Jenelle KrohnLIS 653

Fall 2012Dr. Gann

Advocacy Plan

IntroductionW.M. Irvin Elementary is an elementary school located in Cabarrus County in the

southwestern part of North Carolina that serves students in grade kindergarten through fifth

grade. Irvin Elementary School pulls from various parts of Concord, North Carolina. According

to the 2010 U.S. Census, Concord’s current population is 79,066. 12.3 percent of the population

is of Hispanic origin, 17.8 percent is African American, 2.3 percent lists two or more races, and

2.6 percent is Asian. In addition, thirteen percent of the population speaks a language other than

English at home. While 11.7 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, 67.7 percent

of the population owns their home and the median household income is $52, 470 (US National

Census, 2012).

School Demographics

W.M. Irvin’s population is diverse in terms of ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

Around five-five percent of the population is Caucasian, eighteen percent is African America,

twenty-two percent is Hispanic, and three percent is two or more races (Education First, 2012).

Around fifteen percent of the population qualifies for Exceptional Children’s services. Twelve

percent of the population has Limited English Proficiency. W.M. Irvin is also a title one school

meaning that sixty-eight percent of the school qualifies for free or reduced lunch. The average

class size for Irvin Elementary is 21 students in kindergarten, 20 students for first grade, 19

students for second grade, 23 students for third grade, 24 students for fourth grade, and 26

students for fifth.

There are around eight hundred students enrolled at Irvin Elementary School with ninety-

six percent of the students attending school regularly. The school employs around fifty-two

teachers with hundred percent of the teachers fully licensed. In the 2011-2012 school year, 100

percent of the teachers were highly qualified with 31 percent of those teachers having an

advanced degree and ten teachers having National Board Certification. Over fifty percent of the

teachers having being teaching for more than ten years, twenty-eight percent have been teaching

for four to six years, and eighteen percent have been teaching for less than three years. In

addition, only six percent of the teachers leave according to the teacher turn over rate (Education

First, 2012).

The following table shows the Reading and Math End of Grade test scores for the 2011-

2012 school year. The following data shows the percentage of students who were at grade level

or above for both reading and math.

Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 OVERALL

Reading Math Reading Math Reading Math Reading Math

Our School 37.9% 67.2% 61.3% 77.4% 52.2% 69.1% 50.8% 71.3%

District 71.6% 84.5% 70.9% 82.7% 71.5% 80.2% 74.0% 83.8%

State 68.8% 82.8% 71.6% 85.1% 72.3% 82.1% 71.2% 82.8%

In addition, fifty-four percent of students in fifth grade were at or above grade level for

the Science End of Grade test. This is twenty-two percent lower than the district’s average and

twenty-one percent lower than the state’s average. As you can tell by the chart in all three-grade

levels and for both math and reading, Irvin’s scores were lower than both the district and state’s

average. Overall, females and Caucasian scored higher on both reading and math (Education

First, 2012).

School and Library’s Mission Statement

W.M Irvin Elementary School’s mission statement is:

“To prepare students for a life of successful learning that includes respect and

responsibility for self and others”

In addition to the school’s mission statement, there is a heavy focus on literacy this year due to

the past three years Reading End of Grade (EOG) scores. The School Improvement Team’s

Goal is to raise students test scores so they meet the average proficiency levels in other Title 1

schools as measured by the EOG. This focus on literacy and responsibility is also seen in the

mission statement of the library, which reads as the following:

“The mission of our media center is to ensure that the students are effective users of

information and ideas and to develop an excitement for reading and learning.”

In addition, the school library promotes critical thinking, problem-based learning, lifelong

reading and learning, and collaboration with teachers.

Media Center and Technology Information

According to the NC School Report Card, the average age of the media center’s

collection is 1998 with 20 books per child. In addition, there are 1.61 students per internet-

connected Digital Learning Device with 100 percent of the classrooms being connected to the

Internet (Education First, 2012). In addition, every classroom a Smart Interactive Whiteboard,

Elmo document camera, sound system, Smart Slate, and three iMac desktop computers. In

addition, students and staff have access to two computer labs as well as three mobile laptop carts

and three iPad carts (School, 2012).

The media center is run on a partially flex-fixed schedule. The school librarian is part of

the Encore rotation for kindergarten through second grade. Third through fifth grade is on a

flexible schedule with third and fifth grade sending students down to checkout books as needed.

