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Help! I am looking for any ideas or experiences you may have in assessing student performance in the school library media center. Grace Culbertson * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * There are various information skills models available which suggest information-seeking is a process which should be centered within and across the curriculum. As students engage in the process of gathering and using information, both the teacher and library media specialist need to be available to assess their progress. Assessment should be an authentic process: i.e. assessments of presearch activities (identifying key words, exploring general sources, building background information, etc.), searching ( effectiveness of an analytical search, appropriateness of resources, filtering of information, etc.), interpreting information (paraphrasing, analyzing, synthesizing), and communicating new knowledge. Some appropriate assessements might include: self and peer assessements, teacher/LMS conferences with students, journals, search logs, etc.; and of course, the final product. We teach students to do peer editing in the writing process. Why not teach them to be peer tutors for the search process? For example, students might hold a small group conference toward the end of a LMC information searching time to assess the searching experiences for that session. They would need initial guidance from the lMS and/or teacher to help them focus their discussions and this could be enabled with an advance organizer containing some important questions to ask at this point in their search. Such a discussion might help them make adjustments in their search process. Also, if students were asked to keep journals of their searching process, both the teacher and the LMS could read these periodically to evaluate the process each student (or student group) might be following as they gather and use information. Written comments might also help them adjust their search process. There has been much conversation today about the importance of focusing on both summarizing and paraphrasing. LMS and teachers might ask students to locate information on a topic and then write a short paragraph that summarizes and paraphrases the information found in a resource like an electronic encyclopedia. That becomes both a writing and an information-seeking activity within the total information skills process. Marjorie Pappas Library Media Program Coordinator Wright State University Dayton, OH email: MarjorieP@aol.com or mpappas@desire.wright.edu