1. Ellen MacGeorge Istc 601 March 6, 2016
School Library Media Research Studies How do Informational Literacy Skills Correlate to Reading Test Scores
Ellen MacGeorge
Istc 601
March 6, 2016

2. A few things you need to know before we begin….
Report from the Field…
Outcome Evaluation….
Article One- Report from the Field: Outcome Evaluation of the Library Media Program on Information Literacy Skills in Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland
By: Gail C. Bailey & Myra A. Paul
Article Two- Outcome Evaluation of the Library Media Program on Informational Literacy Skills
By: Elizabeth Copper-Martin, Ph.D.
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3. A few things you need to know before we begin….
1-TRAILS- “is an online knowledge assessment with multiple-choice questions targeting a variety of information literacy skills based on grade 6, 9, and 11 standards. It was developed by Kent State University Department of Libraries and Media Services to provide an easily accessible and flexible tool for library media specialists and teachers to identify strengths and weaknesses in the information-seeking skills of their students. (P49)
2- Montgomery County Public School System is located in the Maryland suburbs outside of Washington D.C.. The MCPS graduation rate is ninety percent. MCPS has 200 schools, 22,500 staff members and one certified LMS in every school.
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4. A few things you need to know before we begin….
National Informational Literacy Skills Standards…
1- Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
2- Draw conclusions, make informed decisions, apply knowledge to new situations, and create new knowledge.
3- Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
4- Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
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5. A few things you need to know before we begin….
Maryland State Curriculum for School Library Media for Grades Pre-K-12
Define and refine problem of question: Students will be able to follow an inquiry process to define a problem, formulate questions, and refine either or both to meet a personal and/or assigned informational need.
Locate and evaluate resources and sources: students will be able to follow an inquiry process to identify, locate, evaluate, and select resources and sources in a wide variety of formats to meet the information need in an ethical manner.
Find, Generate, Record, and Organize Data/Information: Students will be able to follow an inquiry process to find, generate, record, and organize information relevant to the information need in an ethical manner.
Interpret, Recorded data/Information: Students will be able to follow an inquiry process to interpret recorded data/information to create new understandings and knowledge related to the information need in an ethical manner.
Share findings/conclusions: Students will be able to follow an inquiry process to share findings/conclusions in an appropriate format to support written, oral, and multimedia information products and evaluate the products and processes in an ethical manner.
Appropriate Literature and Life-long Learning: Students will be able to demonstrate an appreciation of literature and multimedia as a reflection of human experiences and use the inquiry process for life-long learning.
Bansbach, J. (Ed.). (2010, February/March). Maryland State Curriculum: School Library Media (Monograph). Baltimore, Maryland: Maryland State Department of Education.
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6. A few things you need to know before we begin….
Detailed Descriptions of the Five Categories of TRAILS
1- Develop topic
Develop focus. Recognize the hierarchical relationships of broader and narrower topics. Identify individuals to help you focus a topic. Identify manageable topics based on the parameters of an assignment.
2- Identify potential sources
Understand the types of containers in which information is housed (ex: different types of libraries, books, databases, online catalogs, primary sources, etc.) and types of information that can be found within each type of container. Understand the roles and limitations of differing types of information sources (encyclopedias, atlases, dictionaries, etc.) and finding tools (research databases, online catalogs, bibliographies citations, people, etc.). Select the most popular information sources and findings tools to address a given informational need.
3- Develop, use, and revise search strategies
Understand how to use a given type of information is housed to retrieve information (ex: index and table of contents in a book, an online catalog, etc.) Select search terms. Develop a search strategy for the topic appropriate to a given finding tool. Understand how to use Boolean operators. Revise search strategies when too few, too many, and/or irrelevant results are returned.
4- Evaluate sources and information
Recognize bias. Differentiate between fact and opinion. Determine the accuracy, authority, coverage, currency, and relevancy of information and/or information sources.
5- Recognize how to use information responsibly, ethnically, and legally
Recognize how to paraphrase correctly. Understand the concept of intellectual property (especially copyright, fair use, and plagiarism). Understand the concept of intellectual freedom. Create bibliographies and parenthetical citations according to an appropriate style manual.
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7. Timelines… Extra Details
April 2004-MCPS board adopts a curriculum framework.
August 2004-develops a curriculum guide that matches information literacy skills with appropriate curriculum content standards and performance indicators. The guide includes lesson plans with opportunities for teacher collaboration.
November sixteen SLMP attend the AASL Fall Forum where they are introduced to TRAILS.
January 2007-SLMP establishes a focus group of LMS to identify strategies for assessment of information literacy skills in the library media centers.
October 2007-SLMP attends the 2007 AASL conference and “is inspired by Violet Harada’s presentation on assessment in the LMC.
February 2008-SLMP purchases Violet Harada’s book Assessing Learning: Librarians and Teachers as Partners (2005) for all library media staff. Professional development based on the tenets of the book are conducted.
October LMS read Ross Todd’s book Evidence-based Manifesto for School Librarians and then begin to create original assessments for various curriculum units to measure information literacy skills achievement.
January The focus group recommends using TRAILS to ensure consistency across the district.
Extra Details

