On National Teacher Day, meet the 2024-25 Kenan Fellows
Battling the Unready
1. Battling the Unready:
Zombies, Einstein & Librarians
Kenneth Burhanna
Kent State University Libraries
Crossing the K-20 Continuum: Are Librarians Bridging
Information Literacy and 21st Century Skills?
Education & Behavioral Sciences Section
Association of College and Research Libraries
29 June 2013
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10. 10
K12 Compared to Higher Education:
Role & Status of Librarians
Organizational Structures
Authority Structures
Role of the Student
(Carr 2012, Maringe 2006)
11. 11
How well prepared are students for
college work?
High school instructors said well-
prepared (91%)
College instructors said not well-
prepared (74%)
(ACT National Curriculum Survey 2009)
12. Research Skills: Bridging the Gap Between High School & Post-Secondary
http://webapps-
1.okanagan.bc.ca/ok/mediagenerator/play.aspx?flv=lib_research.flv&dir=publicaffairs
Jennifer Sigalet
Public Services Librarian
Okanagan College
Leslie Barton
Teacher-Librarian
Pleasant Valley Secondary
School
Armstrong, BC
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18. What color am
I, or was I?
18Picture Credit 13
A fellow encountered a bear in a wasteland. There was
nobody else there. Both were frightened and ran away.
Fellow to the north, bear to the west. Suddenly the fellow
stopped, aimed his gun to the south and shot the bear. What
color was the bear?
22. 22
School Librarians Compared to
Academic Librarians are a lot alike.
Collaborators by nature, because we
don’t:
Directly grade students
Own the curriculum
Have direct access to students
23. 23
School Librarians Compared to
Academic Librarians are a lot alike.
We:
Have strong professional associations
Wear multiple hats
Are embattled
Are standards driven
Have a shared responsibility for
information literacy education
24. 24Picture Credit 17
“Despite differences in theirs
standards, school and academic
librarians share similar
information-literacy goals”
(Carr and Rockman 2003, 52)
25. 25Picture Credit 18, 19
AASL/ACRL Joint Task Force on the
Educational Role of Librarians, 2000
28. 28
1. Collaborative Dialogues
2. Professional Development
3. Pre-service Teacher Education
4. Instructional Experiences
5. Tools & Resources
29. 29Picture Credit 21
Get to know your feeder schools
Get to know your librarians
Get to know each other’s curriculum
Learn each other’s pain points
Identify opportunities
35. 35Picture Credit 27
TRAILS has:
18,473 registered members in
90 states/provinces,
122 countries, and
1 planet - so far.
59,659 sessions have been delivered
to 1,100,208 students.
36. 36Picture Credit 27
Ongoing validation & reliability study:
• Students in grades 3,6,8,12 completed assessments
containing all TRAILS items
• Scale Reliability (all 4 tests achieved this)
• Fit to Scale (all 4 show no fit issues, no bias)
• Content Validity (where we are now)
• Threshold/Cut Score determinations (coming soon)
38. ACT. The Condition of College Readiness 2009. Iowa City: Author, 2009.
American Association of School Librarians(AASL) and Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)
Task Force on the Educational Role of Librarians. Blueprint for Collaboration. Chicago: American Library
Association, 2000. http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/ whitepapers/acrlaaslblueprint.
Burhanna, Kenneth J. Informed Transitions: Libraries Supporting the High School to College Transition.
Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2013.
Burhanna, Kenneth J. “The Transition Movement: From Blueprint to Construction Zone.” In Kenneth J.
Burhanna, ed., Informed Transitions: Libraries Supporting the High School to College Transition (pp. 3-22).
Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2013.
Carr, Jo Ann. “Crossing the Instructional Divide: Supporting K-20 Information Literacy Iniatives.” In Carroll
Wetzel and Courtney Bruch, eds., Transforming Information Literacy Programs: Intersecting Frontiers of
Self, Library Culture, and Campus Community( pp. 153-178). Chicago: Association of College and Research
Libraries, 2012.
