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Students Need Libraries (SNL) is based here in Houston, one of the most diverse cities in the world. George Floyd grew up here. His name and life are now a catalyst for so much hurt, protest, and hope – hope that the new waves of activism will result in long overdue systemic change. SNL sees the need to work against racism, the insidious assumptions we have all grown up with no matter our racial heritage. In that effort, SNL today opens a curation of resources to our school librarians, and to our school library stakeholders throughout Houston, in support of improving our understanding and implementation of racial justice. We also hope these resources support our K-12 students to understand and appropriately join activist efforts towards racial justice.
SNL has been working for Equity of Access as long as we have been active, but recent events raise our compulsion to curate these pages. We hope that librarians will refer here for tools to increase community understanding of the issues and their impacts, and to share these resources with their schools. We also hope that stakeholder allies* of school libraries, and even readers who don’t yet understand how to be stakeholder allies, will also find these pages useful because they will stay easy to find even after the dust begins to settle and the access to these resources begins to hide as the media turn to other topics. These pages published today are just the start. We are working to cull the most appropriate choices for our community of K-12 librarians, teachers, parents and students. Please return often to see what is added as we move towards a more just world. Currently (June 20, 2020), posted pages include:
Still under construction:
We thank Velda Hunter, librarian at HISD's Yates High School, and friend James Martin, YA author and bookseller, for their support in vetting the links included. *A Stakeholder Ally is anyone who supports equity of access by all K-12 students in local Houston public and private schools to fully staffed and fully funded school libraries. Librarians, teachers, parents, community members and students are all stakeholders in the goal of strong education for every student, a goal to which school libraries are instrumental contributors. Houston ISD and other school administrators, Houston ISD and other school board members and elected officials in policy- and decision-making positions are also stakeholders. The Houston community is stronger when EVERY K-12 student has strong literacy skills and a love of learning, both of which are fostered by strong school libraries across the districts.
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No apple trees mean no books/materials for the students. Some schools have apple trees (libraries) but they are staffed by clerks or in some cases teachers who may not be prepared to effectively help students access the apples (books). Schools that offer non-librarian staffing may have achieved the level of EQUALITY that has a tree, but their students are on the side with no apples and a too short ladder; they are not receiving the same services as libraries staffed by librarians. In the illustration, staffing is represented by a variety of tools (ladders and baskets) to help students get the apples (books).
Schools in high poverty areas that have librarians and libraries are approaching EQUITY but they still need a taller ladder and stronger funding and resources. The librarian can support program offerings, but actual books and other resources require budget support to meet the needs of students. When HISD figures out how to support fully staffed and fully funded school libraries for every campus, HISD will have begun to offer JUSTICE to all students in the form of equity of access and equality of resources. All students can benefit from a strong library program. Staffing libraries with librarians helps assure that students will be getting the same educational benefits across the district. JUSTICE is attained when all students have access to the library no matter where they live, that all libraries are staffed with a librarian, and that all libraries have a well-funded collection that represents the needs and interests of the population served (lots of beautiful apples). Where is the JUSTICE in providing libraries for some but not for all? This is a key question for both Houston ISD administration and its school board. The artist is Tony Ruth: Maeda, John. "Tony Ruth's Equity Series (2019)." CX Report, 2 June 2020. It took some digging to track the actual artist following the tweet trail backwards, but that's what librarians do! As our self-isolation continues, I find I'm being very creative with my time. And the resources to help me do that are so plentiful that I cannot keep them to myself. So I have added a section to this website called "2020 Remote Learning Resources." as I began collecting links that came my way, I was thinking of the standard things a school librarian needs in normal times - but as COVID19 keeps us constrained, I found my librarian head realizing that what is needed is not normal. Actually, I began these compilations a couple of weeks ago - but today added a host of new materials and subpages.