8. What are the authors of the studies trying to find out?
Report from the field…
Outcome Evaluation….
1-“How does the instruction provided by school library media programs in MCPS effect students’ acquisition of information literacy skills?”
2-“How does students’ acquisition of information literacy skills correlate with their academic achievement as measured by the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) in reading and High School Assessment (HSA) in English?” (P46)
“What are the effects of the instructional services provided through school-based library media programs on acquisition of informational literacy skills and on academic achievement, for Montgomery County Public School students at different grade levels?” (P1)
Summary

9. What did the authors learn from their research?
Report from the field…
Outcome Evaluation….
“Students in grades 5, 8 & 11 met the grade level benchmark for the overall measure of information literacy skills. Results were positive for each of five subsets of information literacy skills, except for one-using information responsibly, ethically, and legally.” (P48)
“Students with better information literacy skills (i.e., higher academic achievement (i.e. higher reading skills). This relationship was statistically significant and large enough to be of practical significance to educators for each grade tested.” (P48)
“The results for acquisition of information literacy skills showed that students in Grades 5, 8, and 11 met the benchmark for the overall measure of information literacy skills. Results were positive for each subset of information literacy skills, except for one-using information responsibly, ethically, and legally.” (P1)
Summary

10. What evidence did they use in determining their conclusions?
Report from the field…
Outcome Evaluation….
National averages of TRAILS scores were used as the benchmark for students in grades 8 and 11. The SLMP set the benchmarks for grade 6 students.
Students who scored high on TRAILS had their higher reading scores on their state assessments looked at to see if they also scored high on the State assessment.
“Statistical significance tests and effect sizes examined the relationship between information literacy skills and reading achievement.” (P47)
Based on their TRAILS scores, Grade five students were proficient in almost all information literacy skills. Their scores significantly exceeded the program benchmark for overall scores. In addition, Grade five students met the benchmark for developing searching strategy. However, their scores were significantly for the use of the skill using information responsibly, ethnically, and legally.
Grade 8 showed proficiency in some information literacy skills when compared to the Grade 9 national benchmark. They met the benchmark for the overall score, as well as, for the categories of identify sources and develop search strategy. However, their scores were significantly below the benchmark for three categories; develop topic, evaluate sources, and use responsibility. The difference was six percentage points for the later category, but only three percentage points for the other two categories.
Grade 11 students were proficient in almost all information literacy skills. Their skills significantly exceeded the national benchmark for overall scores, develop search strategy, and evaluate sources. In addition, they met the benchmark for identify sources. However, their scores were significantly below the benchmark by 23 percentage points for one skill, use responsibly.
Summary

11. What were their recommendations as a result of their research?
Report from the field…
Outcome Evaluation….
The LMS who participated in the study found the data to be very useful. “Three years ago when SLMP began this process, we knew we needed to lead a cultural change and elicit buy-in from library media specialists and administrators to move forward in collecting data. Today, SLMP staff reflect on the success of the cultural change and take satisfaction that library media specialists have come far in embracing the words of Ross Todd.” (P49)
After going to the MCPS website, new documents are available for LMS, teachers, and families to access for use in schools and at home to help build literacy skills and collaboration, all of which benefit students.
Continue instruction that leads to students proficiency in informational literacy skills, such as identifying sources, and developing a search strategy.
Encourage LMSs in middle schools to focus more on instruction for developing a topic and evaluating sources.
Provide professional development and other support to LMSs to increase the ability of students at all levels to use information responsibly, ethically, and legally.
Support data-driven instruction by promoting the use of TRAILS, so that LMSs can use the results to inform their instruction in information literacy skills.
Ensure that students make progress in mastering all information literacy skills, which also should improve their reading performance, given the positive association between TRAILS and reading scores.
Summary

