New Report @ School Library Services by State Auditor Elaine Howle
“California has the poorest ratio of
students to teacher librarians in the nation, and unless it makes changes to
increase the number of teacher librarians, its school library programs will
continue to lag behind those of other states,” the report stated.
Key Recommendations
To ensure that students receive a
level of library services that better aligns with the model standards, the
Legislature should do the following:
·
Define
the minimum level and types of library services that schools must provide.
·
Broaden
the authority of Teacher Credentialing and the county offices of education to
address classified staff who perform duties that require a certification.
To strengthen their library programs
and help the State assess the condition of school libraries state-wide, the
school districts we visited in the counties of Sacramento, San Bernardino, and
Tulare should do the following:
·
Use
the model standards to assess the needs of their school library programs and
address any identified needs during their LCAP process.
·
Require
their schools to participate in Education’s annual school library survey.
To strengthen school library programs
in their counties and help school districts comply with state law, the
Sacramento, San Bernardino, and Tulare county offices of education should provide
guidance to their school districts on using teacher librarians
for the provision of library services,
completing Education’s annual school
library survey, and identifying the needs of their school library programs by
using the model standards as part of their LCAP process.
To strengthen its monitoring of staff
assignments, Teacher Credentialing should work with Education to identify potential
misassignments by comparing annually the staffing information reported by
school districts to Education against Teacher Credentialing’s credentialing
records. Further, Teacher Credentialing should incorporate the identified
misassignments into its existing notification, reporting, and sanctioning
structure.
To better understand the condition of
school libraries state-wide and to raise stakeholders’ awareness of the State
Education Board’s adopted model standards, Education should do the following:
·
Redesign
its annual school library survey to solicit answers that will better help
Education determine whether schools are implementing the model standards and
better assess the type and extent of library services the schools provide.
·
Use
its directory of school districts to notify administrators about the annual
school library survey and remind them that participation is mandatory.
·
Work
with Teacher Credentialing to assist it in identifying potential misassignments
by providing staffing information reported by school districts to Teacher
Credentialing by April of each academic year.
·
Work
with the State Education Board to incorporate consideration of all academic
content and performance standards adopted by the State Education Board into the
tools that guide the LCFF process, including but not limited to the LCAP
template.
Report Link |
http://www.bsa.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2016-112.pdf
Regards
Pralhad
Jadhav
Senior
Manager @ Library
Khaitan & Co
No comments:
Post a Comment