GEN:Need for reply to Am.Sch.Board Journal article

[Mary Ellen Fleury <mefleury@GNOFN.ORG>]

This is a request for a school librarian to write a letter-to-the-editor of
The American School Board Journal (ASBJ) in response to this article: "What
works: researchers tell what schools must do to improve student achievement"
by Rebecca Jones (April 1998, v.185 #4, p.28-33). There's not one mention of
the importance of the school library. The library only comes up peripherally
in a sidebar on selected web sites (p.31). It states: "A good reference
librarian can help you turn up reams of articles and reports on the subject"
[i.e., of factors involved in student achievement.

Here's a list of the Jones' key factors necessary for achievement: quality
home & preschool experiences, a [school] focus on reading & math, use of
trained tutors as needed, the quality of the teachers (i.e., hire "good"
teachers), small class & school size, increase amount of time spent
learning, goal setting & assessment, professional development for teachers,
and adoption of whole-school curriculum. Another sidebar, "What about
technology" (p.30), summarizes research as inconclusive.

The underlying message to school board members is stated in the section on
curriculum: "It's not a question of getting more money; it's a question of
doing things differently and spending money on things that work rather than
on things that don't work." And because  libraries and librarians aren't
specifically mentioned as things that work, the implication is: so why spend
monies on them?

What's my interest? I am a parent, tutor, and company (not school)
librarian. Prompted by the itinerant librarian at the
partnership-in-education elementary school where I volunteer, I just wrote
to our local newspaper about the necessity of a full-time librarian in each
school. I made my case by using our district's own renewed emphasis on
reading, the recent adoption in Louisiana of the more rigorous Iowa
standardized tests, and a summary of the Colorado study by Keith Curry
Lance, "The Impact of School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement"
ED372759 (thank you, Peter Milbury, for your 3/1 posting of its conclusions).

Why don't I write to ASBJ myself?  I'm not that familiar with the body of
research on the impact of libraries on student achievement--although the
article itself is certainly not a scholarly literature review. Plus, somehow
I think it's a bit obsessive for a parent to be reading ASBJ (I had a sample
issue). Although I have to admit, I really liked the publication for the
quality of the articles, which are well-written for a layperson without all
the educational jargon. And, this article is the type of practical,
informative article you'd like to think your conscientious school board
member would read. It just omits an important factor for student achievement
(as justified by research): the school librarian.

Mary Ellen Fleury
parent, tutor & special librarian
New Orleans, LA
mefleury@gnofn.org

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