Carr, Jo Ann, and Ilene F. Rockman. “Information-Literacy Collaboration: A Shared Responsibility.”
American Libraries 34, no. 8 (September 2003): 52–54.
Ellis, Leanne, Robert Farrell, Curtis L. Kendrick, Meghann Suzanne Walk, and Barbara K. Stripling. “The
DOE/CUNY Library Collaborative: High School to College Transition in New York City.” In Kenneth J.
Burhanna, ed., Informed Transitions: Libraries Supporting the High School to College Transition (pp. 89-96).
Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2013.
Oakleaf, Megan and Patricia L. Owen. “Closing the 12-13 Gap Together: School and Academic Librarians
Supporting 21st Century Learners.” In Kenneth J. Burhanna, ed., Informed Transitions: Libraries Supporting
the High School to College Transition (pp. 23-38). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2013.
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39. National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS. “Student Pipeline: Transition
Completion Rates from 9th Grade to College.” Boulder, CO: NCHEMS, 2012.
http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/?year=2008&level=nation&mode=graph&state=0.&submeasure=
119 (accessed May 12, 2012).
Maringe, Felix. “University and Course Choice.” International Journal of Educational Management 20, no.
6 (2006): 466–479.
Sigalet, Jennifer, Leslie Barton, and Sherri Savage. “Research Skills: What College Professors Expect
Incoming Students to Know.” In Kenneth J. Burhanna, ed., Informed Transitions: Libraries Supporting the
High School to College Transition (pp. 39-50). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2013.
Smalley, Ann Walker and LeAnn Suchy. “Information Literacy and 21st-Century Skills.” In Kenneth J.
Burhanna, ed., Informed Transitions: Libraries Supporting the High School to College Transition (pp. 123-
132). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2013.
Stewart, Ken W. and Laurie Hathman. “College Readiness at the Grassroots Level.” In Kenneth J.
Burhanna, ed., Informed Transitions: Libraries Supporting the High School to College Transition (pp. 63-70).
Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2013.
Voelker, Tammy J. Eschedor, Barbara F. Schloman and Julie A. Gedeon. “Pathways for Success: The
Evolution of TRAILS and Transitioning to College.” In Kenneth J. Burhanna, ed., Informed Transitions:
Libraries Supporting the High School to College Transition (pp. 209--216). Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries
Unlimited, 2013.
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40. 1. Compete 3D Zombie - http://www.fun-world.net/1652.html
2. Einstein Wikipedia entry - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein
3. Ask A Librarian Superheroes - http://info.askalibrarian.org/2012/10/19/ask-a-librarian-superheroes/
4. Exploded Zombie - http://shirtoid.com/14100/exploded-zombie
5. http://kwjwrites.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/zombie-classroom-76086.jpg
6. Alley Up - http://www.alleyoop.com
7. Ben Johnson, Edutopia blogger - http://www.edutopia.org/blog/abstract-thinking-skills-students-ben-johnson
8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower - http://thefatboylarry.tumblr.com/post/21649385147
9. Crisis - http://lasersebeam.blogspot.com/2012/10/claiming-pension-crisis.html
10. Tattoo’s Two - http://tattoostwo.tumblr.com/post/2838565872
11. Einstein’s Riddle – Answer - http://www.manbottle.com/trivia/einstein_s_riddle/einstein_s_riddle_answer
12. Zombie Einstein - http://yayzus.deviantart.com/art/Zombie-einstein-175960770
13. Polar Bear - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polar_Bear_0319_-_23-11-06.jpg
14. Einstein’s Riddle - http://9gag.com/gag/4137344
15. Zombie Jombie Polar Bear - http://gamesdreams.com/showthread.php?6763-Zombie-Jombie-Polar-Bear
16. Self-Awareness - http://blog.lib.umn.edu/pears773/myblog/
17. Character Education: A Shared Responsibility - http://www.examiner.com/article/character-education-a-shared-responsibility
18. Star Trek Blueprint Collection - http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/star-trek-blueprint-collection.php
19. Zombie Trek - http://molitorious.blogspot.com/2009/06/zombie-trek.html
20. Wanderer Above the Sea Fog - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog
21. College Readiness Dialogues Kansas City - http://bvhlearningcommons.bluevalleyk12.org/collegereadinessdialogues