12. How timely is the information?
Report from the field…
Outcome Evaluation….
This article was accepted for publication in June 2012.
The Maryland School Assessment & the High School Assessment tests has been changed to the PARCC exam which is aligned with the common core standards.
This article was published in October 2010.
The Maryland School Assessment and the High School Assessment tests has been changed to the PARCC exam which is aligned with the common core standards.
Analysis

13. Are the author’s credible?
Report from the field…
Outcome Evaluation….
The Authors of this article are Gail Bailey & Myra Paul.
Gail Bailey was the director of School Library Media Programs in Montgomery County Public Schools, branch chief of the School Library Media Programs at the Maryland State Department of Education and a Library Media Specialist in Baltimore County Public Schools. She is a Professor at Towson University.
Myra Paul was a Library Media Specialist in a secondary setting in Montgomery County Public Schools. She is a Professor in The University of Maryland System and Towson University.
Both of these ladies have a very long history of working in the Library Media Specialist field. They both have the background and expertise to be considered creditable and experts in this area.
The author of this article is Elizabeth Cooper-Martin, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Cooper-Martin is an Evaluation Specialist for The Montgomery County Public School System, where she has worked for 15 years. She was a professor at Georgetown University.
Dr. Cooper-Martin’s job in the MCPS is to Evaluate data for the school system. Between her education and her job responsibilities, she has the background needed to be considered a credible expert in this area.
Analysis

14. How reliable is the information?
In both Articles…
The information was presented professionally.
The TRAILS scores were compared to the MSA and HSA test scores.
The information given was straight forward.
The standards were the same across the board between the sets of information presented (national, state, and county)
The results were presented and represented accurately.
When benchmarks were met, that was presented and when the benchmarks were not met, that was also presented.
Analysis

15. What bias is evident in the information?
In both articles…
I would think that the LMSs would want to show that the students had knowledge and understanding of all of the tenants of the standards that they had worked so hard to develop into MCPS.
I would also think that the LMSs would want their research to be accurate and non bias, as they are to uphold the high standards that they teach.
I did not see any way to alter the results as they are factual and they had laid out. Their goals, guidelines, and methodologies were clearly written at the beginning of the project and all the steps were documented and clear.
As teachers and LMSs, we do not benefit ourselves or our students if we find a way to manipulate the scores or the outcomes of data. The goal of collecting data is to see where we (teachers & students) are thriving and where we need to develop stronger ways to reach our students in the areas where we did not score as high.
Reflection

16. How do the studies relate to anything else you have read on this topic?
Reflection

17. How do the studies help shape your understanding of the school library Media program?
After reading the articles I gained a clearer understanding of the importance of the School Library Media program. The articles sent me on a quest to make sure that my understanding of the details were clear in my mind. I went back and looked at the national literacy standards, the state standards, the MCPS standards, and the details of TRAILS. I would not say that I was unclear that all these pieces and parts existed, I was in need of a review and clarification. It became very clear to me that many people have invested much time to develop and implement standards. When we have standards in place we have a skeleton to refer to as to what to teach. We are also, usually taken more seriously. Maybe if the general public, classroom teachers, administrators, etc. knew that these standards existed there would be less questioning about the level of education necessary to be a Library Media Specialist. The articles also gave direct data to show to value of teaching literacy skills, which in my mind, directly says library media programs are important.
Reflection

18. Has it changed how you think about the value of school library media program?
Report from the field…
After reading the articles I gained a clearer understanding of the importance of the School Library Media program. Where classroom teachers have their time filled with so many requirements, tests, and other important tasks to be covered. In the LMS we are able to focus directly on the skills that coincide with higher reading scores. We are able to provide “extra” time needed to cement these skills. After more thought I also became aware of the benefit of being the Librarian and computer teacher or working together with the computer teacher to mesh or specialty areas together. We have the opportunity to provide 21st century skills to our students and to give them a foundation of skills that will truly benefit their knowledge base and their test scores.
Reflection

19. References
Bailey, G. C., Paul, M. A.. (2012). Report from the Field: Outcome Evaluation of the Library Media Program on information Literacy Skills in Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland. Teacher Librarian 39(5), MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed March 5, 2016).
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, volume number(issue number), pages.
ards/learningstandards/AASL_LearningStandards.pdf
Bansbach, J. (Ed.). (2010, February/March). Maryland State Curriculum: School Library Media (Monograph). Baltimore, Maryland: Maryland State Department of Education.