Overview

Zmuda and Harada explore the increasing number of job descriptions in schools for learning specialists with the accompanying difficulty in effectively leveraging these roles to positively affect student learning. School librarians have been one of these learning specialists for decades. The ranks have expanded in recent years to include many other content area specialists. Grant Wiggins' foreword emphasizes the relevance of learning specialists is grounded in their ability to deliver results on mission-critical measures. This title incorporates quotations, exemplars, and findings from experts in both mainstream and librarian-focused education literature in an inclusive approach making the text accessible and credible for any leader charged with improving the system's ability for improved student achievement. There are an increasing number of job descriptions in schools for learning specialists - certified teachers with specialized areas of expertise whose job it is to improve student performance. While these positions are attractive ideas in theory, there are real challenges in effectively leveraging such roles to positively affect student learning. School librarians have been one of these learning specialists for decades. The ranks have expanded in recent years to include reading specialists, literacy coaches, writing coaches, technology specialists, mathematics specialists, science specialists, and teachers of English Language Learners. References included throughout the book incorporate quotations, exemplars, and findings from experts in both mainstream and librarian-focused education literature. This inclusive approach makes the text accessible and credible for any leader charged with improving the system's ability for improved student achievement. Grant Wiggins' foreword emphasizes the premise that the relevance of learning specialists is grounded in their ability to deliver results on mission-critical measures.

Full Product Details

9781591586791

Table of Contents

Reviews

After Zmuda, an education consultant, and Harada, a professor of library and information science, met in 2006 as keynote speakers at an American Association of School Librarians Forum on Assessment, they decided to write a book based upon both their specializations. The result is a must-read for both school administrators and library media specialists. Organized into five chapters, the book discusses the necessity of an articulated mission statement; the need for librarians to become learning specialists; the ways to use current research to design instruction; the necessity for assessment and feedback; and finally, planning for student informational needs in the twenty-first century. Team this thought-provoking title with Daniel Pink's New Frame of Mind (Riverhead Trade, 2006), and be prepared to rethink the way you are doing things. -Booklist

<p> [A] scholarly guide for librarians to not become obstacles in quenching the thirst for knowledge, but instead facilitate their patrons' search. Helping librarians put on their teaching hat, Librarians as Learning Specialists: Meeting the Learning Imperative for the 21st Century is highly recommended for community library science collections. - <p>Midwest Book Review

Author Information

Allison Zmuda is a faculty member in the Understanding by Design cadre for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, a staff consultant for Education connection in Litchfield, Connecticut and operates her own consulting firm, The Competent Classroom, LLC. Violet H. Harada is professor of library and information science in the Department of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Hawaii. Harada has been a secondary teacher, a curriculum writer, an elementary school librarian, and a state specialist with the Hawaii Department of Education as well as a college professor. In addition to her teaching duties, she coordinates the school library specialization for the Library and Information Science Graduate Program.

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