Southwest School will produce motivated productive students

“Southwest School will produce motivated, productive students with high self-esteem, capable of developing into literate skilled citizens. This will be accomplished by providing an enthusiastic staff dedicated to teaching a clearly defined, integrated curriculum rich in life skills in a safe and orderly manner (Lexington City Schools, 2009, mission). This is Southwest School’s mission statement and therefore the media coordinator must keep this statement in mind in order to produce high achieving students within the school environment. In order to follow through with this mission statement the media center needs to ensure that funding is continued and that no cuts are made. It is also necessary that the media coordinator position not be eliminate even though budget cuts may be forthcoming. This presentation will demonstrate how the media coordinator is a crucial factor to the success of the school. The slides will present the job that is done, assessments that take place and the funding that is required to sustain a successful media program.

Students need human interaction and need to be taught how to use resources and function in today’s society. This cannot be completed with just a set of services. A media coordinators main goal is to obtain a position in which a media program can be effectively managed and administered so that it will produce students that have higher order thinking skills, perform well academically, and become productive citizens within their community. In order to complete this goal an individual must first obtain their master’s degree and then their North Carolina Media Coordinator's licensure. Along with these a media coordinator must also possess other skills and also be provided with the opportunities for professional development. The chart below shows the skills that a beginning media coordinator must have and where to obtain the knowledge. Skills Administration/Leadership courses Resources Administration textbooks Leaderships textbooks NC Wise Training Budgeting class Inventory procedure Software training for circulation, cataloging Copyright information Collection development course Bookstore Selection of materials Experience Follett Software Textbooks, magazines North Carolina Impact book Textbooks, periodicals, journals, book lists Internship Organizations North Carolina Department of Instruction ECU Workshops East Carolina School System Current Media Coordinator Follett ALA North Carolina Department of Instruction ECU Magazines Subscriptions Other media coordinators ECU

Not only must a media coordinator have the knowledge of what was shown previously, but they also must know what their job description includes. Media coordinators are assessed based on the state rubric in North Carolina and the principal or supervisor is in charge of the evaluations. Media coordinators in North Carolina are on a ten month pay salary schedule and are expected to coordinate and direct the activities of school library media support personnel including library media assistants, technical assistants, student assistants, and/or volunteers. They are also expected to provide resources and leadership that will allow for the implementation of a school library media program.

There are many responsibilities of a media coordinator and they include: Assess the needs of students and staff. Work collaboratively with teachers to address curricular needs. Work with principal and leadership team to provide flexible access. Instruct students and staff in the use of media center and resources. Incorporate information literacy into daily instruction Promote reading and life long learning. Collaborate with instruction technology facilitator to provide instructional technology. Have a professional development plan. Help make decisions about school budget decisions. Make decisions about the media program with the help of other staff members. Effectively interact with students, staff, administration, parent and community. Prepares and presents reports. Adheres to laws, policies, rules, and regulations. Create an environment that is conducive to learning. Encourages the use of all materials. Works with other libraries to enhance teaching and learning. Adheres to copyright laws and guidelines for all resources. Advocate intellectual freedom. Implement a plan with the staff that sets short and long term goals for the media program. Develop and implement an ongoing collection development policy that is developed collaboratively with teachers and administration that meets diverse learning needs. Maintains a collection addressing curricular needs and learning goals. Evaluates the school library media program on a continual basis according to accepted standards of quality. Carry out non-instructional duties.

All of these responsibilities must be taken on with the knowledge that all of these responsibilities are to help the schools reach its highest potential. “In an uncertain and rapidly changing world, I’d think we’d want and need more options, more possibilities, and more experimentation in education, not less. Not in an unfettered or aimless way, natural, but taking advantage of the breadth of experience and perspectives of our schools and faculties-the sort of things our filed has always drawn on to advance and grow” ( Janes, 2006, p. 88). In order to have more possibilities and more success the media center needs to remain a place of open circulation with a media coordinator in place at the building. The building and set up of the media center are essential and the building feels welcoming and open.

The media centers layout is open and therefore make students and parents feel like they are welcome in the building. The media center is a place of activity and is set up with different areas. The layout is developed by the media coordinator and the media coordinator also has other areas that they need to be involved. As you enter the school you immediately see the media center. Students immediately see the desk to place books for check-in. They also have to walk past the desk with shelf markers. When students are finished the check out their own books. This is a small group area where classes can be held with a tree house for students to read and enjoy a book. The easy fiction area is located to the right. Student reading area with magazines. Tables located in the back for classes Computer area is set off to the side of the tables.

