From AMEUCHEL at ci.tualatin.or.us Mon Aug 1 18:30:38 2011 From: AMEUCHEL at ci.tualatin.or.us (AIMEE MEUCHEL) Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 01:30:38 +0000 Subject: [OYAN] OYAN Book Rave 2012 Message-ID: Hello to all. This is Aimee, the incoming vice co-chair of OYAN. For those of you new to the OYAN list serve, I am the Book Rave coordinator and I keep track of Book Rave nominations. Attached is the Book Rave nominations spreadsheet. New recommendations are in red, so this being the first publishing of this year's spreadsheet, all titles are in red. In future updates, previously suggested titles with a new nomination will get a red addition to the nominations number (always welcome as these might prompt others to give the book a try). Also included are the month and year of publication, author's name, and the book's genre. This year I've also included a "tags" field on the spreadsheet, in case a one word genre description just doesn't do it justice. If you can't open up the attachment (which seems to be commonplace with those of you receiving this in the digest form), e-mail me and I can send you the file directly to your e-mail. When nominating a book, please include the author, title genre, and month and year of publication. Send all nominations to ameuchel at ci.tualatin.or.us. The last day to nominate a title is December 1st. Here's some official dates to remember: * Dec. 1: Nominations close. * Dec. 15: Preliminary voting opens. * Jan. 15: Preliminary voting closes. Again, please send all nominations to ameuchel at ci.tualatin.or.us. Thanks!, Aimee Aimee Meuchel Teen Services Librarian City of Tualatin | Tualatin Public Library 18878 SW Martinazzi Avenue, Tualatin, OR 97062-7092 503-691-3083 | www.ci.tualatin.or.us Please consider the environment before printing this email. DISCLAIMER: This email is a public record of the City of Tualatin and is subject to public disclosure unless exempt from disclosure under Oregon Public Records Law. This email is subject to the State Retention Schedule. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Book Rave 2012.xls Type: application/vnd.ms-excel Size: 31744 bytes Desc: Book Rave 2012.xls URL: From katie.anderson at state.or.us Tue Aug 2 08:17:04 2011 From: katie.anderson at state.or.us (Katie Anderson) Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 15:17:04 +0000 Subject: [OYAN] Professional Development: teen services, $19 Webinars-on-demand! Message-ID: <640435851FD7CB4AB3C4BE0D1963BA241BA674AA@OSLEXCHANGE.osl.state.or.us.local> Looking for low-cost professional development around teen services? ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) now offers previously recorded webinars on demand! Webinars-on-Demand cost $19 per webinar or 3 for $49 to people who are not members of YALSA. Those of you who are YALSA members-these webinars are free! What is a Webinar-on Demand? It's a previously recorded webinar that you can view on your computer whenever you want. Since it is pre-recorded there are not opportunities to ask questions of the presenters or participate in the conversation. Below are a few Webinars-on-Demand of particular interest, check out the full listing online at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/onlinecourses/webinarsondemand.cfm Do More with Less: Passive Programs Keeping up programming in the face of budget cuts and staff reductions are challenges school and public librarians across the country are facing. Gregory Lum, Library Director at Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon and Sarah Ludwig, past Head of Teen and Technology Services at Darien Public Library in Darien, Connecticut and current Academic Technology Coordinator at Hamden Hall Country Day School led a conversation on budget friendly passive programs. Gregory and Sarah discussed how school and public librarians can plan, design and implement passive programs for their library. Participants in this webinar will learn about passive program ideas and how to turn passive programs into low-cost active programs. Program ideas discussed during the webinar will be posted to a wiki where participants can continue to discuss and share ideas. Buy this recording! Back to Basics: Updated Guidelines for Everyday Service to 21st Century Teens The current generation of teens is the most ethnically diverse and technologically plugged in ever. Is your library ready to serve them? YALSA's Competencies for Librarians Serving Youth play a key role in everyday service to young adult patrons. Join Sarah Flowers, author of Young Adults Deserve the Best: Putting YALSA's Competencies into Action, to discuss practical ways to promote and apply the YALSA Competencies to ensure quality library service to the teens in your community. Buy this recording! Tech 4 U: Technology Programs for Every User Animoto, VoiceThread, Comic Creator, Toondoo, Storybird-what are these strange names? They are all fun, easy-to-use web applications that can be tailored to suit any program for teens. Whether you feel comfortable delving into technology or you would like to do more but are unsure where to begin, this webinar will give you the tools to find and use technology that will entertain and teach your young adult patrons. Megan Fink, middle school librarian and advisor at the Charlotte Country Day School, will discuss web-based applications that can suit any