Fourth grade has scheduled one day a week where they come as a class to checkout books. The

school librarian attends grade level planning for third to fifth grade to provide resources and to

co-plan with teachers on upcoming units. However, due to the scheduling of classes, she is

unable to co-teach or provide any lessons for fourth grade due to scheduling conflicts. In

addition, the library has open access from 7:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., which allows all grade levels

to return books as needed. There is one full time librarian and one media assistant who works

three hours a day. Currently, there is no parent volunteers or student volunteers that come and

work in the library.

The media center is laid out in a way that allows three full classes to be in the space

without interrupting one another. The layout of the media centers works towards making it the

hub of the school where students and staff come to due reading and research. There are three

main sections to the library. The first section is on the left side of the library along the walls

with tables that seat four people to allow for small group work and research. In the center of the

Nonfiction books is the collection of Fiction novels. There are three different pull out sections

within the Nonfiction/ Fiction Section, which allow students to find these popular items more

quickly. Graphic Novels, popular series books like Diary of Wimpy Kid series and Magic Tree

House series, and upper level fiction picture books are the pullout sections. In the back of the

library is the Everybody Section that houses the Everybody books, the Hello Readers, the Easy

Chapter books, and Rookie Readers. On the right side of the library is the Reference Section with

tables that seat six students, which allows for easy research. In the center of the library, there are

twelve computers that can be used for research or for searching the online catalog.

W.M. Irvin School Media Center currently contains 14, 497 books. With an

enrollment around eight hundred students, there is approximately 18.2 books per student. Based

on IMPACT suggestions, this would place the library between Developing and Outstanding.

IMPACT states that there should be fifteen books per student for a developing collection and

twenty books per student for an outstanding collection (North Carolina Department of Public

Instruction, Instructional Technology Division, 2008). While the library does have a plethora of

holdings, if you analyze it by sections, it is easily to see that there are many holes within the

collection. The following is a chart provided by Follet Title Wave, which breaks down the

collection by the 100s.

The strengths of the collection are growing e-book collection, strong Fiction Section, and

Spanish book section. However, over all the collection needs to be weeded in order to the

plethora of materials that are aged as well as update the 300s, 500, 900s, and Sports sections. In

addition, several areas like the Generalities, 200s, 400s, and reference need to be expanded in

order to meet the needs of students and staff. Next school year, the library will be transitioning

to a flexible schedule for all grade levels and the purpose of the media center will start

transitioning to more of a “Learning Commons” rather than a traditional media center in hopes of

expanding the use and better meet the curricular demands made by the Common Core.

II. Advocacy Goals and ObjectivesThe goals and objectives of the media center are shaped by several factors. Unlike many

other libraries, Irvin Elementary School’s library and teacher librarian is fully supported by the

administrators at the school. Based on their preference and my input, we are transitioning to a

flexible schedule next year as well as transitioning the purpose of the media center. This past

year third through fifth grade has been on a flexible schedule; however, select teachers in third

and fifth grade still come as a class to checkout books and all of fourth grade come to check out

books. Kindergarten through second grade has never been on a flexible schedule, and their

feelings towards it are unclear at this time. To help ease the transition of the library to the new

plan for flexible scheduling and a focus on collaboration, the following goals and objectives

were created.

Goal 1: Teachers at Irvin Elementary School will recognize the benefit of collaborating and

planning with the school librarian.

Connection to Mission Statement: The mission of the school is to prepare students to be

successful learners for life and to be responsible. Through collaborating with the school

librarian, units will be more engaging to students as they are using technology, information

skills, and other best practices like inquiry based learning. In addition, students will be able to

get more one on one help because there will be less students per teacher. Lastly, students will be

using a variety of sources in order to complete their work due to the fact that the teacher librarian

and classroom teacher co-planned the unit together, which will increase their exposure to

different types of texts. Through collaborating and co-planning, students’ learning will be more

authentic and engaging than before through the use of technology, multiple literacies, and

emphasis on critical thinking and independence.

Goal 1a- Increase teachers’ knowledge about flexible scheduling and the role of

the teacher librarian in the school by June 2013.

Goal 1b- Increase the quality of collaboration with teachers by co-planning one

unit with a teacher in each grade in third through fifth grade by June 2013.

Goal 2: Students will recognize that the library is relevant and important for their educational

and personal needs.