22. NY City Young Government Leaders - http://younggov.org/chapters/new-york-city/
23. Empire State Information Fluency Continuum - http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/1A931D4E-1620-4672-ABEF-
460A273D0D5F/0/EmpireStateIFC.pdf
24. Common Core State Standards Initiative - http://www.corestandards.org/
25. St. Paul, Minnesota - http://www.ci.stpaul.mn.us/index.aspx?nid=2686
26. MILI Slideshow - https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jHPiCl5jYRCDMDP3sYM2q3OLeZAx3zQ6SxI1GFkA2ZE/edit?pli=1#slide=id.i127
27. Kent State University Libraries – http://www.kent.edulibrary
28. Best Zombie Hunter Librarians Ever - http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2008/02/28/best-zombie-hunter-librarians-ever/
29. Kent State University Child Development Center – www.kent.edu
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PleasantriesSo I going to admit right up front, like a lot of things in our culture right now, zombies took over my presentation. You know I’ve talked about this important topic so many times, I wanted to make this fresh. So I got on Pinterest and let my stream of consciousness flow and this title basically indicates the type of journey on went on. Battling the Unready: Zombies, Einstein & Librarians. And to answer the question that the overall title of this session asks, I do think librarians are helping to bridge the K-20 continuum.
As Alex mentioned, I do have a book out. I want to thank all of the authors and there are over 40 of them, for there hard work and dedication to supporting student transitions. It’s one thing to do this type of work, often in resource poor environments, let along take the time to write up and share your work and experiences.Throughout my talk today, I will, when appropriate, draw on examples from the book or at least point to examples. We do have a copy of the book available in the back if you want to take a look at it, and we have some flyers that will give you a discount on purchase if you are interested. The book is on sale at ABC-CLIO’s booth on the exhibit floor. That’s booth #
So back to my zombie journey. This is kind of how it worked on for me: Zombies and the pieces the puzzle, Einstein and approaching the problem, and finally librarians and glue.I know, that is stream of consciousness, right? Okay, but bare with me.
So pieces, pieces to the puzzle, zombie pieces. As we help students become ready for college, it is sort of like trying to piece a person together. This is how I got to zombies, just alive zombies aren’t really alive, our students aren’t really prepared.Ladies and gentle men I give you “The Unready”
Now, I know none of us have ever thought of students (regardless of their level of preparation) to be zombies, right?
Our students aren’t ready, or at least they can be better prepared. This graphic provides a number of views on student transitions across the educational continuum, and bottom line we’re not producing enough college graduates. The US ranks 14th in the world with 42.3 % of 25 to34 year olds with an associate’s degree or higher. Korea, Japan and Canada are the leaders. All over 55%. Two chapters in my book originate from Canadian librarians.The US six year Graduation rate is right around 56% (http://www.higheredinfo.org/dbrowser/?level=nation&mode=graph&state=0&submeasure=27)
It is about brains, right?
I mean, right. Certainly we’re not talking about eating brains, but improving them.
Why is so hard to keep our kids on the path to Readiness?
One of the professors interviewed mentioned plagiarism. You know I have talked to faculty on my campus about information literacy many times and they always nod politely and listen, but whenever I mention plagiarism, they perk up and start asking questions. Plagiarism education should resonate across the educational continuum, in fact I believe it does, so consider that as a potential starting place, a door to potentially begin a deeper instructional collaboration with teachers and professors.
Oh yeah, and then there’s that educational crisis that’s always seems to be looming. We have budget problems, we have evaluation problems, we have unfunded mandates. I was just reading some essays online arguing that our problem is that we have too much education and people should stop wasting their money on college.