special event, after school program or educational lesson. Our Tech 4 U webinar puts you in the driver's seat to enjoyable technology programming. Buy this recording! Katie Anderson, Library Development Services * Youth Services Consultant * Oregon Center for the Book Coordinator * Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 katie.anderson at state.or.us, 503-378-2528 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From lamorlock at hotmail.com Fri Aug 5 10:54:34 2011 From: lamorlock at hotmail.com (Leigh Morlock) Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 10:54:34 -0700 Subject: [OYAN] The Oregon Association of School Libraries Fall 2011 Conference Committee is now accepting poster-session proposals. Message-ID: Join OYAN, Reading is an Investment, The Queens of Teen Lit, and others presenting at the OASL conference poster session to inform, engage, or amuse Oregon's school librarians and school library staffers! The Oregon Association of School Libraries Fall 2011 Conference Committee is looking for poster-session proposals in all school-library related areas. If you have an idea you would like to share, please submit all proposals to Leigh Morlock at lamorlock at hotmail.com. Deadline for proposals is September 12th, 2011. The OASL Fall Conference will be at the Seaside Convention Center October 14th and 15th and this year?s theme is You Don?t Look Like A Librarian: What Does School Librarianship Look Like in the 21st Century? For more information on the conference, visit the conference website. Poster-sessions will run concurrent with our exhibitors in the exhibition hall. A poster-session representative must be available during specified vendor hours (Friday 4pm-7pm and Saturday 10:15am-11:00am; 1:30pm-3:00pm) to discuss content with conference attendees. You are not required to attend the conference to participate in the poster-session, however, if you want to attend any sessions or meals, you will need to register OASL Conference Registration. Please email me if you have any questions. Leigh Morlock OASL Fall Conference 2011 Co-Chair -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From katie.anderson at state.or.us Fri Aug 12 16:17:46 2011 From: katie.anderson at state.or.us (Katie Anderson) Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 23:17:46 +0000 Subject: [OYAN] Contest for Teens: Deadline Sept. 9, 2011 Message-ID: <640435851FD7CB4AB3C4BE0D1963BA241BA8BE54@OSLEXCHANGE.osl.state.or.us.local> Hi! I just learned of the following contest for teens. Please contact Ali McCart with all questions and information requests. Ali McCart Executive Editor & Director of Business Development Indigo Editing & Publications www.indigoediting.com Facebook, @indigoediting Katie Anderson, Library Development Services * Youth Services Consultant * Oregon Center for the Book Coordinator * Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 katie.anderson at state.or.us, 503-378-2528 ________________________________ From: olc-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu [olc-bounces at lists.oregonstate.edu] on behalf of Ali McCart [amccart at indigoediting.com] Sent: Friday, August 12, 2011 2:08 PM To: olc-request at lists.oregonstate.edu; olc at lists.oregonstate.edu Subject: [ORLit-L] Contest for Teens: Deadline Sept. 9, 2011 Hi, all, I am working on the new editions of the books Boys Who Rocked the World and Girls Who Rocked the World, to be released by Beyond Words Publishing in 2012, and we're running a contest for teens to submit their world-rocking goals! Please pass the following information on to anyone you know who is a teen or works with teens. How Will You Rock the World? Contest The new editions of Girls Who Rocked the World and Boys Who Rocked the World (Beyond Words Publishing, 2012) are almost ready to go to press, but we need your help! We need to hear from today's teens about how they plan to rock the world. We'll be taking submissions at www.kidswhorockedtheworld.wordpress.com through Friday, September 9, 2011. Then we?ll select the thirty most inspiring goals from today?s teens for each of the books. Winners will have their goals published in the corresponding book and will receive a free copy. Watch the site in September to see who wins! *** If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me by email (amccart at indigoediting.com). All the best, Ali McCart Executive Editor & Director of Business Development Indigo Editing & Publications www.indigoediting.com Facebook, @indigoediting Director Sledgehammer Writing Contest www.sledgehammercontest.com Facebook, @sledgehammerwri -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jennifer.maurer at state.or.us Wed Aug 17 09:07:45 2011 From: jennifer.maurer at state.or.us (Jennifer Maurer) Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:07:45 +0000 Subject: [OYAN] FW: [oasl-all] Summer Tidbits from the Library World: Part 1 Message-ID: Yesterday I sent an email to the OASL listserv with announcements and resources related to school libraries. Below are the items that also pertain to public libraries, for anyone who might be interested. Notice a YALSA webinar that is being offered this Thursday. FYI, Jen Jennifer Maurer School Library Consultant Library Development Oregon State Library 250 Winter Street NE Salem, OR 97301-3950 503-378-5011 jennifer.maurer at state.or.us From: oasl-all at oema.memberclicks.net [mailto:oasl-all at oema.memberclicks.net] On Behalf Of Jennifer Maurer Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 5:55 PM To: Jennifer Maurer Subject: [oasl-all] Summer Tidbits from the Library World: Part 1 Here?s hoping that you are having a great summer! This information has been culled from American Libraries Direct, Library Hotline, AASL Hotline, ODE, and other sources. If you don?t have time to read everything, I encourage you to scan the headings for dates and deadlines and for what you deem most important. ALA/AASL AASL Published its List of Top 25 Websites for Teaching and Learning Theoretically you have a bit more time during the summer, so now?s the time to browse the list and learn about a new resource or two. