Standards.
I can hear the collective groan at the faculty meeting already, but all educators know that standards have an important role in ensuring equitable education. While I started reading about AASL and ISTE standards with skepticism, I soon realized that many of the standards share many of the themes that I hear about in education on a regular basis: student-led, project-based, real-world application.
Many of the standard strands had similar wording but seemed to stem from differing philosophies. ISTE seems focused on librarians providing learning experiences for students, while AASL seems focused on students creating their own learning experiences. The ownership shifts to the students in the AASL standards, even from the perspective of the librarian role. I was especially interested that the “Curate” foundation was much more extensive in the National School Library Standards. This shows the focus on student-led initiatives. This chart offers a great overview of the crossover in the two sets of standards.
A key application of these standards in a school library is what Jenna Spiering refers to as “including learners in an important process” (p.48). The goal is student achievement, and while the standards pursue this goal from different angles, they both challenge students to create. And this is the goal. The standards are interlocked and connect with academic standards as well. As succinctly pointed out by Calypso Gilstrap, “Students must practice desired workplace skills, including the ability to adapt to new technologies and to communicate, collaborate, and think, while maintaining a high level of research skills” (p. 32). While the methods may change and evolve, the heart of school librarianship remains the same.
School librarians are here for the students!
