Feeling Pressure for Your Students to Perform? Hire a Librarian.
If there’s one word to describe the current state of public education in the United States, it’s: pressure.
Pressure to perform well on standardized tests, academic rankings, athletics and much more.
This pressure, while keenly felt in the school building, comes from state legislatures, state boards of education, elected school boards, universities, education-related organizations parent organizations, etc.
Pressure puts stress on existing practices and institutions. It creates space for new, good ideas, but, it can also crush healthy practices and programs.
Reacting to pressure to perform with limited resources, many public and independent schools have taken the librarian out of the school. The number of in-school librarians has declined nearly 20% since 2000. That’s about 10,000 full-time school librarians.*1
Most of the drop-off came during the Great Recession in 2008-2009. During this time, other roles in education also suffered; counselors, administrators and even maintenance staff. The real trouble is that while the Great Recession is behind us, the librarian is still missing from many schools.
With dollars for education growing with a thriving economy, it’s time to put librarians back in the school. Here’s why:
Stronger Test Performance
Students who attend schools with certified teacher-librarians perform better on standardized tests and are more likely to graduate. Why is this the case?
Teacher-librarians are far more likely to be directly involved in teaching curriculum-designed Common Core standards. Bringing a building full of students to Common Core standards requires a high level of cooperation among staff. When a librarian is engaged, efforts in the classroom are amplified and students benefit.*2
Education Technology
Information technology can make an important difference in student achievement. However, tech is only as useful as its application. The modern role of librarian is synonymous with technology. Librarians are key in making technology come to life in a building. Classroom teacher are busy and may not have time to explore and roll out new tech that can benefit students.
The wonderful technology that is available to students and teachers today needs expert training and deployment–in the building. As tech is integrated, students are exposed to a resource that adds a new, and adaptive, aspect to learning.
Teacher-Librarians are the best resource a school community has for leading students and families in new teaching technologies. They raise the level of sophistication in the building and can bring even reluctant educators to comfortably use tech to enhance their efforts.*3
Cultures of Reading and Achievement
The most telling metric for student achievement is reading proficiency. The most important catalyst for building reading skills within a student body is a librarian. Librarians are key in developing and deploying quality reading programs, helping families build a cultures of reading at home.
When a librarian is empowered to partner with teachers to help build reading habits, work with families and manage reading programs, the result can change the entire achievement culture of a school community. Active librarians can practically eliminate the notorious summer slide, build cultures of reading within families and build confidence in learning.
While there may not be a hard metric for affecting a school culture, the overall affect of developing a culture of achievement and reading creates positive impacts in every other area of the school.
The Right Librarian
Having a librarian is good. However, having the right librarian is vital. Administrators need to work diligently to hire and train librarians who understand their expanded role in learning. Today’s librarians do their best work outside of the circulation desk.
It’s important to find and hire librarians who have a certification in Library Science or similar degree. These certifications indicate specialized knowledge and skills in technology and teaching.
Library science and learning technology is moving fast and is very exciting. A librarian who is tasked with leading the charge in identifying and deploying technology and techniques that will help schools reach lofty goals and deal with the. . pressure.
References
- School Library Journal, School Librarian, Where Art Thou by Keith Curry https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=school-librarian-art-thou
- Johnston, M.P. (2015). Blurred lines: The school librarian and the instructional technology specialist. TechTrends, 59 (3), 17–26.
- 3. Lance, K.C. & Kachel, D.E. (2018). Why school librarians matter: What years of research tell usPhi Delta Kappan 99 (7), 15-20.