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/bestlist/bestwebsitestop25.cfm#content AASL Hosts Online Book Discussion of The Shallows Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, will be a keynote speaker at the 2011 AASL Conference in Minneapolis in late October. In anticipation of that, anyone is welcome to join an online discussion of The Shallows. Starting this week, a chapter per week will be discussed. http://aasl11.ning.com/group/the-shallows-book-discussion http://www.aasl11.org/ Information Literacy From 140 Characters to 10 Pages: Teens, Social Media, and Information Literacy That?s the name of a webinar being sponsored by YALSA on August 18th at 11am. Laura Pearle ?will discuss how school and public librarians can help their teens use social media for research projects. She?ll explore ways to help teens locate appropriate material in social media streams as well as determine the validity of the source material. Participants will learn how to create research focused Twitter hashtag lists for students and how to assist students in citing information from social media sources. Laura will also discuss how librarians can help teens become good digital citizens when contributing to social media streams.? Registration costs between $29 and $49. http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/onlinecourses/webinar.cfm Intellectual Freedom/Censorship Banned Books Week ...is an annual event drawing attention to the concept of intellectual freedom. It is celebrated during the last week of September, and this year that?s September 24th ? October 1st. For those who want to promote the event, the ALA Store has posters, bookmarks, t-shirts, and more. http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/index.cfm http://www.alastore.ala.org/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=269 [cid:image001.jpg at 01CC578B.CA685E90] Image from alastore.org Banned Sites Day A school librarian in Connecticut plans to launch Banned Sites Day on September 28th, in conjunction with Banned Books Week, to draw attention to what she considers the unfair practice of banning students from accessing Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sites on school computers. "This is the kind of culture they'll be in once they get into the workforce, and for students to be participatory in the workplace and school, we have to provide a wider array of experiences," said Michelle Luhtala. Now I see that AASL is celebrating Banned Sites Day as well. I?m not sure who had the idea first. http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/New-Canaan-librarian-draws-attention-to-schools-1663414.php http://ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pr.cfm?id=7873 Richland, WA School Board Reverses Ban on Alexie Book Sherman Alexie?s frequently challenged The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was added back to district reading lists in Richland, Washington when the school board reversed its earlier decision to remove it. One school member said, ?I won't vote to remove a book from the selection before I read it." Exactly! Encourage folks to read books in question before they make decisions about them. http://www.thenewstribune.com/2011/07/12/1741918/richland-school-board-reverses.html#ixzz1UfYB48t9 Thanks, Jen Jennifer Maurer School Library Consultant Library Development Oregon State Library 250 Winter Street NE Salem, OR 97301-3950 503-378-5011 jennifer.maurer at state.or.us -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 7610 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: From katie.anderson at state.or.us Tue Aug 23 10:31:15 2011 From: katie.anderson at state.or.us (Katie Anderson) Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2011 17:31:15 +0000 Subject: [OYAN] Destination College Savings: entry deadline is 9/2 (next week!) Message-ID: <640435851FD7CB4AB3C4BE0D1963BA241BAC98FB@OSLEXCHANGE.osl.state.or.us.local> [cid:image003.png at 01CC617F.B3D8C310] Destination College Savings Fifteen Chances for your Library to Win $500! Dear Oregon Libraries, Thanks for your participation in Destination College Savings, a joint effort of the Oregon College Savings Plan, the State Library and the Oregon Library Association designed to get more kids involved in your library's summer reading program while raising awareness about saving for college. By encouraging your patrons to participate, you will help 15 families win $1,000 toward their college education. Plus, every winner's library will also receive $500 to use toward future programs. As of August 22nd 4,332 children and teens have been entered in Destination