In addition to making the media center welcoming, a successful librarian in today’s school the librarians must be willing to collaborate with all staff. Librarians must also know the curriculum that is being taught to the students and must be willing to do research to find the proper and appropriate materials. Librarians must work with administrators and convince them that the media center is an integral part in the education process. In order to do this librarians must be able to research and present information that will allow administrators to see the proof that the library can improve student performance. Librarians must work closely with the building level teams and be involved in decisions that affect the school. Another part of a librarian’s administrative duty is to decide on a development collection plan and then follow through. In order to develop this plan a librarian must ask for input from all staff members and take inventory of what is already in place. Librarians must also look at all the school data that can be provided. Librarians must dissect all the test data that is given to them and determine what the school is lacking. The librarians then must make a decision of what materials will make the biggest difference to the school as a whole. Along with a collection development plan libraries need to have mission statements that they will follow. “Libraries will change, just as they have been changing for decades. Good libraries will maintain live missions statements-and the missions won’t change rapidly” (Crawford, 2009, p. 59). Having a plan and following through with those plans are one of the most important things that a librarian must do in their job. A plan must be made before making any moves and then it must be followed and not just thrown to the side.

The librarian also must be willing to allow open circulation and have media center classes. In an ideal world, the morning would be used to pull small groups for enrichment. These groups and plans would be made by working collaboratively with classroom teachers and doing lessons that incorporate what they are doing in their classroom. Then in the afternoon media classes would be held to teach the students the state library standards. In order to do this there must be sufficient staffing in the building. After looking at assessment data the media coordinator must convince administration to support their decisions and provide funding for the correct and appropriate materials. “I’ve always believed that the best ways to show that I’m doing a good job is to throw statistics at my administrators. My end of the year report was full of numbers: how many books were checked out, how many holds were placed, how many students came to the library form study hall, how many classes used the library. Of course I also included information about what happened in the library, the projects that students worked on, the teachers I collaborated with, and the special events that took place, but what I really counted on were the statistics, especially if I could show that we checked out more books this year than last, or we had more book this year than last, or we had more students use the library that in previous years. The bottom line is student achievement. ” (Geitgey, 2007, ¶ 7) Therefore, the latest assessment results about lexiles must be analyzed. Lexiles were implemented this past year upon central office’s request and these were the findings.

This assessment was done in order to determine if lexiles are the appropriate way to guide students. The media coordinator plays a crucial role in obtaining and analyzing the data. Classroom Teacher * Administer Scholastic Reading Inventory, Benchmark Book Levels, and Quarterly Reading Comprehension Assessments * Record observations on student reading habits Media Coordinator * Collect teacher/staff surveys • Collect lexile scores • Analyze Data Building Level Team * Analyze data Curriculum Director * Collect assessment scores, benchmark levels, teacher observations

Data was collected from all classes. The information below shows the comparison between two classes. In class A students were encouraged to read according to their lexile level and in class B students were told about lexiles and it was suggested that they read their level, but students were not monitored to make sure they were reading books at their level.

The results show that the class that was guided and monitored grew more and higher achievement. After the class results, a sample of students from class A were selected and these were the results of growth throughout the year.

It should also be noted that student three had the lowest reading comprehension score. Therefore we can make the correlation between these measurements. The data was as follows: **It should be noted the we only use benchmark book levels up to 31/32 and if they pass the third quarter comprehension assessment they do not take it fourth quarter. 1 2 3 4 5 6 BBL Comp. Sept. 08 11/12 50 25/26 95 29/30 90 19/20 85 31/32 95 31/32 100 Oct. 08 15/16 35 27/28 85 31/32 80 25/26 85 31/32 90 31/32 95 Jan. 09 17/18 52 29/30 92 31/32 76 27/28 84 31/32 100 31/32 96 May 09 19/20 60 31/32 N/A 29/30 N/A 31/32 N/A

Out of the six students all seemed to grow about the same amount, except for the students that the teacher observed as not wanting to read at their level. Here are the teacher observations: Student 2 -Self- motivated, reads her level, requires little supervision Student 3 -montiroed daily, reading books off his level daily, has to be reminded it is self-selected time every five minutes Student 4 -Came in below grade level, low self-esteem, needs guidance, but chooses books on her level and read constantly Student 5 -Self- motivated, reads her level, requires little supervision, reads constantly Student 1 - Tries very hard, read on her level, ESL Student 6 -Self- motivated, reads her level, requires little supervision All students benchmark book levels (BBL) and comprehension scores were at grade level, except student 1. Therefore the lexile did match the other assessments given as indicating the student was below grade level. However, it was noticed that the ESL students lexiles did not increase as rapidly or as much as the other students, if at all. For this reason the school needs to look at how to better address ESL students and other ways to measure their progress.