Connection to Mission Statement: The mission of the school is to prepare

students to be lifelong learners. In addition, this school year’s focus is the students’

reading scores on the End of Grade tests. As countless research has shown, when

students have access to more reading materials --- and particularly materials on

subjects that interest them --- Students are more likely to read voluntarily, read in

greater volume, read more often, and score better on achievement tests (Gann). This

prepares them to be lifelong learners who enjoy reading, know how to find

information they are looking for, and to process and use that information. In addition,

parents are more likely to advocate and support a library that their children use

frequently for not just reading material but also for information skills.

Goal 1: Increase circulation for all students by 20% by June 2013.

Goal 2: Increase the number of ways students use the media center by June

2013.

III. Activities and Strategies to Meet the Objectives

Goal 1, Objective A

In order to get teachers to collaborate and co-plan with the teacher librarian, they must

first realize how the librarian can help them. As a primary stakeholders, teachers care about how

their students’ success and the ability to plan engaging lessons that will have their students

achieve at high levels. Because of the previous librarian, teachers at Irvin elementary due not

currently see how the teacher librarian can help facilitate these goals through being an

instructional partner. In order to help them recognize how beneficial collaboration and flexible

scheduling can be for them, the teacher librarian will educate the teachers on what the role of the

librarian is within the school and how flexible scheduling can aid them in planning units through

a presentation to be shown to the School Improvement Team (SIT) and by adding a ten to fifteen

minute Media Minute to Staff Meetings.

The audience for these activities will be the teachers at the school. For the SIT

presentation, there will be a teacher representing each grade level and specials. For the Staff

Meeting, the audience would be all the teachers in the school as well as the administrators. The

teacher librarian would be responsible coming up with the presentation for the SIT team as well

as the topics and emailing the principal for the Media Minute, so she could be added to the

agenda.

The first activity that would happen would be the SIT Presentation, which will happen at

the SIT meeting in December. During the presentation, teachers will come to understand how the

role of the teacher librarian and the media center will be changing for next year. Teachers will

understand what flexible scheduling is, how the teacher librarian is there to be an instructional

partner, and the benefits of the new roles. Two weeks before the SIT meeting, the lead teacher

will email all SIT members a reminder that they are meeting on December 6th. The teacher

librarian will create an interactive presentation that will have teachers reflect on how media and

technology is going this year, help teachers better understand what her new role will be as well

as flexible scheduling, help teachers visualize what a learning commons is, and finally have them

reflect on the positives and negatives of the change. This activity will be about an hour long and

the teacher librarian will evaluate how successful it was by looking at the teacher’s plus/delta at

the beginning and at the end to determine how they feel about the changes that will happen next

year.

Using the teachers’ deltas from the SIT Presentation, the school librarian will come up

with a five to fifteen minute “Media Minute” for each staff meeting. Two weeks from the staff

meeting, she will email the principal to get her name and topic added to the Staff Meeting’s

Agenda for that month. The “Media Minute” will showcase new resources both digital and print

the librarian has found for the teachers as well as include some collaboration ideas that the

teachers could use. By presenting at these meetings, teachers will come to view the teacher

librarian as someone who is knowledgeable about a variety of resources, the curriculum, best

practice, and a partner in their instruction. In addition, the teachers would hopefully want to try

some of these ideas within their classroom, so they would then collaborate with the teacher

librarian. In order to prepare for the “Media Minute”, the teacher librarian will read through a

variety of professional journal to scour for great ideas and then fill out the “Media Minute”

planning form. She will then create a handout for the teachers that will list the topic for the

“Media Minute”, the audience, how they could use it, and ways the media specialist could help.

Goal 1, Objective B

Objective B focuses on increasing the quality of collaboration done currently between the

teacher librarian and the grade levels who are currently on a flexible schedule. Currently, the

teacher librarian is asked to create a few lessons within different units or to pull resources.

While this is a great step, it is not truly collaboration as there is currently little planning with one

another. In addition, the lessons are usually focused on teaching the skill and the students later

apply the skill when the teacher librarian is not there, so she is not able to truly see how the

lesson went or be there to help the teachers and students research. The activity for this objective

is to attend the weekly grade level planning for third through fifth grade from the beginning of

school until June 2013.

