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Library Media Specialists,

I thought you might be interested in reading the following article which
appears in today's Washington Post.  Actually, it appears in the Montgome=
ry
County Insert.  The author gives a good plug for school media specialists.

I'm not a LMS, but am thinking about making a career switch to Library
Media.

Laura Keen
Sr. Librarian
OCC
Washington, DC
Laura.Keen@occ.treas.gov



Copyright 2002 The Washington Post  =20
The Washington Post

January 31, 2002, Thursday, Final Edition

SECTION: MONTGOMERY EXTRA; Pg. T05; HOMEROOM KARIN CHENOWETH =20

LENGTH: 1563 words =20

HEADLINE: Step Forward With Concerns About AP Instruction =20

BYLINE: Karin Chenoweth =20

BODY:=20

   I'm sure faithful readers will be disappointed that this column is not
about the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program test scores, whi=
ch
were released this week. I know you all love test score analyses as much =
as
I do. But I had to finish writing this column before the state released t=
he
scores, so let's talk about some other issues. =20

    First, I received a letter from a parent who is concerned that her
child's high school advanced placement (AP) class is not preparing him to
take the AP test. AP classes have a set curriculum building to a national=
ly
administered test that, if students pass it, can lead to college credit.
Montgomery County encourages students to take AP classes, which have been
linked nationally to higher college graduation rates. =20

    The parent who wrote said that her child's AP teacher has given no te=
sts
or quizzes and hasn't returned written papers, so students have no idea
where they stand and don't know if they are being properly prepared to ta=
ke
the AP exam in the spring. "I don't know who to even complain to. This
instructor does not seem approachable, and to go over their head to the h=
ead
of the department would seem disastrous for my student," she wrote. "Any
suggestions you have would be welcome."=20

      Here's my advice: The great thing about AP is that there are clear
standards, an available curriculum and performance data. First, go to
http://apcentral.collegeboard.com and look at the curriculum for the cour=
se
your child is taking to get a sense of the standards set by the College
Board. Then ask the principal or your child's counselor for your school's=
 AP
record. =20

    You should receive a list showing how many students took which AP exa=
ms
and how they scored. AP exams are graded on a 5-point scale, with 1 and 2
being below passing, 3 being passing and 4 and 5 exceeding the standard f=
or
passing. =20

    If your child's teacher taught the same course last year, then you wi=
ll
know what percentage of the teacher's students passed the exam. If 90
percent or more passed, you or your child can go to the teacher and say, =
"I
know you have a fabulous record of preparing your students for the AP exa=
m,
but I don't understand your methods and how they fit in with the AP
curriculum. Could you explain them to me?" Any good teacher would be happ=
y
to. =20

    If, on the other hand, few of the teacher's students passed the exam,
you or your child should say, "What are you doing differently from last y=
ear
to better prepare students for the AP exam? What should students in your
class be doing differently from your students last year to better prepare
for the exam?" =20

    If you do not get a satisfactory answer from the teacher, go to the
resource teacher (department head, for us old folks) and lay out your
concerns. Keep your focus on the curriculum and data and don't get
sidetracked by personality issues, such as whether you find the teacher
unapproachable. If you don't get a satisfactory answer from the resource
teacher, go to the principal. If the principal doesn't have a coherent pl=
an
of action, go to the community superintendent -- and if you have to, go t=
o
Superintendent Jerry D. Weast himself. The school system must demonstrate
that it has a plan for making sure students in AP classes are prepared fo=
r
the exams. =20

    The more of this advocacy you and your child can do, the more powerfu=
l
it will be, and -- even more important -- the more he will learn from the
experience. =20

 =20

   Dear Homeroom: =20

    I write to bring your attention to a most disturbing situation at Wal=
t
Whitman High School and perhaps other county high schools. The library is=
n't
available to the students! It's open for a few minutes in the morning and=
 a
few minutes after school, with very limited access during the day. I am
simply flabbergasted that the library of this so-called "leading" high
school, with its thousands of books and expensive computers, is a no man'=
s
land, especially now that the Bethesda public library is closed for a yea=
r
of renovations. Can you get some straight answers as to what is going on,
and how pervasive these limited hours are in other high schools? =20

   Steve Dryden =20

   Bethesda =20

 =20

 =20

    School librarians are expected to work the same hours as teachers, so
high school libraries are officially supposed to be open from 7 a.m. unti=
l 3
p.m., which are the hours at Whitman High School's library. =20

