ACTION RESEARCH, EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION, AND YOUR LIBRARY PROGRAM Rebecca Marcum Parker Border Star Montessori Kansas City Public Schools

GRADE LEVELS: ALL STRANDS: LIBRARY MANAGEMENT, COLLABORATION, TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP OBJECTIVE:  Objective: Librarians/ teachers will be able to pinpoint and complete action research, be better equipped to communicate library program needs, and be able to communicate in a positive manner, including how your program supports Common Core.

GRADE LEVELS: ALL STRANDS: LIBRARY MANAGEMENT, COLLABORATION, TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP CONTENT:  Content: Library staffing and programs are losing traction in budget cuts, and data is crucial. Librarians are key to supporting Common Core, too, and many stakeholders don’t understand this. Evolving librarians can pinpoint areas of need in their programs, or examine an effective program that may be deleted, and create an action research project to demonstrate the need. Once that is completed, effectively and successfully (this worked for me!) communicating your program’s needs is paramount. We will discuss communicating with students, parents, peers, administrators, and stakeholders.

PINPOINT AND COMPLETE ACTION RESEARCH What are your program needs? I run a busy library program; Border Star Montessori, a Kansas City (MO) Public School.  Full time librarian (me) from the school year through the school year  Students were able to come to the library at any time during the contract day (and beyond)  5 days per week. 16 hours fixed and 19 hours flex  Students could come at any time, regardless of the time being fixed or flex  On average, students could also check out and work an additional 2.5 hours per week after the school day.  Member of KC-Library Services Program in 2012; students can request books from any LSP member library, including Kansas City Public library, Cass County Library, plus various universities and private schools; the world became our reading oyster!. For the school year I was assigned to Border Star three days per week. What are your program needs?

PINPOINT AND COMPLETE ACTION RESEARCH For the school year I was assigned to Border Star three days per week.  the average number of student library visits dropped over 25%  During the and school years, student visits during the last 20 minutes of the teacher contract day averaged 11 per day. During the school year, I was assigned dismissal duty and student visits during the last 20 minutes of the contract day were 0.  During the school year, the library was open three days per week; 16 hours fixed and, due to extra assigned duties, 6 hours flex, resulting in a loss of 68% of time students could work in the library without a scheduled class also working in the library.  Students were regularly upset and perplexed by this year’s schedule; many would run out of reading materials or need librarian help on Mondays and Tuesdays, but would have to wait until Wednesday. What are your program needs?

PINPOINT AND COMPLETE WHAT ARE YOUR PROGRAM NEEDS? ACTION RESEARCH Yikes!  Students were running out of reading material; only had library services Wednesdays- Fridays  Students couldn’t check out at the end of the contract day  Students couldn’t research, work, or read in the library 2 days per week  Parents couldn’t come by to ask questions about accounts or any other library-related questions Students needed:  More library time for research, work, and reading  More librarian-contact time  More days when they could select books and check out library books and hold books

BE BETTER EQUIPPED TO COMMUNICATE LIBRARY PROGRAM NEEDS American Federation of Teachers Teacher Leader Program!  Select teacher participants  Participants analyze education data, trends, and best practices  Cumulated in an action research project Action research to the rescue!

WHAT IS ACTION RESEARCH? Action research  wide variety of evaluative, investigative, and analytical research methods designed to diagnose problems or weaknesses  help educators develop practical solutions to address them quickly and efficiently.  Action research may also be applied to programs or educational techniques that educators want to learn more about and improve  General goal: create a simple, practical, repeatable process of iterative learning, evaluation, and improvement that leads to increasingly better results for schools, teachers, or programs. “Action research” was coined in the 1940s by Kurt Lewin, a German-American social psychologist who is widely considered to be the founder of his field. The basic principles of action research are still in use to this day.

ACTION RESEARCH STEPS:  Identify a problem to be studied  Collect data on the problem: TEST DATA IS KEY  Organize, analyze, and interpret the data  Evaluate the results of the data  Develop a plan to address the problem  Hopefully, implement the plan  Problem: do students need 5 days a week of library services?  Collected sign in information, gave students a validated survey to answer and analyzed MAP data contrasting years with limited library services and full library services  Organized data by entering it in Survey Monkey, analysis and interpretation  Plan: extend library services to 5 days per week  school year: 4 days a week of library services!

WHY WAS MY ACTION RESEARCH SUCCESSFUL?  Only talk about student needs, not librarian needs, librarian job, program needs  Tie all action research to test scores- all want higher test scores  Create positive relationships with school board members and BOE administrators and communicate results about action research results  Communicate outcome with students- my students felt very empowered when their surveys translated into more days of library services  Communicate successes with parents  Became member of MO Secretary of State’s Library Council

COMMUNICATE IN A POSITIVE MANNER, INCLUDING HOW YOUR PROGRAM SUPPORTS COMMON CORE. Communication keys:  Word as much as possible in a positive way “Library services increase test scores” instead of “I am upset that I am not at this library full-time”  State facts instead of opinions “Library visits decreased by 25%” instead of “Students complain that they can’t come to the library”  Focus on interested stakeholders- raving fans- instead of those who show disinterest  Utilize data that matters to your administrators and stakeholders Tied everything to MAP and reading testing, not circulation stats or student library visits  Keep students in the know about your research, and they will talk to their parents about it and what happens in your library students, parents, peers, administrators, and stakeholders.

RESULTS?  Positive feedback and further research from school board members  Department chair communicated interpreted needs to decision makers  For the school year, librarians were given an additional 4 planning times per week, resulting in more days libraries are open SUCCESS!!!!

ACTION RESEARCH  Students who check out 20 + books per month score:  MAP- 58% advanced  Reading- 68% above grade level  VS.  Students who check out 3-6 books per month score:  MAP- 31% advanced  Reading- 40% above grade level Do students benefit from extra library access and checking out multiple library books ?

SCHOOLS MUST HAVE GREAT LIBRARY SERVICES TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT TEACHING COMMON CORE STANDARDS  Common Core = depth, not breath- supplementary materials are key  Student with great library skills excel at examination in depth- able to complete research for in-depth study  library skills enhance literacy-  Research resources are crucial to examining topics in depth  School have to have library services in order to succeed with Common Core; let your staff know how you can help them!  Libraries must be open and staffed with librarians to assist students in fully utilizing library resources

QUESTIONS? REBECCA PARKER “OUR LIBRARY SMELLS LIKE KNOWLEDGE… AND HAPPINESS!”