[Libs-Or] News To Use: School Media Program Standards Report

[OLA President]

*News To Use: School Media Program Standards Report*

*March 17, 2022*



*News to Use
<https://www.olaweb.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=199#NewstoUse>
is
a series of messages from the Oregon Library Association’s Library
Development and Legislation Committee (LDLC) about policy and advocacy
topics of interest to the Oregon library community.*



You may have recently seen information regarding a recently completed study
from the Oregon Department of Education about school library programs in
Oregon
<https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/standards/library/Documents/Budget%20Note%20for%20Media%20Program%20Standards%20Study%20Report%20-%20Dec%202021%20accessible.pdf>
.



*What is this study all about, you might ask?* Here is a brief overview.

During the 2021 Legislative Session, Oregon Association of School Libraries
(OASL) advocated for a bill to look at school library media standards in
Oregon. The main points of that effort were to:

   - Direct the Department of Education (ODE) to convene an advisory group
   to evaluate and report to the legislature:
      - If current library media program standards address student learning
      needs;
      - How to best measure district compliance to current library media
      program standards.
   - Require the State Board of Education to consult with the State Library
   when establishing library media program standards.
   - Add “information literacy” to directives concerning opportunities for
   students to learn civics and financial literacy.



Some legislative clerical errors and decisions made by the Governor
resulted in that bill becoming a budget note instead.  Becoming a budget
note took away some parts of the bill but kept the requirement for ODE to
conduct a study into the state of Oregon school libraries and to deliver
that report to the legislature by December 2021.  ODE created a team to do
the study and the team sent surveys to stakeholders and used the results of
those surveys and current literature on successful school libraries to
create the Budget Note for Media Program Standards Study Report
<https://www.oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/standards/library/Documents/Budget%20Note%20for%20Media%20Program%20Standards%20Study%20Report%20-%20Dec%202021%20accessible.pdf>
.



*Why do you care?*

Most students in Oregon no longer have access to licensed
teacher-librarians and their school libraries are staffed by aides,
volunteers or not at all.  The number of licensed school librarians in
Oregon has dropped from more than 800 FTE in the 1980s to 160 FTE today –
for 197 school districts!  Students need to learn the skills to filter and
evaluate information and strong school libraries feature licensed school
librarians with the training, expertise, and credentials to teach these
skills.  You can learn more about how Oregon’s school libraries compare
with those in other states in the SLIDE study
<https://libslide.org/publications/perspectives/>.



*What comes next?  *

LDLC and OASL will work with OLA’s lobbyists to use the information from
the budget note to create a plan to advocate in the 2023 legislative
session for resources and support for strong school libraries.



*Want to learn more or get more involved? *

OASL’s Advocacy Toolkit
<https://sites.google.com/OASL.olaweb.org/oasladvocacytoolkit/#h.p_hPUFsK1RPU6l>
is
a fantastic place to learn more about the importance of school libraries.
If you would like to get involved, please reach out to members of the OASL
Advocacy Committee at oasl-advocacy at googlegroups.com.

-- 
Arlene Weible
Oregon Library Association President, 2021-2022
olapresident at olaweb.org
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