Grade level planning occurs weekly with the agenda being emailed out a few days in

advance. By having the agenda, the teacher librarian should come to the planning with a list

ideas of resources the library has, skills the librarian could assist in teaching for that unit, and

project ideas or collaboration ideas. By coming to the meeting with the resources and ideas, the

teacher librarian shows that she is prepared, understands the curriculum, and is there to be an

instructional partner. In addition, the teacher librarian will bring up a collaborative planning form

with them to the grade level planning. After the meeting, the teacher librarian will email the

teachers will a reminder that they are willing to help plan the unit with them as well as co-teach

lessons. The email will also have some collaborative ideas listed in it with the information skills

that would be addressed as well as technology that could be used.

The teacher librarian will evaluate how successful they are by keeping a collaboration log

that will list who they worked with, the unit, quarter, project, what you taught and the

information skills that were focused on, and general comments. This will allow the teacher

librarian to know what units will be done next year, how they went, and if they were able to

collaborate with at least one teacher in third to fifth grade.

Goal Two, Objective A

Goal Two focuses on how students use the media center at the school. Currently,

students come in to check out books. Fourth grade, two third grade classes, and two fifth grade

classes come in at a set time every week to checkout books. These students do not come back

during the week to exchange books. In addition, kindergarten and second grade only come in

during their library day to checkout books. This means that the good majority of the students in

kindergarten, second grade, and fourth are stuck with the same books for a week even though the

book might not be interesting to them or they might have finished the book already. Students

should see the media center as a place they can come any time to check out books that they find

interesting and relevant. In order to do so, the teacher librarian will create an Hours of Operation

sign outside of the media center, 30 second PSA announcement that will be played on the

morning announcements, Book Suggestion box, and Book Talks and Book displays for students.

Once students know when they can use the library and that it has things they are interested in,

they will use the library more because they will bug their teachers.

Starting at the beginning of the year, the teacher librarian will post an Hours of Operation

sign outside of the library that will list when students can come in and check out books. Because

kindergarten through second grade is on a fixed schedule, students often do not know if it is okay

for them to come and check out books. By creating a sign that shows our Hours of Operation,

students will feel comfortable coming into the library knowing they are allowed to be in there

during that time. Because the hours of the library change based on what day it is, the sign will be

for the week and will be able to be changed as needed.

Also during the start of the school year, the school librarian will create a student advisory

committee whose job is to promote the library. Students can volunteer to join, and we will meet

during lunch. It will be their job to create and perform the skit on the morning announcements to

explain when you can use the library and what you should do in there. It will also be their job to

create the Book Recommendation display. Students will recommend their favorite books, so that

students have a variety of choices when they go to check out books. The Student Advisory

Group will also create Book Trailers for the website as well as perform other PSA

announcements.

Lastly, the teacher librarian will create at least one Book Talk a month to give to all grade

levels starting in September. The Book Talks could be curriculum related or simply books that

the librarian thinks the students would enjoy. These will be done either in the teacher’s room

based on online sign-ups or in the cafeteria. This will promote students checking out a variety of

books not just Diary of Wimpy Kid. In addition, the librarian will create a box where students can

write down ideas of books that the library should buy.

The teacher librarian will measure how effective these activities are by looking at

circulation statistics and comparing them to previous years. In addition, the circulation statics

for popular books will be looked at as well to see if they are checking out a variety of materials.

Lastly, a survey will be sent out at the end of the year to garner students’ opinion about their use

of the media center.

Goal Two, Objective B

Objective B looks at how students are using the media center. Currently, students only

use the media center to check out books. Unless students are in library class, they do not use the

library for research. The library currently has twelve computers that could easily be used for

research as well as at least one iPad cart that could be used for research. Students should see the

library and the teacher librarian as someone who can not only help them find and select reading

materials but also as someone who can assist them with their educational needs. In order to do

so, the teacher librarian will create PSA announcements that will showcase the different ways

students can use the media center, send home a brochure that discusses the ways and hours a

student can use the media center, and send to teachers a handout that explains when and for what

purposes a student or group of students can use the media center.

The PSA announcement will be shown on a Friday around the fourth week of school.

The Student Advisory Committee for the media center will create a PSA video that will play at

the end of the morning announcements to show all the different ways the media center can be

used during any part of the day. This will explain to teachers and students when and how they

can use the media center. A short handout will be given to the teachers that summarize the

different ways and purposes the media center can be used for later that day. This video will also

be shown when students return from winter break and at the start of April to remind students and

staff.

