Copyright 1999 Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.
Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony
May 20, 1999
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1967 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY May 20, 1999 LINDA WOOD SCHOOL LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALIST
SENATE HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR & PENSIONS ELEMENTARY
SECOND EDUCATION ACT REAUTORIZATION
BODY:
Statement
of Linda Wood School Library Media Specialist South Kingstown High School
Wakefield, Rhode Island Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Hearing on Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
Thursday, May 20, 1999 Good Morning Senator Jeffords and members of the Senate
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. I am Linda Wood, a school
library media specialist from South Kingstown High School in Wakefield, Rhode
Island. I am pleased to testify before this Committee as you discuss the
reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. I am especially
pleased to be appearing on behalf of school librarians who play an important
part in imparting and encouraging information literacy skills in students. I
recall meeting with then Representative, now Senator, Jack Reed in the spring of
1990 to discuss the great need to support school libraries as they emerged from
a decade of neglect; now it's been nearly two decades. Representative Reed saw
this need as an opportunity to help children rediscover the joy of reading and
love of learning. He responded to the need with a provision to assist schools in
acquiring library materials (Title III, Technology for Education, Part F,
Elementary and Secondary School Library Media Resources Program). This provision
was sponsored by Representative Jack Reed and Senators Jeff Bingaman, Paul Simon
and Paul Sarbanes. Although the provision to assist school libraries was
approved and included in the Improving America's Schools Act, it was never
funded and was eliminated from the Act in 1996. The need is even greater today
because of increased technology, an essential part of any school library. Many
school libraries have had to choose between buying books or purchasing computer
hardware and software. This is a sacrifice that cannot continue. It is now time
to respond to Senator Reed's vision. I would like to highlight four points in my
testimony today School library Materials. There should be specific funds
included in the reauthorization for school library materials. Hiring of School
Library Media Specialists. Incentives should be included to encourage the hiring
of more school library media specialists who can ensure incorporation of new
technologies into the curriculum. Sharing Resources Using Technology. There
should be funds to promote resource sharing electronically between school
libraries and between public and school libraries. Adequate Funding. School
libraries should be funded at the level needed to achieve the maximum benefits
for students. My written testimony provides some of the research and findings to
support these recommendations. Need for School Library Materials: The average
cost of a school library book is $16.00; but the median per student expenditure
by schools was about half a book a year $6.73 for elementary schools; $7.30 for
middle schools; $6.27 for senior high schools (School Library Journal, October
1997) Even at South Kingstown High School, a school considered one of the best
in Rhode Island, our district expenditure for books is less than $8.00 per
pupil, or half a book. I think it is reasonable to request funding at the level
of one book per pupil. When I began at South Kingstown High School 23 years ago,
the average cost of a library book was around $5.82. My book budget, thanks in
part to Title II b of the 1965 ESEA Act was over $9,000. Today
the cost per book has tripled and my book budget is less than $9,000.
Ironically, it is many of those books purchased in the late sixties and early
seventies that are now outdated and need to be replaced with current and
accurate materials. With the burgeoning school population, the lack of funding
for library materials will place many school libraries even further behind,
particularly in the elementary schools, the very place where a wide variety of
interesting books on many reading levels can lead to a life-long love of
reading. Need for School Library Media Specialists. Only 68 percent of schools
have state certified school library media specialists according to Department of
Education statistics gathered in 1993- 94 (NCES, U.S. Dept. of Ed, 1998). Many
elementary school libraries are staffed by volunteers and are open only one or
two days per week. Books are lost, volumes missing in encyclopedia sets,
material is damaged due to lack of supervision. One of the other fall-outs from
lack of professional staff is inaccurate or incomplete information leading the
student to misunderstanding and misinformation. It is not that librarians know
all the answers. They simply know where to find the answers. Our role has
changed from information seeker to true teacher, helping the student to analyze,
select, evaluate and apply the information to all kinds of situations. This is
what we mean by "critical thinking skills," and teaching it requires certified
professional school library media specialists, not technology experts. Sharing
Resources Using Technology: It seems that every time one turns around there is a
new technology. One of the major changes recently has been from CD-ROMs to
online databases. In Rhode Island we are piloting a state-wide electronic online
catalog of shared school library holdings called RILINK (Rhode Island Library
Information Network for Kids). This is the first state- wide school library
shared database in the country which is not on a CD-ROM. RILINK shows shelf
status of the library materials, a feature important to students who usually
need the material "yesterday." RILINK's mission is to assist schools in their
efforts to close the gaps in student learning by giving all students, faculty
and staff increased access to materials and to promote life-long patterns of
learning and effective use of ideas and information. Since RILINK is on the
Internet, students, faculty, staff, the school community - in fact, everyone in
the state can view the electronic database. The school catalog is virtually
available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, throughout the school year from any
location with access to the Internet. Requests for inter-library loan are done
through email; delivery is provided free by the state courier system. It will be
expanding to include public libraries as well. An exciting and innovative
feature in RILINK is the "856 electronic tag" which means, in plain English,
there is a link from the library book record to related Internet sites. There
are 25 schools in the country testing this software; Rhode Island has 2 of the
sites, and is about to add 10 more. All Internet sites are appropriate for
school children and are maintained on the vendor's server. Research shows that
the highest achieving students come from schools with good libraries. Students
in schools with well- equipped library media centers and professional library
media specialists perform better on achievement tests for reading comprehension
and basic research skills. Increased funding for school library media centers
has a positive effect on teaching and learning in the school. A federally funded
study documents the positive impact of school library media programs on academic
achievement in 221 Colorado public schools (Keith Curry Lance, The Impact of
School Library Media Centers on Academic Achievement, OERI, U.S. Department of
Education, 1994). The 1993 Colorado Department of Education study showed that
library media expenditures on staff and collections promote student achievement.
