Implementing Collaboration through Flexible Access

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Implementing Collaboration through Flexible
Access

• Gerry Solomon
• NCDPI

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Activity
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Learning for the 21st Century

• www.21stcenturyskills.org

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Information and Communication Skills

• Information and Media Literacy
• Communication Skills

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Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills

• Critical thinking and systems thinking
• Problem identification, formulation, and solution
• Creativity and intellectual curiosity

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Interpersonal and Self-Directional Skills

• Interpersonal and collaborative skills
• Self-direction
• Accountability and adaptability
• Social responsibility

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State Board of Education

• "The guiding mission of the North Carolina State
  Board of Education is that every public school
  student will graduate from high school, globally
  competitive for work and postsecondary education
  and prepared for life in the 21st century."

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SBE Redefined Goals

• NC public schools will produce globally
  competitive students.
• NC public schools will be led by 21st century
  professionals.
• NC public school students will be healthy and
  responsible.
• Leadership will guide innovation in NC public
  schools.
• Goal NC public schools will be governed and
  supported by 21st century systems.

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How Can these Skills Be Taught Effectively?
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Flexible scheduling was found to be an essential
ingredient facilitating collaborative
partnerships between teachers and
teacher-librarians. The principals expectations
for team planning among teachers was a key
ingredient for encouraging involvement of
teacher-librarians. Grade planning meetings
involving the teacher-librarian allowed for the
integration of content areas in a holistic way,
and could help shape a whole school commitment to
information literacy. Julie Tallman. Curriculum
consultation Strengthening Activity through
Multiple-content Area Units. School Library
Media Quarterly. Fall, 1995
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The IMPACT Model
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What Is This Idea Called Flexible Access?
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Flexible Access

• Enables students and teachers to use the media
  center and computer lab throughout the day
• And to have the services of the media coordinator
  and technology facilitator at point of need.

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What are the barriers?
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Addressing Teacher Release Time

• Extra classes for resource teachers
• Increasing class size to create an additional
  half-time/full-time resource position
• Classes come to media center to use centers/check
  out books (supervised by TA or media assistant)

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In a student-centered library media program,
learning needs to take precedence over class
schedules, school hours, student categorizations,
and other logistical concerns. Information
Power, 1998
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It is easier to put the puzzle pieces together if
you have the whole picture from the box
top. Dr. Milt Daugherty, Superintendent USD
444 - Little River, Kansas SRTTC April 2005
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What should it look like?
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Flexible access should

• Accommodate individual students at all times.
• Facilitate whole class and small group
  instruction.
• Include planning sessions, meetings, etc.
• Allow time for circulation, browsing, and
  research.
• Include time for special programs

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Why Is Flexible Access Better for Teaching and
Learning?
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Advantages of Flexible Access

• Enriches teaching and learning through the
  integration of information skills and technology
  skills with classroom instruction (just in time
  vs. just in case)
• Facilitates teaching The Balanced Curriculum

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What is a Balanced Curriculum?

• Includes Entire Standard Course of Study (SCS)
• Educates the Whole Child (BEP)
• Includes a Challenging and Common Curriculum
  (CCSSO)
• Is Based on Best Knowledge of How Children
  Develop and Learn (NASBE)

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What is a Balanced Curriculum?

• Prepares Students for Success in School and in
  Life (NCLB/NCDPI)
• Is Inclusive of All Subjects versus Only Those
  Subjects Tested (NCLRC)
• Promotes Brain Growth and Development through an
  Enriched Environment (Diamond Hopson)

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Advantages of Flexible Access

• Provides authentic, active learning experiences
  for 21st Century Learning skills
• Information and communication skills
• Thinking and problem solving skills
• Interpersonal and self-directional skills
• Learning for the 21st Century
• www. 21stcenturyskills.org

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21st Century Context for Learning

• Making content relevant to students lives
• Bringing the world into the classroom
• Taking students out into the world
• Creating opportunities for students to interact
  in authentic learning experiences

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Advantages of Flexible Access

• Increases access to resources
• Provides adequate time for the use of resources
• Facilitates collaborative planning between the
  SLMC and classroom teachers

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Who Came Up with This Idea Anyway?
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Look to the Research
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Library Research Service

