SMP6: Planning

Jessica Horton and Megan Koerner

FRIT 7331

Dr. Stephanie Jones

November 10, 2019

 The mission statement for Esther F. Garrison School for the Arts is “from artistic

expression to academic success, Esther F. Garrison will provide a learning environment that

engages learners, nurtures creativity, and builds community” (Esther F. Garrison School for the

Arts, 2019). In order to support the school mission, meet media center needs, and meet school

needs, we have developed long range goals to achieve over the next three to five years.

Goals

There are four goals that we have developed to support continuous improvement of the

Esther F. Garrison School for the Arts Media Center program.

First, our goal is to increase electronic devices and availability of electronic resources to

all media center patrons to facilitate access of information. According to the American

Association of School Librarians, students today have “grown up in a ‘wired’ world. They have

constant access to global information resources through computers and mobile devices, and they

expect to be able to retrieve information instantly” (2009). The current state of the Garrison

media center is such that there are very few e-readers for student use, but students cannot access

media center resources with their own devices. While the students can bring their own device

and access the wireless network, many quality websites are inexplicably blocked. We aim to

increase the number of devices available to students, and increase access to electronic resources.

Our second goal is to increase the offerings for middle grades students who utilize the

Garrison Media Center in order to provide a wide variety of materials that are interesting and

challenging. The AASL maintains that an important duty of the school media specialist is to

“provide access to materials in all formats, including up-to-date, high-quality, varied literature to

develop and strengthen a love of reading” (2009). Unfortunately, the middle school section of
the media center contains only about 10 percent of the entire collection. Many middle school

students have run out of books that they are interested in reading. It has been noted that there are

not that many books that interest the middle school age children and through this goal, those

students will be able to read on their level which will continue to support their learning. Due to

the high population of gifted and advanced readers at Garrison, many students have a reading

comprehension level that is so high, very few books provide adequate challenge to them.

Therefore, a long range goal that we have set is to significantly increase the materials offered to

middle school students.

A third goal that we have set is to increase collaboration between classroom teachers and

media center staff in order to increase student achievement and create a climate of efficient

instruction. The AASL maintains that essential learning skills are taught and refined in the

media center. “School librarians collaborate with others to provide instruction, learning

strategies, and practice in using the essential learning skills needed in the twenty-first century”

(2009). The increase in collaboration will make instruction more efficient, as classroom teachers

and the media specialist will not duplicate their efforts and time will not be wasted covering

concepts the students have already mastered. The effectiveness of this partnership will be

reflected in measures of student achievement.

The fourth long range goal we have set is to increase media center awareness in the

school and local community and improve and enhance current partnerships. The benefits of

having a school media center/community partnership are unlimited. The media center should

work “with an extended team that includes parents, members of the community, museums,

academic and public libraries, municipal services, private organizations, and commercial entities
to include their expertise and assistance in inquiry lessons and units” (American Association of

School Librarians, 2009). Over the long term, we plan to establish a variety of community

partnerships while strengthening the partnerships already in place.

Objectives

In order to accomplish our four long term goals, we have developed several objectives for

each goal that we will focus on in the short term. Our first goal is to increase the number of

electronic devices and electronic resources in the media center. In order to accomplish this, in

the short term we will purchase 10 more e-readers, re-evaluate our filtering software, and provide

the opportunity for students to check out e-materials on their personal electronic devices.

Our second goal is to increase the available materials for middle school students. In

order to accomplish this we plan to purchase more books for the middle school section, purchase

more books with a Lexile level that corresponds to high school level books, and conduct a book

drive to obtain more middle school materials.

Our third goal, which is to increase collaboration between faculty and media center staff,

will be approached with three short term objectives. Teachers and the media specialist will

collaborate to select and purchase standards based materials, and they will have a weekly

common planning time for the media specialist to help select technology tools. Another short

term objective to accomplish this goal is to increase student achievement scores as measured on

our progress monitoring software.

Finally, our fourth goal is to increase media center partnerships and community

awareness. The objectives that support this goal include inviting guest experts to visit and speak

to students, hosting classes for community members, and revitalizing the Savannah College of
Art and Design Book Buddies program. All of these short-term goals are outlined in greater

detail in the chart below.

Evaluation

The goals and objectives will be monitored by the media specialist and faculty members

as indicated in the summary section below. In order to ensure that the 4 goals and 12 objectives

are monitored in a timely manner, we have established a timeline for evaluation:

Timeframe Evaluation Evaluator (s)

Administrators review lesson

Weekly (ongoing) plans for technology Administrators
integration on a weekly basis.

The media specialist, along

with a team of 4 teachers
from a variety of grade levels,
will use a rubric to determine Media Specialist and
which filtering software best Teachers
meets our school’s needs on a
monthly basis.