 Note: Anna Eastman now holds Jessica Farrar’s seat. Contact List for these Texas Legislators: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WcHUpXrYPgGB7Pyai5X0JpHN6hp9rdY1/view?usp=sharing By Dorcas Hand In November, we at SNL read the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) Report (Cited at the end of this post.). In addition to the many issues mentioned, Carly Brown noted this table (Fig. 6, p.12) which details by percentage who in the Texas State Legislature is responsible to voters in HISD. If you want to read the section about HISD school libraries, pages 59-61 will give you the details. I quote the LBB opening paragraph here: “The district lacks a process to ensure that its libraries’ budget, staff, collection size, and collection age align with public school library standards. These standards provide students at different campuses with variable access to high-quality library services. Campus principals have full discretion over staffing and budgets for campus libraries, resulting in inconsistent campus-level library services. Some campus principals choose to offer high quality campus libraries staffed with certified librarians, and other campuses have inadequate or nonexistent library services.” And towards the end of the section, “Nationwide, research suggests that reading, writing, and graduation rates improve where campuses employ certified school librarians. TSLAC’s 2001 analysis of school libraries in Texas, presented in the publication Texas School Libraries: Standards, Resources, Services, and Students’ Performance, determined that school libraries have a measurable impact on student achievement. At the elementary school and middle school levels, approximately 4.0 percent of the variance in state test scores was attributed to school libraries; that percentage more than doubled to 8.2 percent at the high school level. Library variables, including library staffing and items per student, outweighed the effects of other campus variables, including computers per student, teacher experience, and even teacher turnover ratio.” Back to the list of our representatives. Yes, we have our elected local School Board – but we are facing a potential state takeover, in which case our state representatives need to be more aware of what’s happening here at home. These are the people we vote into office, and on whom we rely to support our schools at the state level. SNL suggests that you the voters begin to write your representatives about the state of school libraries in Houston ISD. Tell them what you want to see. And tell your school board representative and HISD administrators from campus to Dr. Lathan that you are doing this. SNL will start sending letters like what we send to the school board, letters that illustrate the power strong school libraries can have to improve student success. Join us! The list of their emails and phone numbers can be found on this Contact List. Downing, Margaret. “Not to Pile It On But the Texas Legislative Budget Board Assessed HISD and It’s Not Good News” (Houston Press, Nov.8, 2019) Legislative Budget Board. “Houston Independent School District Management and Performance Review” (November 2019) by Dorcas Hand
Looking for a new way to work with both teachers and administrators? Apply the new ELAR TEKS to your campus work at the same time you implement the Texas School Library Standards. Take full advantage of the new ELAR TEKS to illustrate your direct impact on student growth. The ELAR TEKS will be fully implemented in 2021-22; until then only TEKS in both the 2009 and 2017 editions will be tested. Full implementation means the new TEKS will be used in the STAAR tests from then forward. (K-8 official info) The Texas State Library and Archives Commission Supplemental Resources and Crosswalks for the 2018 Texas School Library Standards webpage offers a Side-by-Side for the new ELAR TEKS and the Texas School Library Standards. I have adapted the document a bit to make it even more obvious where the links are: Using ELAR TEKS to illustrate School Library Impact based on TX SL Standards. More useful in your library classroom than this overview will be the full ELAR TEKS, which you can find on the ESC19 ELAR page. The ELAR TEKS focus just where you would expect: on reading and writing skills, on auditory and visual comprehension, vocabulary construction, and improved capacity to discuss ideas orally and in writing. The Texas School Library Standards focus on the resources that support these goals most broadly. You already know that, so let’s get specific. Here are a few examples; you will have a hundred other ideas. In Kindergarten, Strand 4 is Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading. The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently. The student is expected to self-select text and interact independently with text for increasing periods of time. You will use your library’s curated collection to provide both students and teachers additional grade appropriate texts for students to read independently, texts that the students can choose according to their own interests and abilities and in addition to classroom offerings. This is a direct impact on student learning. And I have offered the driest suggestion - your collaboration will be colorful and focused on your specific teacher and campus needs and enthusiasms. In Grade 3, Strand 10 is Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances. The student is expected to: a. explain the author's purpose and message within a text; b. explain how the use of text structure contributes to the author's purpose; c. explain the author's use of print and graphic features to achieve specific purposes; d. describe how the author's use of imagery, literal and figurative language such as simile, and sound devices such as onomatopoeia achieves specific purposes; e. identify the use of literary devices, including first- or third-person