College Savings by their parents, grandparents or guardians. The deadline for entering is fast approaching. Entry forms must be postmarked September 2, 2011-that's next Friday! Please remember that it takes time to verify the eligibility of the 15 winners. Winners will be selected in a random drawing within the second week of September 2011. Once winners' eligibility has been verified, they will be notified and given until approximately October 15, 2011 to complete and return the paperwork necessary to claim their prize. Libraries will be notified that they have a winner after their winner's paperwork has been approved and they have been confirmed as a winner. Libraries with confirmed winners will receive a sample press release so they can publicize their winner locally as soon as possible. Statewide publicity will take place for all winners who claimed their prize by approximately October 15-probably the beginning of November 2011. There will not be a re-draw for prizes not claimed by the October 15 deadline. However, libraries listed on the entry form of the person who did not claim their prize will still receive $500 for participating in Destination College Savings. Thank you for participating in Destination College Savings! No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Please visit OregonCollegeSavings.com for official rules and prize details. Entries must be postmarked by September 2, 2011, and received by September 6, 2011. Sponsored by the Oregon College Savings Plan. Consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses before investing in the Plan. Please visit OregonCollegeSavings.com to obtain a Disclosure Booklet containing this information. Read it carefully. Investments in the Plan are neither insured nor guaranteed and there is the risk of investment loss. The Oregon College Savings Plan is administered by the State of Oregon. TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing Inc., is the plan manager. Katie Anderson, Library Development Services * Youth Services Consultant * Oregon Center for the Book Coordinator * Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 katie.anderson at state.or.us, 503-378-2528 If you need more Destination College Savings materials, please don't hesitate to reorder. Here is what is available: * Entry Card. Encourage parents to fill out the postage-paid entry card at your library and drop it in the mail. One entry per child. Each child must be 18 or younger to participate. * Oregon College Savings Plan Brochure. Help families learn more about saving for college by distributing an Oregon College Savings Plan Brochure along with the Entry Card. * Bookmark. Give these out to the kids as a fun way to remind them about summer reading and college savings. * Table Tent. Place these on library tables or on your counter. * Posters. Hang posters where they will help you promote summer reading and the contest. Simply email your order request to oregon.college.savings at admailinc.com or call Kathy Griffin at 503-477-9710. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image003.png Type: image/png Size: 125494 bytes Desc: image003.png URL: From lisae at tigard-or.gov Wed Aug 24 16:42:32 2011 From: lisae at tigard-or.gov (Lisa Elliott) Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:42:32 -0700 Subject: [OYAN] CSLP: Ideas needed for 2013 Teen Summer Reading Program Message-ID: Hello all! The Collaborative Summer Library Program's teen manual committee needs your ideas for the 2013 teen program manual. The manual is sent to every library and includes book lists and bibliographies, program outlines that fit the theme, reproducibles for marketing and outreach, and ideas for displays. The 2013 theme is Beneath the Surface. Please send me your ideas by November 25. I'm especially looking for: * Teen programs that fit the theme * Display and decorating ideas * Suitable books and booktalks * Using teen volunteers * Using social media to promote/participate in the Summer Reading Program (blogs, podcasts, videos, Facebook, etc.) Thank you! All Oregon public, volunteer, and tribal libraries are members of the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP), and receive a free summer reading manual. To get the most out of your membership, create an account on the CSLP website (http://www.cslpreads.org/) and you will be able to access additional summer reading resources. CSLP membership dues and manual fees are paid for by the State Library with LSTA funds. Summer reading manuals are distributed by OLA's Children's Services Division, and both CSD and OYAN members represent you on CSLP committees and at the CSLP annual meeting. For more information contact one of your CSLP representatives: * Gayle Waiss, CSD Summer Reading Chair: gwaiss at siuslaw.lib.or.us * Jessica Marie, CSD Summer Reading Incoming Chair: Jmarie at cityofsalem.net * Lisa Elliott, OYAN CSLP Liaison: lisae at tigard-or.gov * Katie Anderson, CSLP Oregon State Representative: katie.anderson at state.or.us Lisa N Elliott Young Adult Librarian Tigard Public Library lisae at tigard-or.gov 503-718-2654 "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." --Groucho Marx ________________________________ DISCLAIMER: E-mails sent or received by City of Tigard employees are subject to public record laws. If requested, e-mail may be disclosed to another party unless exempt from disclosure