved leaders in their school's teaching and learning; whose staff have collegial, collaborative relationships with classroom teachers; and that embraces networked information technology.

National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: Library Media Standards, (for teachers of students ages 3-18+), 2001.

• Accomplished library media specialists:

1. Have knowledge of learning styles and human growth and development.
2. Know the principles of teaching and learning that contribute to the active learning environment.
3. Know the principles of library and information studies needed to create effective, integrated library media programs.
4. Integrate information literacy through collaboration, planning, implementation, and assessment of learning.
5. Lead in providing equitable access to an effective use of technologies and innovations.
6. Plan, develop, implement, manage, and evaluate library media programs to ensure that students and staff use ideas and information effectively.
7. Engage in reflective practice to increase their effectiveness.
8. Model a strong commitment to lifelong learning and to their profession.
9. Uphold professional ethics and promote equity and diversity.
10. Advocate for the library media program, involving the greater community.

School districts in Oregon are very fortunate to have organizations that provide direction and support for library media programs. At the forefront is the Oregon Educational Media Association. OEMA is Oregon's statewide association whose missions are to provide leadership to pursue excellence in school library media programs by:

• Advocating information literacy for all students.
• Supporting reading instruction and enjoyment of literature.
• Supporting the high levels of library media services in schools.
• Strengthening member professionalism through communications and educational opportunities.
• Promoting visibility in education, government and the community.

OMEA publishes a journal entitled Interchange three times each year providing information on topics related to library media.

There are several other state educational organizations supporting technology and library media that are used extensively in Medford School District. They are:

• Oregon School Library Information System (OSLIS) The mission of OSLIS is to help all K-12 students achieve Oregon's high standards including information literacy skills by creating, evaluating, and providing cost effective, curriculum based online information resources and by providing for classroom teachers, media specialists, and assistants the training needed to apply these resources in teaching and learning.
• Oregon Public Education Network (OPEN) The mission of OPEN is to enable all of Oregon's K-12 schools to participate in a coordinated information network; and to establish ongoing web-based curriculum development and professional development resources for teaching and learning through the OPEN web site.
• Oregon Educational Technology Consortium (OETC) OETC is dedicated to maximizing the value of educational technology to its members by working with software and hardware vendors to procure the most effective and appropriate technological resources at the lowest possible prices.
• Oregon Department of Education (ODE) Through the efforts of ODE, state assessment tests which determine how students are progressing on state standards are administered by elementary library media specialists online through Technology Enhanced State Assessment (TESA).
• Oregon State Library The Oregon State Library, under the direction of state librarian, Jim Scheppke, supports media programs by providing resources, information, and leadership.

What are the results of having such well defined library programs and certified library media specialists? Students read more. During the 2001-02 school year, the library book circulation at Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, with a population of 600 students, was 46,054. Students learn more. A statewide research report entitled Good Schools Have School Libraries: Oregon School Librarians Collaborate to Improve Academic Achievement, shows that school library media programs in Oregon schools exert a positive and statistically significant impact on student achievement. The conclusions of this study, which was commissioned by the Oregon Educational Media Association, are substantiated by assessment results and SAT test scores for students in Medford School District. With access to model library programs and certified media specialists, students in Medford Schools exceed state standards for reading proficiency in all grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. Furthermore, when student performance was reported by the Oregon Department of Education, four of the 18 schools were rated "exceptional," ten were marked "strong" and four "satisfactory." Finally, Oregon has ranked either first or second in the nation for several years in the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) for graduating seniors for those states who test greater than 50% of their graduates. In comparison with national and state scores, Medford School District's graduating seniors exceed both the state and national averages.

Medford School District's library media centers are beautiful, vibrant places of learning. Students enter the areas with excitement and enthusiasm. While each elementary class has an hour per week of library instruction and computer lab experience, libraries in every school are open throughout the day for students to use as they wish.

The center is a beehive of activity as the library specialist teaches a lesson, reads a book, introduces a guest author who has come to speak, or helps students in research projects. Twice a year the elementary library media specialist can be found in the computer lab administering the electronic version of the state assessment tests, TESA. The assistant is either helping students in the media center or teaching a computer class in the lab next door.

Parents and community members are shelving books and performing other duties which frees up the specialist to do what he/she is trained to do best.

In one area of the media center is a bank of computers where students are taking Accelerated Reader tests after having read a library book. Sixth graders, at a nearby table, do research on their Autonomous Learner project in anticipation of the "Nights of the Notables," a program where students present a historical figure to their classmates.

Sitting on the soft couches and chairs in the reading area are students who have chosen their books and simply want some reading time. In another area of the media center, teachers look over materials in preparation for teaching their classes.

The library media centers are truly the "hub" of the school. It is the one place in school where all students go at some time and the "welcome mat" is always out.

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Madame First Lady, honored guests:

I'm delighted to be here to help celebrate the launch of the Laura Bush Foundation, which is dedicated to a cause that could not be more important or timely: helping school libraries become full partners in promoting the love of reading and learning among all children.

Your leadership has given all of us considerable cause for optimism that school libraries will at last reach their rightful place in the national education firmament. For that alone we are grateful.

I'd like to address the Wallace Funds' experiences working with school libraries and the lessons we've learned over the last decade from our initiative called Library Power. Specifically,

• How school libraries can support national education goals, particularly in meeting the bold challenges outlined in this administration's historic No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
• Current threats to Library reform.
• And finally, how foundations can help support reform.

In 1988, before libraries had Internet access, and even before librarians were called "media specialists," the Wallace Funds began Library Power. Our goal was to work with a select number of schools to reverse years of neglect of libraries. We wanted to help school libraries become full partners in improving teaching and learning. We sought to discover how to transform libraries into educational centers that could work much more closely and effectively with teachers and the classroom curriculum to help all students succeed.

When we began our work, school libraries were in terrible condition. Chronic budget crises of the 1970s in New York City and elsewhere had left a legacy of libraries that were dark, unfriendly, and unstaffed where they existed at all. As you might imagine, the worst conditions were in schools in high-need communities. I visited some of these schools.

In some, library books were scattered among classrooms because schools could no longer afford to keep their library spaces open. Books were few in number, old and falling apart. Encyclopedias in some libraries were so shockingly out of date that Eisenhower's election was treated as a current event. Remember, this was 1988. We had put men on the moon nearly 20 years earlier - but these children couldn't read about it in their school library. Libraries were disconnected from the life and learning of classrooms. And where libraries existed at all, students seldom spent more than an hour a week in them. School librarians themselves were often expected to be little more than babysitters left in charge when the classroom teacher dropped students off.

A dozen years later, Library Power has taught us that these conditions CAN be changed.

In the 700 schools and 19 communities where the Wallace Funds invested directly, Library Power has helped renovate library space, purchase new books, map library resources to the goals of the classroom curriculum, and create professional development opportunities and tools for teachers and librarians. Libraries became warm, welcoming spaces, with up-to-date material that connected and reinforced the lessons students were learning in their classrooms. The libraries were open before and after school and operated on flexible schedules during school hours so students could come in to check out a book or look up an important fact for an assignment without waiting for their regularly-scheduled class time.

Library Power demonstrated that school libraries can be a positive influence on curriculum, instruction, and professional development.

When teachers and librarians work and plan together, they both can establish shared goals for student learning. Together they can analyze curriculum, identify weaknesses, and develop interdisciplinary lessons that enrich the subject matter. This is a sea change in many schools. As one school leader reported: "Before, the school librarians were the weakest link…Now we see them at the front end of the curriculum." We've also learned that leadership is critical to successful school library reform. Within schools, principals must ensure that teachers and librarians have time to meet with one another and can hold them directly accountable for that collaboration. Outside of school, community organizations, parents and residents must also support these new practices.

Another important lesson: compatible policies matter. Local, state, and national policies affect what schools value and prioritize. That's why it is so important that the No Child Left Behind Act calls attention to school libraries. The Act provides federal dollars to help schools provide up-to-date school library materials, technology that can help to develop the information retrieval and critical thinking skills of students, professional development for school library media specialists, activities that foster increased collaboration between school librarians, teachers and administrators, and access to school libraries during non-school hours.

We know that this combination of factors work, because they are similar to the elements of the Library Power program. A key finding of the evaluation conducted by the University of Wisconsin was that changes fostered by Library Power helped schools engage students in rich learning. Using updated library materials, many teachers expanded the curriculum to include assignments that focused students on using reading, research, and critical information skills. For example, in one school library sixth graders studying the Civil War used books, CD ROMs and the Internet to analyze and interpret information, develop timelines, graph casualties, write poems, and present dramatic readings based on historical events.

Finally, we know that school libraries need not be just for students. At School 15 in Paterson, NJ, parents and teachers are deeply involved in the library. Students use it for school projects. Teachers discuss lesson plans with librarians. Parents use its Internet connections to research topics of personal and professional interest. As one Paterson librarian told us: "Everyone likes the library. It occupies a special place in the life of the school - and the whole community, too."

In short, Library Power enabled schools to strengthen instruction, teach students how to effectively research and analyze information, and create connections between teachers and librarians committed to delivering high quality education. All for an average annual cost of $17 a student. And that includes the program's start-up costs. Librarians suggested that with efficient use of school personnel and resources, the cost could be half, or less than $9 per student.

We thought that all of this was timely a decade ago. If anything, it's more urgent today. The lessons of Library Power demonstrate that school library reform can provide all districts with important support in meeting the goal of leaving no child behind. Yet the longstanding threats to school library reform never seem far off. There are still far too many who do not see that school libraries are places where students get excited about learning, where they learn to dig deeper into their subjects and where they find that knowledge is without limits. Because of that, too many continue to see school libraries as "frills," not as vital resources that are critical to success in schools. So it is important to continue to build on the powerful lessons from Library Power. And that's where foundations can play an important part.

When we think about creating positive national change, the role of foundations, especially large, national ones, is not just about money. While Library Power had directly benefited some 700 school libraries over the last decade, there are thousands more we haven't touched. No foundation initiative by itself can carry the load of national reform. What we CAN do, when we are successful, is provide practical lessons on the ideas we've tested so that others can decide their value and whether they are worthy of emulation. That's why we were so delighted when the American Library Association adopted Library Power as a model for school libraries, endorsing the belief that school libraries are full partners with teachers in deepening understanding and providing pathways to learning that classrooms alone can't offer.

We've come a long way since 1988, but there's still a long way to go. The galvanizing effect of the establishment of the Laura Bush Foundation and your personal commitment to the issue, Madame First Lady, will increase the momentum toward making all school libraries powerful and creative places of learning - places filled with children digging into books on dinosaurs, with students looking up Civil War poetry, and with young and old alike developing an appetite for learning that stays with them for life.