Re: Upper grade library drop-outs

[Betty Dawn Hamilton <bhamilt@TENET.EDU>]

On Thu, 4 May 1995, Penelope S. Cunningham wrote:
 
> The sudden decrease in library use when students reach a certain age (6th
> grade in our k-8 school) seems to be almost universal. Ironically in our
 
This is interesting.  I worked for 11 years in a middle school of grades
6-8.  I noticed that the 6th graders were avid library users and they
gradually slacked off as they went through 7th, and then by 8th, the only
way they would check out a book was if the teacher *made* them.
 
In trying to analyze that strange phenomenon, I decided that their
interests are *so* focused that they *thought* they had read all the
books that really interested them by 8th grade.  (Yes, the eclectic readers
still came, but those that I was trying to hook wouldn't take the bait.)
At that time, my library budget was so low that it was impossible to
purchase several books for each category, so students who had narrow
preferences really had read most of what they were interested in.
 
I left at the same time we had a change of principals.  The replacement
librarian was provided with enough money to replace much of the old
collection, and her budget increased over that this year because reading
has become the principal's focus for the school.
 
When I talked to my replacement she said that ALL of the students --
all grades -- are reading because not only has she been able to purchase
many, many NEW books, but every teacher is requiring a certain number of
points from Accelerated Reader per six weeks.
 
> arts and literature teacher. He gets students who have hardly read one
> chapter book in all their previous years of schooling to become avid
> readers. However, the students read books from his classroom bookshelf.
 
Our federal funds person has focused his funds on our 2 remedial reading
teachers' classes.  They, too, are building classroom libraries with
funds that used to go to the library for book purchase.  Those students
are coming to the library writing lab to take the Accelerated Reader
tests but not to check out books.
 
It will be my job to convince those teachers that not forming the
"library" habit in school may keep students from being public library
users in the future -- thus limiting life long learning.  I've already
begun lobbying along those lines, but I have to be careful because
teachers are often *very* protective of their territories.
 
Part of the problem, however, lies with the interpretation of the state's
requirement that public funds be focused according to the disaggregation of
scores.  When there is a *wide* gap between ethnic and/or socioeconomic groups,
the school must *document* that it is taking steps to focus on bringing those
groups (ethnic/socioeconomic) into alignment with those who scored fairly high
on the state tests.  Hence, the classroom sets focus on needs of
particular students, not the entire campus population.
 
Sorry about the length ... when I get started ...  :-)
 
Betty
Betty Dawn Hamilton
<bhamilt@tenet.edu>
Brownfield, Texas 79316