point of view; f. discuss how the author's use of language contributes to voice; and g. identify and explain the use of hyperbole. Listening to students discuss the books they are borrowing today, or the book they loved last week, supports this goal directly as well. With a bit of guidance, these discussions can go right into the classroom to teach skills that will be tested - and enthusiasm can remain high because the students themselves own the book choices. Palacio’s Wonder, Harry Potter, Riordan’s Lightning Thief series - I could go on. In Grade 6, Strand 12 is Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes. The student is expected to: a. generate student-selected and teacher-guided questions for formal and informal inquiry; b. develop and revise a plan; c. refine the major research question, if necessary, guided by the answers to a secondary set of questions; d. identify and gather relevant information from a variety of sources; e. differentiate between primary and secondary sources; f. synthesize information from a variety of sources; g. differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism when using source materials; h. examine sources for: i. reliability, credibility, and bias; and ii. faulty reasoning such as hyperbole, emotional appeals, and stereotype; i. display academic citations and use source materials ethically; and j. use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results. Our TX School Library Standards are built around an Inquiry Process with a very specific eye on your ability to tie your work to student growth in the classroom. Any research project offers you a place to start. The first four strands of the Library Standards focus on all the skills around reading and inquiry, the strands that align with the ELAR TEKS. Library Strands 5 & 6 focus on the behind the scenes work of librarians: maintaining a safe and nurturing environment, and demonstrating leadership. Both of these standards will be in play as you offer leadership in connecting your resources and teaching expertise to classroom curricula, and in welcoming all your students to an inviting library space that encourages them to read to succeed. These new ELAR TEKS currently in implementation in all our TX public schools offer school librarians a gem of an opportunity to raise awareness of our direct impact on student achievement. You can start small to take full advantage of this opportunity by working on these Action Items:
Many thanks to Liz Philippi of TSLAC for organizing the Supplemental Resources for easy access, and to Terry Roper, Library Consultant at ESC Region 10, for leading the organization of the ELAR/Standards Crosswalk. by Debbie Hall
Here is an example of an email contacting new board members and giving them information about the school libraries across the district or your own school. Most school board members don’t have an education background and need to be informed about school libraries. Send “your board representative” news from your library or invite them to stop by. Tell them a story. Let’s educate the Board of Education. This email was sent to our four recently elected board members on Feb 4, 2020. We also sent an attachment which you can find in this link. The School Librarian's Role in Reading is an updated, released this week, AASL position paper. An excerpt of this email was also sent to the five school board incumbents. We are contacting you to welcome you to the school board of the Houston Independent School District. We know that you are committed to doing your best to increase student success and provide needed services to the young people of our district. Please know that you have support in the community for your work. Student success and increasing needed services are part of our mission as well. During your campaign our community group, Students Need Libraries in Houston ISD, contacted you to provide information relating to the state of school libraries in HISD. You may have seen the article by Jacob Carpenter in the Houston Chronicle (November 18, 2019) which described the issue of low circulation in libraries in many of the district’s schools. Here is a link to that article in case you missed it: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/It-saddens-me-Thousands-of-HISD-students-14839118.php# Mr. Carpenter’s article speaks the truth about the state of HISD’s school libraries. Circulation of materials is not up to standard because the district has failed to realize the importance of school libraries and has permitted school libraries to founder. It is not surprising that lower reading scores across the district have occurred in tandem with a lack of support for school libraries by the central administration. Principals may choose to close their library or understaff their library at their discretion. The lack of library services is an equity issue when some schools have these services and others do not. Currently, there are over 55 schools with closed or vacant libraries in HISD. Aldine, Alief, Fort Bend, and Spring Branch currently staff all of their schools with certified librarians and have no service or equity issues. For further information about libraries in the district as a whole or in your area, please contact Kallie Benes who is the library manager for HISD’s Library Services. I am sure she would be eager to provide you with up-to-date information. We would also encourage you to look at our library advocacy website at https://www.studentsneedlibrariesinhisd.org/ Libraries must provide materials on many reading levels and materials that appeal to the broad interests of students who want great stories and have a hunger to learn more about the world they inhabit. School libraries staffed by certified librarians and with a sufficient budget to provide collections that can satisfy the curiosity of young minds. I am attaching a recent document from the American Association of School Librarians which outlines the librarian’s role in the reading program. Please consider using your influence to restore the school libraries our students need now. We provide information for all who seek to improve access to school libraries through our website. We collaborate and work with other groups who support public schools. Please contact us if we can provide additional information or support. We encourage you to visit the school library when you are on campuses and evaluate what is offered for yourself. by Dorcas Hand The SNL Team met last week to plan our approach for Spring 2020. Planning usually involves a bit of review of what’s done or in progress - especially at the start of a new calendar year.  Image from SNL website homepage. Our reflection reminded us that SNL-HISD stands on four key pillars, all of which come from our mission:
Equity for all HISD students should need no explanation. We in SNL know that all students are more successful academically when they have access to a strong school library. A strong school library is more than a bunch of books on shelves in a locked room on a campus. Without a person managing the library, the library is pretty much wasted space and money. Who will interest students in the available books? Ask teachers and students what new books to buy? Manage the books to be sure they are shelved for easy access by those who want or need them? Request the budget needed to buy new books and place that order? And accomplish so much more in behalf of student achievement and teacher support based on the expertise born of school library training? Experienced staff is key, literally The Key that unlocks the door to the magic in the library. Traditional public schools offer every student within the district’s boundaries access to an education. HISD students should graduate literate and knowledgeable, ready for college, career and citizenship responsibilities. These schools need to be staffed with trained teachers, teacher-librarians and administrators whose top priority is student success, not test scores. Students Need Libraries HISD does not exist in a vacuum. We are here to educate our community how best to request and support school libraries. We are also here to work with other community groups whose missions overlap ours. Collaboration is how the world works best. Given these pillars, what did 2019 bring us? And how does our work in 2019 affect our plans for 2020? Successes:
Challenges
Plans
Debbie Hall & Dorcas Hand were invited as guest speakers in the class after the Houston Chronicle article and editorial. Hogg librarian Mary Chance also works with SNL. The students had lots of great questions and comments – we wish more adults would ask similar questions and insist their neighborhood schools support campus libraries.
‘It saddens me’: Thousands of HISD students never check out books from school libraries by Jacob Carpenter, Nov. 18, 2019 Libraries belong in every HISD school [Editorial], Nov. 22, 2019 NOTE: Student names are not included. We made small editorial corrections for clarity. No person in their right mind should allow a child to be deprived from the joy of opening a book and flipping a page that have words that can open a world of possibilities, thoughts, and perspectives to a child. “I believe that when a school does not have an open library, children cannot grow their vocabulary, reading fluency and common knowledge which will influence the standardized testing scores in a negative way causing more stress on teachers and limiting creative expression. I think if there is not a library for kids to get their books from they’re not going to see the importance of reading throughout their life. I wonder, do schools in poor neighborhoods that have a high number of kids get the same amount of funds as a school that has the same exact number of kids but in a nicer neighborhood. I wonder if schools in HISD that do not have a library are all the same low income area or are they all around the Houston area. “An empty library feels unwelcoming and cold, and if a library feels cold, children aren’t going to want to be in there. The less children a library has, the closer the library is to oblivion.” “In my opinion, children learn a lot from books and can help their skill in inferring or in speech because of the words or facts that can be learned from books like expanding vocabulary and can immerse a child in a world they could never imagine. It could also increase creativity and expand knowledge of that child.” I feel like it is important for schools to have a library because it’ll grow the literacy of the child. I wonder why young people who don’t use or explore their library have libraries they don’t appreciate or understand the reason they need to explore ready. If someone lives under one circumstance, then when they grow up they will not have the common knowledge that there is more out there. When one grows up believing something it can be hard to change that mindset. This will eventually set off a chain of people with one basic idea. There would be no substantial difference (no diversity). There could be a teacher working in the library but the teacher might not try or work hard to have a good library. I wonder if some schools in nicer neighborhoods even have libraries even if it’s more better then less nicer neighborhoods and pretend to have a library to save money they got. by Dorcas Hand