The guest expert program will

be evaluated by the media
Monthly (ongoing) specialist utilizing participant Media Specialist
feedback surveys on a
monthly basis.

The community classes will

be evaluated by the media
specialist utilizing pre and
Media Specialist
post assessments from
participants on a monthly
basis.

The Book Buddies program Media Specialist

 will be evaluated by the
media specialist using a
survey from the classroom
teachers who host the Book
Buddies on a monthly basis.

The media specialist will

End of Semester 1 evaluate e-book use by
Media Specialist
(December) analyzing checkout data at the
end of each semester.

The media specialist will

analyze book drive
effectiveness by analyzing the
February number and types of books Media Specialist
that were donated during the
drive, which will be held in
February.

The media specialist will

evaluate the e-reader use at
the end of the year by
Media Specialist
analyzing how often the new
e-readers were checked out
for use.

The media specialist will

evaluate middle school book
Media Specialist
use by analyzing checkout
data at the end of the year.

The media specialist will

End of Year evaluate high school leveled
book use by analyzing Media Specialist
checkout data at the end of
the year.

The media specialist will

evaluate the frequency of use
of the materials by faculty Media Specialist
members at the end of the
year.

Student achievement will be

evaluated by data analysis of Teachers
the End of Year (EOY) MAP
 Reading scores. Each
homeroom teacher will
analyze his or her students
scores.

Summary

Goals Objectives Evaluation

1. The media specialist

will evaluate the
e-reader use at the end
1. Purchase 10 more
of the year by
e-readers by the end
analyzing how often
of the first semester.
the new e-readers
were checked out for
1. To increase electronic use.

devices and 2. By the end of the 2. The media specialist,

school year, evaluate
availability of 5 filtering software
applications to find
electronic resources to one that is better than
the highly restrictive
all media center filtering software we
currently use. The
patrons committee will meet
monthly.
along with a team of 4
teachers from a
variety of grade
levels, will use a
rubric to determine
which filtering
software best meets
our school’s needs on
a monthly basis.

3. By the end of the first

semester, install 3. The media specialist
software that will will evaluate e-book use by
allow students to analyzing checkout data at the
check out e-books on end of each semester.
their personal devices.

1. The media specialist

2. To increase the
offerings for middle
grades students who
1. Purchase 50 more
will evaluate middle
middle school level
school book use by
books by the end of
analyzing checkout
the current school
data at the end of the
year.
year.

2. Purchase 50 books 2. The media specialist will

 utilize the Garrison with Lexile levels that evaluate high school leveled
correspond to high book use by analyzing
Media Center. school grade levels by checkout data at the end of
the end of the current the year.
school year.

3. Host one community 3. The media specialist will

book drive by the end analyze book drive
of the school year to effectiveness by analyzing the
allow members of the number and types of books
public to donate that were donated during the
books, including drive, which will be held in
middle school books. February.

1. The media specialist

1. Twice a year, teachers
will evaluate the
and the media
frequency of use of
specialist will meet to
the materials by
purchase standards
faculty members at
based materials.
the end of the year.

2. Once per week,

3. To increase teachers and the
media specialist will 2. This objective will be
collaboration between have common evaluated by administrators
planning so the media as they review lesson plans
classroom teachers specialist can assist in for technology integration on
selecting useful a weekly basis.
and media center staff. technological
resources.

3. This objective will be

3. School wide, at least evaluated by data analysis of
85 percent of students the End of Year (EOY) MAP
will be on grade level Reading scores. Each
for Reading by the homeroom teacher will
end of the year. analyze his or her students’
scores.

1. This objective will be

1. Once a month, the evaluated by the
4. To increase media media center will host media specialist
a guest expert to speak utilizing participant
center partnerships to students. feedback surveys on a
monthly basis.
and community 2. Once a month, the
media center will host
2. This objective will be
awareness. a free community
evaluated by the media
class on a software
specialist utilizing pre and
related topic, such as
post assessments from
using Google Docs for
participants on a monthly
resume writing, or
basis.
Microsoft PowerPoint
for presentations.

3. Once per semester,

Book Buddies from
the Savannah College 3. The media specialist will
of Art and Design will evaluate this objective using a
come in and read to survey from the classroom
elementary classes, teachers who host the Book
revitalizing a program Buddies on a monthly basis.
that was in place from
2010-2017.
 Works Cited

American Association of School Librarians. (2009).​ Empowering learners: Guidelines for school

library media programs.​ Chicago, IL.

Esther F. Garrison School for the Arts. (2019). About Us. Retrieved November 12, 2019, from

garrisonarts.sccpss.com.