under Oregon Public Records Law. E-mails are retained by the City of Tigard in compliance with the Oregon Administrative Rules "City General Records Retention Schedule." -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From AMEUCHEL at ci.tualatin.or.us Sat Aug 27 15:39:04 2011 From: AMEUCHEL at ci.tualatin.or.us (AIMEE MEUCHEL) Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 22:39:04 +0000 Subject: [OYAN] Book Rave Nominations Round 2 Message-ID: Hi Everyone, I hope everyone is having/had a great weekend. I, of course, am working. Jealous? Attached is the Book Rave nominations spreadsheet. New recommendations are in red. Titles in purple are sequels and thus not eligible for nomination. If you feel a title has been erroneously labeled a sequel, please notify me and explain why you are right and I am wrong! Previously suggested titles with a new nomination will get a red addition to the nominations number (always welcome as these might prompt others to give the book a try). Also included are the month and year of publication, author's name, and the book's genre. There is also a "tags" field on the spreadsheet, in case a one word genre description just doesn't do it justice. If you can't open up the attachment (which seems to be commonplace with those of you receiving this in the digest form), e-mail me and I can send you the file directly to your e-mail. I will be on vacation from 8/29 through 9/6, so give me a few days to get it to you if you send me an email! When nominating a book, please include the author, title, genre, and month and year of publication. I can't stress this last part enough. I spend an inordinate amount of time looking this stuff up. For those of you who use it, Ingram can give you the month and day of publication. Librarything.com (or Librarything for Libraries if you are lucky enough to have it) is a great place to find genres and tags. Book published until October 31st, 2011 days are eligible for the Book Rave. Nov. 1, 2010 is the earliest publishing date to be considered. Check those dates, people! Send all nominations to ameuchel at ci.tualatin.or.us. The last day to nominate a title is December 1st. Here's some official dates to remember: * Dec. 1: Nominations close. * Dec. 15: Preliminary voting opens. * Jan. 15: Preliminary voting closes. Again, please send all nominations to ameuchel at ci.tualatin.or.us. Aimee Meuchel Teen Services Librarian City of Tualatin | Tualatin Public Library 18878 SW Martinazzi Avenue, Tualatin, OR 97062-7092 503-691-3083 | www.ci.tualatin.or.us Please consider the environment before printing this email. DISCLAIMER: This email is a public record of the City of Tualatin and is subject to public disclosure unless exempt from disclosure under Oregon Public Records Law. This email is subject to the State Retention Schedule. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Book Rave 2012.xls Type: application/vnd.ms-excel Size: 28160 bytes Desc: Book Rave 2012.xls URL: From katie.anderson at state.or.us Mon Aug 29 12:13:06 2011 From: katie.anderson at state.or.us (Katie Anderson) Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 19:13:06 +0000 Subject: [OYAN] Keep up with the news: 6, 800 Oregon high school seniors have yet to pass the state reading test Message-ID: <640435851FD7CB4AB3C4BE0D1963BA241BAF4BEA@OSLEXCHANGE.osl.state.or.us.local> Have you read the news today? Approximately 6,800 high school seniors in Oregon are at risk of not graduating next year because of poor reading test scores. Highlights of the article: * Roughly 6,800 Oregon high school seniors have yet to pass the state reading test and will be denied diplomas if they don't pass that exam or an equivalent test created and graded at their school. * ...schools knew which juniors had failed the test during 10th grade. Still, the share of students in the class of 2012 who haven't passed shrunk only from 29 percent at the end of sophomore year to 17 percent at the end of junior year. * [In Washington] two-thirds of those [who didn't pass the reading test] didn't have enough credits to be on track to graduate, so they were unlikely to graduate anyway. * ... requiring students to prove their reading and writing proficiency has made an important difference in Washington schools. What can you and your public library do? * Find out how your local school did on testing last year: http://schools.oregonlive.com/ * Contact your local school(s) to connect with school library staff or language arts staff and o Remind them what services you already provide to teachers and students o Ask to set up a meeting to discuss potential new projects or services that could support teachers and students. * Set aside some time to informally evaluate your teen services. Identify what's working, what's not working, and what one thing you could change this year to better engage teens in your library. If you want to take a more formal approach, here is a good teen services evaluation tool from ALA's Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/profdev/yacompetencies/evaluationtool.pdf. Katie Anderson, Library Development Services * Youth Services Consultant * Oregon Center for the Book Coordinator * Oregon State Library, 250 Winter St. NE, Salem, OR 97301 katie.anderson at state.or.us, 503-378-2528 Thousands of Oregon students at risk of not graduating, reading scores released today show Published: Monday, August 29, 2011, 12:01 AM Updated: Monday, August 29, 2011, 10:09 AM http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2011/08/thousands_of_oregon_students_a.html By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian Roughly 6,800 Oregon high school seniors have yet to pass the state reading test and will be denied diplomas if they don't pass that exam or an equivalent test created and graded at their school, the state reported today. Oregon's class of 2012 is the first required to pass a reading test to graduate. Last school year, schools knew which juniors had failed the test during 10th grade. Still, the share of students in the class of 2012 who haven't passed shrunk only from 29 percent at the end of sophomore year to 17 percent at the end of junior year. Twenty-six large and medium-size high schools, including 15 in the metro area, have more than 50 seniors at risk of failing to graduate because of weak reading skills. "We know who they are, and we are ready," said Kathleen Walsh, principal of Rex Putnam High in Milwaukie, where 19 percent of students, or 54 teens, still need to pass. In Washington, this year's graduating class was the fourth that had to pass state reading and writing tests, or their equivalent, to get diplomas. Researchers who tracked the first such class found that, as they headed into their senior year, about 16 percent had yet to pass the test -- but two-thirds of those didn't have enough credits to be on track to graduate, so they were unlikely to graduate anyway. Ultimately, very few Washington students pass all the necessary courses to graduate and get derailed only because they cannot pass the graduation tests, said Washington Superintendent Randy Dorn. Still, he said, requiring students to prove their reading and writing proficiency has made an important difference in Washington schools. "I don't think it's had any effect on the top-end kids at all. But for the kid that struggles, school districts have to make sure they're at a certain level. They definitely have had to concentrate on that student who struggles. There is no falling through the cracks, that somebody could have eased their way through school without the ability to go forward and learn because they can't read or they can't write," Dorn said. It's unknown how many of the Oregon students who've failed the reading test are on track with earning credits to graduation. [GS.21READ129.jpg]View full size Mark Pinder, principal of Milwaukie High, where one in three seniors has yet to pass the reading test, said he expects a failure to pass all the required classes -- not the test -- will be the reason he'll have to give some seniors the painful news that they're not going to walk across the stage and get a diploma with their classmates in June 2012. He, like other principals, said he is banking on an alternative test -- one that is developed and graded locally, using state guidelines -- as the way many of his students will show they have the reading skills needed to graduate. The state will allow students to demonstrate they read well enough to graduate by completing two "reading work samples" that are judged by a trained adult at their school. For each, a student is given an informative or literary passage of at least 1,000 words -- just a little longer than this article -- and asked to read it carefully, making notes in the margin, then to offer short answers to five to eight questions. If the answers are deemed to show enough understanding, interpretation and analysis of the passage, earning at least 12 points on an 18-point scale, the student passes. The state does not plan to collect the scores or monitor the grading, said Derek Brown, the state's manager for the assessment of essential skills. The state will report how many students in each district earn diplomas using work samples in place of test scores, and will report the average score those students earned on the state's reading multiple-choice test, he said. That should help keep schools and districts honest in their use of work samples, he said. If it turns out that the average score for students who pass the local reading test and get diplomas is below the sixth-grade benchmark, for instance, "we would know something is problematic." Some schools managed to get nearly all their students to pass the reading test, including Sherwood High, where more than 95 percent of incoming seniors have passed. Oregon City High, where one-third of students are low income, managed to get 94 percent of students to pass. The school for years has placed all sophomores with weak reading skills into a special course with a highly skilled reading teacher; last year, it did the same for juniors. Forest Grove High, which is 58 percent low income and 42 percent Latino, managed to get 88 percent of its students to pass. The school also leans on a highly skilled teacher to help struggling readers, and it developed the "double dose" approach -- since adopted by Oregon City -- of an extra reading or math class for all students who are behind. How did your school do? Find full results on state test scores -- in math, reading, science and writing across elementary, middle and high schools -- at The Oregonian's Your Schools site (http://schools.oregonlive.com/) . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 43483 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: