A Focus on School Libraries

As I was researching, I looked up school libraries on ALA's website and found an article about school libraries and No Child Left Behind. As a teacher, I have my own opinions on No Child Left Behind, but I never thought about it in relation to libraries. The first thing that I read actually made me feel really good about going into the profession. As a teacher, I get to impact so many students' lives on a daily basis. One of the things I was worried about losing was that feeling that I am really making a difference in the lives of students. On the site, there was a quote from a mother and teacher that said,
“I was talking to my college-age children about which teacher had the biggest impact on them. All three agreed that the most beneficial learning took place in the school library. This is where they learned the skills to be successful in college and as life-long learners. They felt that they were more prepared than many of their college classmates when it came to the skills they needed to do research and to write college papers. Their classroom teachers had the opportunity to collaborate with the librarian, devising projects which met the state standards as well as gave them needed skills.Our family motto is, ‘You don’t need to know everything; you just have to know where and how to look for what you need to know.’ With our school librarian’s help, they have those skills.”
That really made me hopeful about what I can do as a librarian.
The rest of the article brought up something that has been bothering me lately. It discussed having qualified media specialists in school as a part of No Child Left Behind. Something that I was not aware of when I entered this program, was that in Hillsborough County, a teacher can simply take a test and be certified as a media specialist. In fact, most often when I tell people what I am getting my degree in, people respond with, "You need a Master's to do that?" Discussing this with the media specialist at my school (who has a degree in Library Science), she mentioned that at her subject area meetings, there is a common complaint that the quality of media specialists has gone downhill in the county. Well, that is not a surprise to me if people simply have to take a test to be certified. I took the ESOL test to meet my requirement for teaching Language Arts. I guessed a lot and passed, but I do not feel qualified to teach English as a second language.
I understand they probably had to do this to fill positions, but I do applaud the idea that schools should be striving to employ media specialists who have a degree in the field. I hope it will make me extra marketable when I finish the program!

'http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/woissues/schoollibraries/nochildleftbehind/nochildleftbehind.cfm