Specifically the study showed that where school libraries are better funded,
academic achievement is higher, regardless of whether schools are located in
rich or poor communities and regardless of how well adults in the community are
educated. The study also found that better funding for school libraries fosters
academic achievement by providing students access to more library staff and
larger and more varied collections. One has only to look at California's closed
school libraries, lack of school library personnel and low rank in reading test
scores to see what happens when the opposite is true. As a result of cuts in
revenue imposed by Proposition 13, California sank to the lowest ranking among
the states in reading scores. California is beginning to make great strides to
repair the situation, but I am sorry for those students who weren't able to
benefit from good librarians, nor enjoy good books during the years of neglect.
In a report, The Power of Reading,(Stephen Krashen, Libraries Unlimited,
Englewood, Co., 1993) a review of hundreds of research studies was conducted
exploring the power of free voluntary reading. That is, reading a young person
chooses to do, not that is assigned to do. Steve Krashen, the author, not only
summarized these studies but, when possible, re-analyzed experimental data with
current statistical tools to re-check the previous study results. Results showed
that the amount of free voluntary reading is the best predictor of reading
comprehension, vocabulary growth, spelling ability, grammatical usage, and
writing style. The results also show that the best ways to promote reading
achievement are by creating a print-rich environment, providing large library
collections, reading aloud, using sustained silent reading, encouraging readers,
promoting positive reading habits, and modeling reading by parents, teachers,
and friends. Why do I refer to all these studies? Because all of them conclude
that a well-funded and well-staffed school library media program is essential
for successful teaching and learning outcomes. The overall message, however, can
be summed up as, there is no point teaching a child how to read if there is
nothing for the child to read! It is not the method of teaching reading that
lies at the heart of any reading crisis; it is access to reading material. There
is a great deal of research that demonstrates that comprehension, vocabulary,
spelling, grammar and writing style all improve with the increase in the amount
of reading a child does. Within the next few weeks, Senator Jack Reed will be
introducing a piece of legislation to help school libraries and the students who
use them. I ask this committee to consider including it in the legislation you
eventually craft in this committee to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act. I know from experience the rewards and challenges of helping
students make the most of library resources. I've seen a child become
super-motivated because of curiosity and interest in a particular subject area.
The student's enthusiasm and pursuit of information have energized and excited
me for more than twenty years as a school library media specialist. I have
collaborated with teachers on several classroom oral history projects teaching
students through hands-on experience how to access, evaluate and use
information. I have helped to create web sites on specific subject areas like
the role of Women in World War II (www.stg.brown.edu/projects/WWII-Women/) and
the events of the tumultuous year 1968 (www.stg.brown.edu/projects/1968), a
blending of both old and new techniques with the excitement of the Internet.
This sort of hands-on teaching and learning that has gone on at my high school
has been fascinating and fulfilling for me. In conclusion, I ask you, on behalf
of the children just learning to read, on behalf of the children exploring new
fields of interest, and on behalf of the young people about to enter the world
of work or the world of college, to include specific help for school libraries
and the students who use them in the reauthorization package so these students
can indeed be lifelong learners and critical thinkers. They need your help. I
hope you will help them by making this a top priority. Thank you for your
attention.
LOAD-DATE: May 24, 1999
