Common Core Integration as Advocacy Tool

A little shameless promotion - I just had an article published in School Library Monthly, April 2012 edition. The article is called "How I Kept My Job," and I wrote it with other new school librarians in mind. I was hired for my first librarian position at Saranac Elementary School (not Saranac Lake, Saranac - I know it 's confusing since I live right near Saranac Lake) in January 2010. Only a couple of months later, I was laid off due to budget cuts. It was devastating. Fortunately for me, I was hired for the next school year at Franklin Academy High School, a public high school in Malone, NY, and ever since then I've been determined to keep my job. So far so good, but the article describes some of the strategies that I believe have paid off for me.

One of the strategies is to become a Common Core Standards expert. I have been fortunate to be a member of Franklin Academy's School-Based Inquiry Team, tasked with training the rest of the staff in Common Core integration. The Common Core State Standards are chock full of information literacy skills, and this educational shift is a huge opportunity for school librarians to increase our profile within the school and collaborate with teachers to a greater extent. Below is a document I created, based on the New York State Department of Education (EngageNY) Common Core Shifts document, that outlines the role that a school librarian can play in each shift.

Nearly every school district in our area has lost at least one librarian position in the last couple of years, mostly due to attrition, but still positions lost. I created this document to explain to a school board member how important school librarians are to the school community. Feel free to use it in your district if you find yourself in need of advocacy materials.

Superintendents and business managers keep an eye on what is happening in other districts. If they see layoffs in the library department at a neighboring school, they may be tempted to do the same. Similarly, if other districts are replacing librarians, this could also be influential. Get out there and spread the word - we are all in this together and we need to advocate for each other. Dr. Ruth Small of the Center for Digital Literacy at the Syracuse University iSchool recently created this fantastic advocacy video about her research documenting that schools with certified school librarians have higher test scores in New York State. Another good source for advocacy materials is Sara Kelly John's Make Some Noise blog for School Library Journal. Please share! More on Common Core Integration in future blog posts.