• Impact Studies
• www.lrs.org/impact.asp

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What the Research Says

• Wherever possible, schools should adopt policies
  of flexibly scheduled access to the LMC.
  Available evidence indicates that LMCs that are
  reasonably accessible to students contribute more
  to academic achievement.
• Proof of the Power A First Look at the Results
  of the Colorado StudyAnd More! Fast Facts No.
  165, November, 1999

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Predictors of Academic Achievement Alaska Study

• Time spent by librarians delivering information
  literacy instruction to students
• Time spent by librarians planning cooperatively
  with teachers

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What the Research Says

• Elementary school students with the most
  collaborative teacher librarians scored 20
  higher on the Colorado Student Assessment Program
  (CSAP) for reading than students with the least
  collaborative teacher librarians.
• Lance, 2000

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Elementary schools with more flexibly scheduled
libraries performed 10 percent better in reading
and 11 percent better in writing on the ISAT
tests of fifth-graders than schools with less
flexibly scheduled libraries.
Powerful Libraries Make Powerful Learners The
Illinois Study. Illinois School Library Media
Association, 2005. http//www.islma.org/pdf/ILStud
y2.pdf
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Where high school libraries are more flexibly
scheduled, more than six percent more
eleventh-graders met or exceeded PSAE reading
standards than their counterparts with less
flexibly scheduled libraries. High schools with
more flexibly scheduled libraries also had five
percent higher ACT scores than schools with less
flexibly scheduled libraries.
Powerful Libraries Make Powerful Learners The
Illinois Study. Illinois School Library Media
Association, 2005. http//www.islma.org/pdf/ILStud
y2.pdf
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The wider spectrum of activities involved in true
collaboration between school librarians and
classroom teachers demonstrates an impact at the
high school level, particularly through the links
between those activities and eleventh-grade ACT
scores. When library staff spends more time on
these activities, ACT scores increase an average
of three to four percent over the scores for
schools with less collaborative library staff.
Powerful Libraries Make Powerful Learners The
Illinois Study. Illinois School Library Media
Association, 2005. http//www.islma.org/pdf/ILStud
y2.pdf
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School Libraries Work!Scholastic Library
Publishing

• http//librarypublishing.scholastic.com

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What the Research Says

• At elementary schools with the highest Michigan
  Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) reading
  scores, teachers and students are 4 times as
  likely to be able to visit the library on a
  flexibly scheduled basis, compared to their
  counterparts at the lowest scoring schools.
• Rodney, Lance, and Hamilton-Pennell, 2003

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Revitalizing High School Libraries (RHSL)

• Update and refurbished 4 HS media centers
  (Minneapolis, Tampa, San Francisco)
• Survey administered to over 600 students
  regarding reading habits
• Extended hours of operation and more flexible
  access provided to the media centers

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RHSL Students Read More

• Findings from a survey in late 2005 suggest
  that students in RHSL sites are reading more for
  fun as well as classtalking more about books and
  reading with family and friends. These behaviors
  are strongly associated with higher reading and
  academic achievement.
• Adolescents Read. Public Education Network,
  Issue 2, January 2006

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National Standards and State Guidelines
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Flexible, equitable, and far-reaching access to
the library media program is essential to the
development of a vibrant, active learning
community. Information Power, 1998
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NBPTS

• Library media specialists will show their ability
  to collaborate with others in the instructional
  community to create, plan, and implement learning
  experiences and assess student learning, using a
  variety of resources.

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School library media coordinators and technology
facilitators play a vital role in todays schools
by providing flexible access to relevant
resources and flexible instruction based on
collaborative planning.

• IMPACT Guidelines for Media and Technology
  Programs, 2005

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The Media Coordinator and Collaboration
http//video.dpi.state.nc.us/eforums/impact_videos
/
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Getting Started Role of the Administrator

• To be an advocate This is what is best for
  students.
• Removing the SLMC from the release time schedule

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Role of the Administrator

• Communicating the expectation that collaboration
  will occur on a regular basis
• Provision of grade-level/subject area team
  planning times

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• At the heart of professional learning
  communities is a commitment to having all
  teachers meet regularly with their colleagues
• to determine, in common, the essential standards
  they will teach in each course
• to prepare lessons and units together, assess
  their impact on student learning, and refine
  their instruction...

