Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Same blog, new graduate class

Borrowed the title from my nephew's blog The Brown Cow where he is narrating his second experience with going to school in Germany and titled his first post, "same blog, different year."
I started this blog for a graduate class several years ago, and have kept it up only sporadically since then, but now am required to blog once again.
Information literacy instruction, the role of librarians in the school system, and relevant research and tools remain my professional interests.
These have been eclipsed since February of this year by the political events in Wisconsin, though I don't know how much I should say about what I think about politics and education reform.  Continued warnings by both school officials and my union on the dangers of publishing on social media has created a chilling effect  in terms of what I feel comfortable discussing. 
Let's begin with the impact school libraries have on student learning.  The key study is the Colorado Study, first done  in 1993, and repeated both in Colorado and in many other states.  The most important finding was that, in schools that had a FULL TIME, CERTIFIED School Librarian who was seen as a teacher and actively involved in teaching, the students showed an increase in test scores, especially in reading and literacy.  Since that study, and the implementation of the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, which is supposed to be research based, we've seen a steady decline in the number of librarians in our schools.  I find it frustrating, but will be looking for more research and posting some of what I find here.


Fortune Cookie

Information is not knowledge.
Knowledge is not wisdom.
Wisdom is not truth.
Truth is not beauty.
Beauty is not love.
Love is not music.
Music is the best.
Frank Zappa