Dear Mr. Rouse,

Recently, I completed an assessment of our media center at Worth County Elementary School. I processed each statement and ranked our school as basic, proficient, or exemplary. Here are my findings:

I feel that our school does an excellent job of the following statements:

1. The library media center is a critical element in the school’s reading program. The library media program meets the needs of both the reading/language arts curriculum and recreational reading. I feel our school does a great job of this because the SLMS has extended her media program by incorporating the program “Reading Under the Stars”. This program was a success and other schools should also incorporate some kind of program that extends reading/language arts curriculum as well as recreational reading.

2. Our school also does a great job of staffing. A full-time Library Media Specialist is employed and is not shared at any other time with other areas in the school nor does he/she provide services outside the library media center. Adult supervision by certified personnel is available for the entire day. Some schools do not have the luxury of a full time media specialist who is not used somewhere else in the school. Our school is also fortunate to have a full time clerk who is not shared throughout our school for other purposes.

3. Our school also ranks highly with the amount of square footage it has for each student. Our minimum square footage must be 3375 square feet. Our media center boasts 4000+ square feet.

4. The school principal and district administrators take a leadership role in encouraging teachers to integrate library media resources into the curriculum, fostering a climate of collaboration and inquiry, encouraging the Library Media Specialist to be knowledgeable about current educational trends, promoting occasional visits to exemplary programs, and providing budgetary support. We are very fortunate that our administration encourages its teachers to use media resources into their curriculum and allow time to collaborate with each other and the SLMS.

I ranked the following statements at proficient:

1. Information literacy skills are integrated into the curriculum through the collaborative efforts of the Library Media Specialist and teachers. Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) and Common Core GPS (CCGPS) are used as a basis for teaching. The SLMS is very familiar with the CCGPS, but is not consistently used when integrating information literacy skills into the curriculum.

2. The Library Media Specialist encourages collaborative planning among teachers who are teaching units of similar content. The Library Media Specialist is familiar with the Georgia Standards.org website and the Common Core standards and encourages

teachers to use the resources available on GSO web page. The SLMS does a good job of encouraging collaborative planning among teachers when she meets with them, however, she does not meet on a routine basis.

3. The Library Media Specialist and teachers plan and teach collaboratively so that the library media program is an extension of classroom instruction. The SLMS only plans and teaches collaboratively with the classroom teach only when needed.

4. The library media staff selects resources and informs teachers of these resources with recommendations to support students’ diverse learning abilities and styles. The SLMS usually chooses resources. However, there is not a dedicated space to displaying these resources in the media center. There is a space for this and is presently being weeded to make a dedicated space.

5. Flexible scheduling and library media staff are available throughout the day to assist teachers and students regardless of ability or disability. The library media center is available either before or after school. The media center does not have any after-hours time allotted for parents to come browse the media center with their children.

6. Streaming video is used on a regular basis to support the curriculum. The school has several white boards located throughout the building and used on a frequent basis.

7. Electronic distribution system meets state requirements. The school does have several white boards located throughout the building, but a few are not used on a frequent basis.

8. Print and non-print resources, including subscription databases and other library media center resources are available online to multiple networked computers within the library media center only. A LAN (Local Area Network) is fully functional. Network services are delivered to all classrooms. The new SLMS is presently on working on updating the subscription databases.

9. The OPAC is electronically networked to several computers within the library media center. New acquisitions are added based on reliable review sources, state and national award books, and curriculum needs. Weeding is an ongoing process. A network distribution of resources beyond the library media center is not available. Although this is available, teachers do not use it.

10. The library media program budget exceeds the minimum state allocation. Local funding supplements state allocation. All money allocated for the media center will be spent accordingly.

11. Library Media Specialist seeks to enhance his/her professional skills, particularly technology skills, beyond those required for recertification or by the school district. Library Media Specialist provides occasional formal staff development instruction and informal instruction during collaborative planning with teachers. The school system makes staff development options available for library media support staff. The Library Media Specialist is knowledgeable of the district professional development services. Although the SLMS is allowed to enhance his/her professional skills, he/she is not allowed consistently with the planning of staff development or teacher workshops.

I rank these skills as basic for our school media center:

1. The classroom teacher is responsible for assessing student achievement. The SLMS and the classroom teacher do not collaborate for the assessment of student achievement. Instead, the School Improvement Specialist is.

2. Students will be given instruction in accessing GALILEO. The password will be provided in a timely manner. Students are not given any instructions on how to access GALILEO.

3. A system media contact person (SMCP) is appointed and communication from the SMCP is received and posted for all Library Media Specialists and staff. The media coordinator or curriculum coordinator may serve as the SMCP to facilitate communication to and from DOE. There is no SMCP appointed for our school system.

4. System and local school library media committees support implementation of the library media program. A media advisory committee exists and meets once or twice a year. (This committee may be the same as the technology committee in some local schools.) There are no media committees set up that support implementation of the library media program.

5. A written library media policy exists and is implemented and updated inconsistently. There is a written library media policy, however, it is not implemented or updated on a routine basis.

With these findings, I would like to pursue the following indicator to improve from proficient to exemplary.

2. Collaborative planning includes both the Library Media Specialists and teachers to ensure use of library media center resources that support on-going classroom instruction and implementation of state curriculum and the GPS and CCGPS.(

My action steps to improve this status are:

1. Meet with you to explain my goals and objectives by meeting and collaborating with teachers.

2. Meet with teachers routinely, to establish what area is needed.3. Make a plan with teachers to create lesson plans and activities that will meet the needs of

all diverse learners and students with disabilities. 4. Carry out the lesson plans.5. Reflect – both the classroom teacher and myself – on the lesson.6. Report back to you what improvements were made following common assessments.

With the above findings, I would like to pursue the following indicator to improve from basic to proficient:

6. Student achievement is routinely assessed. (A Planning Guide for Information Power; p. 36)

My action steps to improve this status are to:

1. Meet with School Improvement Specialist to view dates for assessments.2. Meet with teachers to hear them voice concerns/praises for the assessments.3. Research various designed tools for assessing student achievement. 4. Introduce them to teachers and give tutorials on how to use them.5. Collaborate with teachers and decide which tools would best fit their students.6. Incorporate the chosen tool to help with student assessment.

As you can see, I evaluated our school media center with the utmost respect. I feel that overall our media center does a great job of adhering to state and local guidelines. I also see room for improvement, and hope that I get a chance to do so.

Sincerely,

Crissy J. Turner