Schmoker, Mike. The New Fundamentals of
Leadership. SEDL Letter, Southwest Educational
Development Laboratory,Vol. XVII, No. 2, December
2005.
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Providing Planning Time

• Archer School Model Using teacher assistants
• Staff Development Funds for Substitutes

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Getting Started Enlisting Teacher Support

• Emphasizing advantages
• Greater curriculum integration
• Increased instructional support
• Opportunities for small group instruction and
  differentiated learning

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When a teacher is willing to move a learning
experience from the classroom to the media
center, good things happen There are now two
teachers instead of one, an information-rich and
technology-rich environment is available, and
each learner can expect twice as much
professional support.

• Champlin, Connie and Loertscher, David.
• Reinvent Your Schools Library and Watch
  Academic Achievement Increase
• Principal Leadership, March 2003

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Enlisting Teacher Support contd

• Brainstorming with the MTAC, SIT, team leaders,
  or department chairs
• Starting slowly with willing teachers or teams

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Interim Variations of Flex Access

• Fixed schedule for kindergarten ( possibly gr.
  1) - gradually phased out during the year
• Scheduled primary classes in morning (or on
  certain days) flex access for grs. 3-5 at other
  times
• Fixed time for each class to check out/read on
  their own flex access for instruction
• Jan Buchanan. Flexible Access Library
  Media Programs, 1991.

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Getting Started Role of the Media Coordinator

• Building relationships and trust with teachers
• Being proactive, What are you doing right now,
  and how can I help?
• Providing specific suggestions for
  literature/research activities

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Stage One of Flexible Access and Collaboration

• Provision of resources to support classroom
  instruction
• Informal planning
• (Combination of fixed/flex access)

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Stage Two of Flexible Access and Collaboration

• Media center activities developed independently
  to support classroom instruction
• Informal planning
• (No fixed times for instruction)

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Stage Three of Flexible Access and Collaboration

• Lessons/units collaboratively planned,
  implemented, and evaluated
• (Co-teaching)

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Developing Integrated Units

• Target the unit (teacher)
• Brainstorm objectives (collaborative)
• Refine the activities (collaborative)
• Assign responsibilities for instruction
• Schedule media center time
• Present the unit (collaborative)
• Evaluate the unit (collaborative)
• Dobrot, Nancy and Rosemary McCawley. Beyond
  Flexible Scheduling, 1992.

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Additional Strategies for Collaboration

• Curriculum mapping/pacing guides
• Collaborative Planning Forms
• Collaboration Toolkit (data driven)
• School-wide student research process
• Project-based learning activities

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Project-Based Learning Focuses On

• In-depth exploration of topic
• Presentations
• Peer assessments

• Realistic challenge or puzzle to resolve
• Authentic tasks
• Student responsibility/teamwork

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What Does It Look Like?
Leesville Road Middle School Wake County, NC
http//www.ncpublicschools.org/distancelearning/st
arschools/bestpractices.html
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What Does It Look Like?

• Edutopia Stories for Learning in the Digital Age
• The George Lucas Educational Foundation
• www.edutopia.org

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Challenges related to Flexible Access and
Collaboration

• Overcoming reluctance to change
• Finding time for substantive collaborative
  planning
• Helping teachers understand collaborative
  planning

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Change Is Evolutionary and Takes Time.
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Its all about CHANGE!

• A PROCESS, not an event
• Made by individuals first, then organizations
• Highly PERSONAL experience
• DEVELOPMENTAL growth in feelings and skills
• CBAM The Concerns-Based Adoption Model A
  Synthesis of the Process of Change

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Implementation of flex access takes time - three
to five years is realistic.
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QuestionsGerry Solomon 919/807-3286gsolomon_at_d
pi.state.nc.us

• In compliance with federal law, including the
  provisions of Title IX of the Education
  Amendments of 1972, N C Public Schools
  administers all state-operated educational
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  without discrimination because of race, religion,
  national or ethnic origin, color, age, military
  service, disability, or gender, except where
  exemption is appropriate and allowed by law.
• Inquiries or complaints should be directed to
• Dr. Elsie C. Leak, Associate Superintendent
• Office of Curriculum and School Reform Services
• 6307 Mail Service Center
• Raleigh, NC 27699-6307
• Telephone [phone] fax [phone]
• gender, except where exemption is appropriate and
  allowed by law.