In addition, the teacher librarian will create a brochure the students can take home to their

parents that will list the hours that the media center is open and how it can help their child during

those hours. The fact that students can stay after to work on projects, do research on the

computers, or receive homework assistance will be highlighted due to the fact that a large part of

our population is economically disadvantaged and a high English as a Second Language

Population. Two weeks before it will be sent home, the teacher librarian will send it to the

translator, so that it will be in both English and Spanish. The letter will be sent home with

progress reports in September and at the beginning of third quarter.

The teacher librarian will evaluate how effective these activities are through the use of

Student Pass which will record why a student is being sent to the library as well as a sign in

sheet, which will have the student list their name, grade, and why they are at the library.

Example Activity

The example activity that is included explores Goal 1, Objective 1a. Objective A

focuses on increasing teachers’ knowledge about the teacher librarian’s role in school and

flexible scheduling. In separate documents that following are included:

SIT Presentation (PowerPoint)

Media Minute Template for Planning (Word)

Email to Principal about Agenda (Word)

Template for Media Minute Handout (Word)

Overall Plan Evaluation

The teacher librarian will evaluate how effective they were in meeting the goals of

the Advocacy Plan by the following specific measures. The analyze of how well the

activities worked in and how well the goals were achieved will be used to determine the

goals and objectives for next year’s advocacy plan.

The collaboration Log-the log will be utilized to see what kind of collaboration the

teacher librarian was able to do with the teachers. To be successful, the teacher

librarian will have had to co-plan and co-teach at least one unit with a teacher on

third, fourth, and fifth grade. This will assess Objective 1a.

Survey about Role and Services Provided- A survey will be sent to the teachers at the

end of the school year asking questions that will determine what they believe the

primary role of the media coordinator to be in the school, the services they

provided, and what are their thoughts and questions on flexible scheduling. By

having a mixture of a checklist and open-ended questions, the teacher librarian will

be able to determine if the SIT team meeting and Media Minutes have successful

changed teachers’ idea of what her role is in the school. This will assess Objective

1b.

Collection Statistics about Circulation- This will allow the teacher librarian to

determine the number of books checked out for the year as well as for specific

months. In order to be successful, the circulation statistics should at least equal last

year’s numbers if not be a twenty percent increase. She will then determine for the

low months how she can keep circulation high using book talks, book displays, or

other reading promotion ideas. In addition to circulation statistics, the teacher

librarian will also looked at what was circulated. In order to determine the

effectiveness of the Book Talks and Book Displays, she will analyze the Top 50

books checked out to see if any books where listed breaking down the report by

month and crossing checking it with the Book Talks she did for each grade level.

This will assess Objective 2a.

Student Survey- A survey will be sent out to students asking then When and How

often they used the library, Who did they come with, How did they use the library,

What their favorite Book Talk was, and to rate how effective the different Book

talks, Book Recommendation Section, and Book Trailers were in their selection of

books. This will assess Objective 2a and 2b.

Sign-In Log and Student Passes- the teacher librarian will analyze monthly who came

to library looking at classes and grade levels as well as for what purpose did they

come. To be successful, 100 percent of students should be able to visit to check out

books at least once a week, 50 percent of the students should visit more than once a

week to checkout and return books, and students should be using it for more than

just checkout. This will allow the librarian to determine if the activities were

successful. This will assess Objective 2b.

In addition to these specific, measurable outcomes, the teacher librarian will also use

more informal assessments to determine if she was successful. Some of these would be

students’ confidence when they come in to check out books, teachers’ use of the media

center for individual students to complete research projects, and students and staff use

of the media center.

Works Cited

Education First. (2012). Student Performance. Retrieved November 10, 2012, from NC School Report Cards: http://www.ncreportcards.org/src/schDetails.jsp?Page=4&pSchCode=342&pLEACode=130&pYear=2011-2012

Gann, D. School Library Program. Black Board Collaborate. Greensboro: UNCG.

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Instructional Technology Division. (2008). IMPACT: Guidelines for Media and Technology Program. Raleigh, NC.

School, I. E. (2012, Aug 19). Fast Facts. Retrieved December 1, 2012, from W.M. Irvin Elementary School: http://www.ccsweb.cabarrus.k12.nc.us/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=109929&linkid=nav-menu-container-1-513132

US National Census. (2012, September). Concord (city) Quick Facts. Retrieved December 1, 2012, from US Census Bureau: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/37/3714100.html