Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Open Forum: AASL Learning Standards Indicators & Assessment Task Force

I chair the AASL Learning Standards Indicators & Assessment Task Force, charged with developing benchmarks, model examples, and assessments based on the new Standards for the 21st-Century Learner.

I first met with my task force members, who are some of the best thinkers in the school library field, last January at the ALA Midwinter Meeting, and continued working throughout the winter and spring via email, wiki, and conference calls, on the first draft of our document, Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action (working title). It contains chapters on Skills, Dispositions, Responsibilities, Self-Assessment Strategies, and Action Examples for Standard 1 (Inquire, think critically and gain knowledge) for grades 2, 5, 8, 10 and 12+. The draft was posted online for public comment in May and early June.

At ALA in Anaheim, we held an open forum for members to meet with us to provide more input on the work we have done so far. Several people attended and provided thoughtful and very useful feedback that will inform our work on draft #2.

Later this month, the Task Force will meet in Baltimore for three days of intensive work on our second draft, which we hope to post for further public comment in September.

Working with this Task Force has been the most challenging professional experience I have ever had. I truly enjoy working with this very knowledgeable and experienced group of professionals and look forward to the publication of our work in early 2009.

Members of the AASL Learning Standards Indicators & Assessment Task Force are:
Katherine Lowe, Chair, Massachusetts School Library Association
Cassandra G. Barnett, Fayetteville High School Library, AR
Melissa P. Johnston, Silver City Elementary School, Cumming, GA
Barbara K. Stripling, New York City Department of Education
Dr. Violet H. Harada, University of Hawaii
Fran Glick, Baltimore County Public Schools, MD
Colet Bartow, Montana Office of Public Instruction
Dr. Eloise M. Long, AASL Board Liaison, Kutztown Universtiy, PA
Jonathan West, ALA Staff Liaison

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