    That means that the times during which students may use school librar=
ies
on their own are very limited, since most students are in classes from 7:=
25
a.m. to 2:15 p.m. Of course, teachers often bring students to libraries t=
o
do research for class projects and so forth. In addition, librarians
generally allow students to use the library during lunch, but since lunch=
es
only run between 30 and 47 minutes, depending on the school, that is not
much time to go browsing for books or use the computers, especially since
students are supposed to eat lunch during that time. =20

    Some librarians work a little longer than required, or they work a fl=
ex
time deal with their assistants so their libraries stay open until 4 p.m.=
 or
so, but they are under no obligation to do so. Whitman's librarian, Ginny
Trulio, said that she is applying for a grant from the Montgomery County
Educational Foundation to pay for someone to staff the library from 3 to =
5
p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, at least until the Bethesda public library
reopens after its renovations. =20

    Librarians -- and I'm being stubbornly anachronistic in calling them
librarians, by the way; their official job title is "media specialist" --
can play a key role in a school's academic program by helping teachers
develop lesson plans, helping students research topics, and teaching
teachers how to use the Internet, among other things. But they can't do a=
ll
that and check out, reshelve, and buy books and materials at the same tim=
e.
So the question of how many people are physically present to work in the
libraries becomes important. =20

    Five of the largest high schools in the county -- Blair, Gaithersburg=
,
Magruder, Springbrook and Wootton -- have two librarians, but the rest of
the high schools have only one. The number of assistants they have seems =
to
vary widely. Whitman, for example, has three full-time assistants, but
others have only one part-time assistant. =20

    It seems beyond obvious that if we want students to achieve at high
levels, we must give them easy access to excellent libraries. This is
especially so for those students who don't have home computers and lots o=
f
books at home. =20

 =20

   Dear Homeroom: =20

    I enjoyed reading the Jan. 10 Homeroom column ["Responsibility to
Educate Adequately, Equitably Belongs to the State"]. However, I do have =
two
minor points to make. The Thornton Commission is recommending $2.9 billio=
n
in additional state spending on education over the next five years. The $=
1.1
billion number often quoted is the cost of the recommendations in the yea=
r
(fiscal 2007) in which they would be fully implemented. They will be phas=
ed
in over five years and will cost $2.9 billion in new expenditures over th=
at
period. Thus, the cost is nearly three times larger than you state. =20

    Second, you stated that the Maryland Constitution only requires two
expenditures, for debt and for education. Article III, Section 52, Paragr=
aph
4 of the state constitution lists more than two expenditures. It lists se=
ven
rather broad categories. For some reason, the "two mandatory expenditures=
"
has been repeated so many times that it is assumed to be correct, but it
does not appear accurate to me. =20

   Rich Madaleno =20

   Kensington =20

 =20

    Madaleno is Montgomery County's lobbyist in Annapolis. =20

 =20

=20

    It is true that the Maryland Constitution does provide for salaries f=
or
those who work in the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the
state government, and it is clear the constitution assumes that public wo=
rks
will be contracted for and paid for. But in terms of actual mandates for
programs, education is pretty much the only constitutional spending
responsibility aside from debt repayment. =20

    Anyone interested in reading Maryland's constitution can find it at
www.mdarchives.state.md.us/msa/mdmanual/43const/html/const.html. The
interesting thing I've noticed as I've been plowing through it is that th=
e
original sections, adopted in 1867, are much more clearly written than an=
y
of the 20th-century amendments, some of which are almost incomprehensible.
It's enough to turn anyone into a bellowing curmudgeon deploring the
declining standards of modern political language. =20

 =20

 =20

    Superintendent Jerry D. Weast has asked for a budget that includes
opening two new Centers for the Highly Gifted, which will offer 100 fourt=
h-
and fifth-graders an opportunity to attend a special program outside of
their home school. This is in addition to the four existing centers.
According to Larry Bowers, the school system's budget guru, it will cost
$130,000 a year just to transport the 100 extra kids. Why we want to spen=
d
$130,000 to schlep kids around the county, rather than to hire and train
great teachers, is simply beyond my ken. =20

    Homeroom appears every week in Montgomery Extra. Send questions,
opinions and issues that you would like to see discussed to Homeroom, The
Washington Post, 51 Monroe St., Suite 500, Rockville, Md. 20850. The fax
number is 301-279-5665. Or e-mail homeroom=A3washpost.com. =20

 =20

LOAD-DATE: January 31, 2002=20

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