After looking at the results we need to determine how to reach our ESL students. Sometimes all of the assessments correlate, but at other times they do not. More research needs to be done to determine which measure will give the most accurate results in guiding the students reading. Benchmark Book Levels are done on one and Scholastic Reading Inventory is given by a computer, therefore we need to determine which is appropriate for the students at a primary level. The school needs a way to distinguish the beginning readers. Benchmarks do separate them, but after looking at the data lexiles do not give appropriate numbers for use to group the beginning readers. Teachers need to focus on more inference questions and vocabulary in order to increase student achievement and lexile levels. Communication between parents is essential and parents need to be notified what lexile means and what they can do at home to help. The media center needs to have an assistant. “A library at the basic level has at least one full -time librarian and one part-time person as support staff” (Glick, 1999, p. 45). Student achievement and lexile levels need to be observed once again this coming school year and analyzed. The targeted lexile for each grade level needs to be determined by the school district.

Books should be labeled with colors according to their lexile level and then colored dots can be placed on media center cards to guide students. Cease labeling books according to grade levels. Neon Red BR-99 Black – 100 -199 Red – 200 – 299 Neon Green – 300 -399 Neon Orange – 400 -499 Dark Blue- 500 -599 Light Blue- 600 -699 Green- 700 -700 Yellow- 800 -899 Orange – 900 - Students need to stop reading any book and read books at their level. The results do show that having students read according to their lexile level can be beneficial and therefore all books in the media center need to be relabeled according to the colors indicated on the previous slide. At the opening staff meeting the media coordinator needs to address the staff and discuss the results. Teachers need to be convinced to have their students read on their level and to update the dots on their cards quarterly. It may be suggested that at the end of each quarter the teacher may reward or make a ceremony of earning new dots, however it should be cautioned not to single our the ESL or EC students that may not move as quickly. For this reason teachers may want to hand out dots on an individual basis so that they can talk to the students and explain why or why they did not move. At this conference teachers could explain to the ones who have to be reminded daily to read their level that this is the reason they may not have a new dot.

A schedule for the Scholastic Reading Inventory at the end of each quarter needs to be developed. The teachers need to have a parent night to discuss these levels with parents. The author believes that the data demonstrates a correlation between reading levels and lexiling and therefore books should be lexiled and students should be directed to read books that are on their current lexile level. Students lexiles should be monitored and recalculated every quarter. If students level change at that time they will be given new level to read. The collection development plan will need to be redeveloped if lexiles are going to be used. The media center is lacking on the amount of beginning reader books and therefore the collection development plan would need to be developed to include beginning reader books. In order to follow through with guiding students to books on their level and keep them interested din reading funds are needed to build a thorough collection. To build a thorough collection there also needs to be a media coordinator that has knowledge of appropriate resources that will benefit the school. In order to find where funds go let’s now take a look at the school’s media center budget.

This is how much should be budgeted for the media coordinator position at this time: Monthly Salary X 10 months FICA 7. 65% Retirement 8. 14% Insurance 346. 38/month X 12 months Total 5, 781. 00 57, 810. 00 4, 422. 47 4, 705. 73 4, 157. 00 71, 095. 20 Along with money for the media coordinator position there also needs to be funding to keep the school in working condition and improving on meeting the twenty-first century goals. Here is the proposed budget to help address twentyfirst century learners.

School Costs Items Quantity Computers 4 Interactive Classrooms 1 Hardware Replacement N/A New Software Study Island Renewal 20 School license Hardware Repairs N/A Reading Counts Support N/A Follett Updates N/A RC Updates N/A Utilities N/A Internet N/A Printer Cartridges 14 Batteries 100 Photo Paper 10 Headphones (replacements) 100 Money Allotted 2, 800. 00 8, 000. 00 500. 00 1, 000. 00 0. 00 3, 000. 00 400. 00 150. 00 Accounts Central Office, e-rate, Instructional/Office equipment Central Office, e-rate, instructional/office equipment Instructional Supplies Paid for by Central Office Paid for by Central Office Materials and Supplies Parent Teacher Organization