Looking for a new way to work with both teachers and administrators? Apply the new ELAR TEKS to your campus work at the same time you implement the Texas School Library Standards. Take full advantage of the new ELAR TEKS to illustrate your direct impact on student growth. The ELAR TEKS will be fully implemented in 2021-22; until then only TEKS in both the 2009 and 2017 editions will be tested. Full implementation means the new TEKS will be used in the STAAR tests from then forward. (K-8 official info) The Texas State Library and Archives Commission Supplemental Resources and Crosswalks for the 2018 Texas School Library Standards webpage offers a Side-by-Side for the new ELAR TEKS and the Texas School Library Standards. I have adapted the document a bit to make it even more obvious where the links are: Using ELAR TEKS to illustrate School Library Impact based on TX SL Standards. More useful in your library classroom than this overview will be the full ELAR TEKS, which you can find on the ESC19 ELAR page. The ELAR TEKS focus just where you would expect: on reading and writing skills, on auditory and visual comprehension, vocabulary construction, and improved capacity to discuss ideas orally and in writing. The Texas School Library Standards focus on the resources that support these goals most broadly. You already know that, so let’s get specific. Here are a few examples; you will have a hundred other ideas. In Kindergarten, Strand 4 is Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading. The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently. The student is expected to self-select text and interact independently with text for increasing periods of time. You will use your library’s curated collection to provide both students and teachers additional grade appropriate texts for students to read independently, texts that the students can choose according to their own interests and abilities and in addition to classroom offerings. This is a direct impact on student learning. And I have offered the driest suggestion - your collaboration will be colorful and focused on your specific teacher and campus needs and enthusiasms. In Grade 3, Strand 10 is Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances. The student is expected to: a. explain the author's purpose and message within a text; b. explain how the use of text structure contributes to the author's purpose; c. explain the author's use of print and graphic features to achieve specific purposes; d. describe how the author's use of imagery, literal and figurative language such as simile, and sound devices such as onomatopoeia achieves specific purposes; e. identify the use of literary devices, including first- or third-person point of view; f. discuss how the author's use of language contributes to voice; and g. identify and explain the use of hyperbole. Listening to students discuss the books they are borrowing today, or the book they loved last week, supports this goal directly as well. With a bit of guidance, these discussions can go right into the classroom to teach skills that will be tested - and enthusiasm can remain high because the students themselves own the book choices. Palacio’s Wonder, Harry Potter, Riordan’s Lightning Thief series - I could go on. In Grade 6, Strand 12 is Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes. The student is expected to: a. generate student-selected and teacher-guided questions for formal and informal inquiry; b. develop and revise a plan; c. refine the major research question, if necessary, guided by the answers to a secondary set of questions; d. identify and gather relevant information from a variety of sources; e. differentiate between primary and secondary sources; f. synthesize information from a variety of sources; g. differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism when using source materials; h. examine sources for: i. reliability, credibility, and bias; and ii. faulty reasoning such as hyperbole, emotional appeals, and stereotype; i. display academic citations and use source materials ethically; and j. use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results. Our TX School Library Standards are built around an Inquiry Process with a very specific eye on your ability to tie your work to student growth in the classroom. Any research project offers you a place to start. The first four strands of the Library Standards focus on all the skills around reading and inquiry, the strands that align with the ELAR TEKS. Library Strands 5 & 6 focus on the behind the scenes work of librarians: maintaining a safe and nurturing environment, and demonstrating leadership. Both of these standards will be in play as you offer leadership in connecting your resources and teaching expertise to classroom curricula, and in welcoming all your students to an inviting library space that encourages them to read to succeed. These new ELAR TEKS currently in implementation in all our TX public schools offer school librarians a gem of an opportunity to raise awareness of our direct impact on student achievement. You can start small to take full advantage of this opportunity by working on these Action Items:
Many thanks to Liz Philippi of TSLAC for organizing the Supplemental Resources for easy access, and to Terry Roper, Library Consultant at ESC Region 10, for leading the organization of the ELAR/Standards Crosswalk. By Dorcas Hand
A friend recently posted in a school library listserv a note about his current work with his administration around his own professional portfolio. In that context, he asked us also on that listserv to respond to a survey entitled Questions of Practice. Others commented on how useful they found the exercise personally. And I was inspired to throw the question to you, the Students Need Libraries in HISD community. “As librarians we are uniquely suited to add value to our institutions in numerous ways. What are 3-5 ways that you add value to your school that are unique to libraries, library programming, and librarianship?” I can paraphrase the question: Why do you, the school librarian, matter to your campus? I have remade the survey here so that your results will be aggregated for us, the SNL Community. I hope you will find a few minutes to consider your answers, and to find inspiration in them. Please reply by November 21, 2019. I will aggregate the results for a December post that can inspire your New Year's Resolution plan. |
