1. http://www.trails-9.org Barbara F. Schloman Libraries & Media Services Profiling Students’ Understanding: Using TRAILS to Assess 9 th Grade Information Literacy Skills

2. ILILE goals: –To foster successful collaboration among K-12 teachers and library media specialists –To advance library and information literacy in the K- 12 school curriculum. Institute for Library and Information Literacy Education Federally funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the U.S. Department of Education.

3. Goal: To create a tool to assist library media specialists in measuring the information literacy competencies of high school students. Specific objectives: –Standards-based –Available on the Web at no cost –Easy to administer –Insure privacy –Report outcomes by student and by class Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills

4. Developing TRAILS Based on information literacy competencies in: –Ohio Academic Content Standards –AASL Information Power

5. Ohio Academic Content Standards Review of all Ohio Academic Content Standards by standard, benchmark, indicator.

6. Information Power Review of standards and indicators and how they relate to the 9 th – 12 th grade student group.

7. Categorizing the Standards Standards reviewed for common themes and categorized: 1.Appreciation 2.Recognize information need 3.Formulate questions 4.Develop/use successful search strategies 5.Access/locate information 6.Evaluate sources 7. Evaluate information 8. Use information 9. Responsible, ethical use 10. Contributes to learning community 11. Communication 12. Evaluate product and process

8. Developing Assessment Items Establishing Priority Competencies Within each category the information literacy skills common across the standards were identified and prioritized. Developing Objectives Assessment objectives were developed to address the priority competency areas. Writing Items Items were then written to address the assessment objectives for each category.

9. Testing and Revising Items Field Testing of Items Field testing of items by volunteer library media specialists working with a small number of 9 th grade students. –Were the items understandable as written? –Were they measuring what was intended? Revisions made.

10. Phase 1: January – August 2006 Usage : 400 account holders by April; 1,000 by June. Feedback : Comments received throughout Phase 1, plus a user survey conducted in May. Enhancements : Improvements to items and user interface.

11. Phase 2 Enhancements Redefinition of competencies into 5 categories: –Develop topic –Identify potential sources –Develop, use, and revise search strategies –Evaluate sources and information –Recognize how to use information responsibly, ethically, and legally Pre/Post assessment (10 items) for each of the 5 categories.

12. Phase 2 Enhancements continued…. Capability to retain use of student code assignments across sessions. Capability to review session with students showing their individual responses. Made available September 2006

13. Using Trails On the Web at: http://www.trails-9.org

15. About TRAILS

16. Create an Account

18. Create a Session

19. View

20. Create a Session

21. Current Sessions

22. Administration Details

23. Current Sessions

24. Closed Sessions

25. View Class Report

26. Student Report

27. Student Review

28. Reported Use We just administered and analyzed our first set of TRAILS tests and as a result I felt energized about our ideas for an information literacy curriculum at the high school this coming year. We learned a great deal about what our students do and do not know with regard to online and print resources and have set in place a series of targeted lessons to maximize our student’s time in the library and their use of these resources. The timing of the availability of this assessment has proved to be exactly in line with our school district’s overall “literacy” objectives. Kathy Lawrence Cleveland Heights High School Cleveland Heights, OH

29. Overall Use 1,430 accounts as of today Representing all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands And 20 countries….

30. TRAILS Accounts by Country (non-U.S., September 2006)

31. We welcome your use of TRAILS and your comments and suggestions. Barbara F. Schloman schloman@kent.edu http://www.trails-9.org