Media Center – Books and materials Non-Fiction Books 60 at $27. 00 1, 620. 00 Parent Teacher Organization, Title I, fundraiser, Central Office, Instructional Supplies Easy fiction books 50 at $22. 00 1, 100. 00 Parent Teacher Organization, Title I, Central Office, Instructional Supplies, fundraiser Fiction (chapter) books 30 at $17. 00 510. 00 Parent Teacher Organization, Title I, Central Office, Instructional Supplies, fundraiser Big Books 10 at $20. 00 200. 00 Parent Teacher Organization, Title I, Central Office, Instructional Supplies Book Sets (sets of 6 books) 10 400. 00 Parent Teacher Organization, Title I, Central Office, Instructional Supplies Videos/DVDs 20 600. 00 Parent Teacher Organization, Title I, Central Office, Instructional Supplies Magazines (Professional and Student) 20 700. 00 Instructional Supplies

The media coordinator has to work cooperatively with all staff members along with administration in order to fulfill the needs of the school. The media coordinators form all schools meet monthly to discuss needs and concerns with school staff from central office. It is crucial that all of these individuals be involved on a regular basis in order to ensure that all the schools are on the same page and that the primary students that feed into one intermediate school all have received the same teaching. Curriculum Director Lexington City Schools Central Office Technology Director Lexington City Schools Central Office Southwest Primary Media Coordinator South Lexington Primary Media Coordinator Pickett Primary Media Coordinator Charles England Intermediate Media Coordinator Lexington Middle School Media Coordinator Lexington City High School Media Assistant

Furniture N/A Book Tape, Book Glues, lexile dots, N/A 0. 00 500. 00 Capital Outlay Materials and Supplies labels, label protectors, barcodes, cleaning materials, book jacket covers Containers for book sets Office supplies (paper clips, pencils, 10 N/A 100. 00 200. 00 Materials and Supplies Instructional Supplies glue, tape, construction paper, crayons, etc…) Teaching Tools (flannel Boards, N/A 200. 00 puppets, etc…) Staff Development Instructional Supplies, Parent Teacher Organization N/A 1, 000. 00 Staff Development The total for all materials for the school and media center is 23, 080. 00. This amount is crucial to the operating of an effective media center in the school setting. To determine how the budget is determined and where funding come from we now need to follow trail to the approval of funding.

Once the media coordinator has met with the district committee they then come back to the school with ideas or the needs that were discussed. They then meet with the technology committee. Media Coordinator Principal Kindergarten Representative First Grade Representative Second Grade Representative Third Grade Representative NCWise Coordinator After meeting with the committee final approval must come for the building level team and if approved the requests may then go to the parent teacher organization or the fund may be released. Principal Assistant Principal Media Coordinator/Resource Representative Curriculum director of Southwest Assistant representative Kindergarten Representative First Grade Representative Second Grade Representative Third Grade Representative Parent Representative

By following this structure the media center is made available to all students and staff members. Media Coordinators may run into obstacles completing tasks that need to be done within the school. These obstacles must be overcome in order to have a school that is functioning to the best of its ability and providing a top notch education to our twenty-firs century learners.

In order to implement a media program that enhances the school the media coordinator will encounter: Opposition from staff Inappropriate lexiles in the basal readers Student’s negative attitudes about testing Funding to buy appropriate leveled books that are geared towards the curriculum Funding to buy materials to label books Administrative indecision Failing technology Outdated technology Changing curriculum Technical issues (software and hardware) No time In today’s economy it may be hard to find the appropriate funding to fund changes that need to take place. “Times may be tough – and getting tougher- but we do have a whole new set of tools to help us do the job. So, let’s all roll our sleeves up. ” (Fiels, 2009, p. 8). There are many new ideas and changes in society and changes can be made as long as there is someone willing to take a risk and do the homework. Obstacles can be overcome if they are approached in the correct way and one of the most important steps in assessment is to keep everyone involved and informed about what is happening. “Finally, assessment is a continuous process. Change is constant, and evaluating library services must also be on-going. However, care must be taken that the user population can see changes as a result of their responses during the assessment process, so that library assessment efforts are seen as credible and worth their participation” (Estep, 2007, p. 12). If the people involved are informed and know what is happening and see the results as they develop they will be easier to convince that a change needs to be made for improvement.

Southwest has done well on the end of grade assessments for the past few years and in order for this to continue we need to make sure that the media center continues to be a place that students feel welcomed and that the media coordinator makes them excited to read. As this presentation shows Southwest has a strong media program in place and in order to keep this program function we need to ensure that funding continues to keep resources up to date and to keep students achievement up.

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