Ever feel like a wiener dog on the back of a donkey, I mean I kid, but there’s potentially some truth to it.I’m just not sure who the wiener dogs are. Are they you and me or are they our students?
We touched on some of the pieces, talked about the problem, examined a few challenges, but we need to talk about puzzling this together.This, by the way, is a photo of a tattoo that I found very interesting.
Of course, when I thought about problems, Einstein came to mind.
Hold on, okay here’s the zombie Einstein.Einstein was known for being fond of riddles and problems.
As a quick aside, here’s a riddle that is often attributed to Einstein (it may be apocryphal), but real quick: read the slide
I like this slide, it’s like Einstein is getting all street on us, “C’mon bro, it’s easy.”So the bear in the photo gives away the answer to the riddle, to read the full explanation you can see picture credits at the end of my presentation or simply Google it. And before I move on, I have another quick riddle for you, you know the bear we saw pictured on the previous slide? There he is.What became of him after the man shot him?
He became a zombie polar bear.
You might start by looking in the mirror, or I should say, that when school librarian and academic librarians look at each other, it is like looking in a mirror.
While I discussed earlier some of the differences between us, in many ways, we are the same.
Connect chapter 2 “Closing the 12-13 gap together: School and Academic Librarians Supporting 21st Century Learners” by MeganOakleaf and Patricia L. Owen.
Chapter 1 “The Transition Movement: From Blueprint to Construction Zone” by KJB
I want to stop here for a quick moment of reflection. Thisiis a painting called Wanderer above the Sea of Fog by Casper David Freidrich (German, 1918).I wanted to just reflect that the Blueprint for Collaboration came out over 13 years ago, and as I look back I just want to acknowledge that we’ve done a lot, accomplished a great deal, and while it is difficult to draw a straight line from us to student success, we have a number of great models for collaboration, support and student instruction, that have created a foundation for our future work.
Now we’re at the third act or third part of presentation. The glue, and I am asserting that we, librarians, are like educational super glue. We help hold the learning together, bond it and make it stronger.
In my book, I outline five types of engagement that librarians have undertaken to support student transitions. The Blueprint for Collaboration basically outlines similar categories. These are
Chapter 5 College Readiness at the Grassroots Level, Ken Stewart and Laurie Hathman
This is the title of chapter 8 in my book, authored by Leanne Ellis, Robert Farrell, Curtis Kendrick, Meghan Suzanne Walk and Barbara Stripling.This chapters details how the City University of New York and New York City School Library System formed a collaborative to provide support and leadership for the librarians role in student achievement. They really have done a lot, creating professional development opportunities, curriculum guidelines and just a increased awareness and flow of information across the educational continuum.
Chapter 12 “Information Literacy and 21st-Century Skills: Training the Teachers by Ann Walker Smalley and LeAnn Suchy.Metronet in a multicounty library system in Minnesota that serves libraries across the educational continuum. They developed the Metronet Information Literacy Iniative or MILI as professional development program for teachers and library media specialists focused on information literacy, collaboration and emerging technologies. It’s a program that runs about 10 months, with some face-to-face sessions and monthly webinars. It’s goal is to help educators integrate new Minnesota standards for Information and Technology Literacy.
TestimonialsThey have done a fair amount of program evaluation as well and they are seeing positive effects. Some simple and interesting as database usage among participating schools has noticeably.
I am the current project director of TRAILS. TRAILS is discussed Chapter 21 called “Pathways for Success: the evolution of TRAILS and Transitioning to college” authored by Tammy EschoedorVoelker, Barbara Schloman and Julie Gedeon.
Scale Reliabity=Coefficient Alpha measureFor knowledge tests CA estimates of .70 or higher indicate reliability, that is that it will give the same score to similar test takers with low testing error.All 4 tests have Alpha estimates of .77 or higher, thus appear reliable.Fit to Scale, meaning that responses operate in expected patterns, not differently for different ethnic backgrounds or genders. No bias exists of for items on the 4 tests.Content Validity=establishing whether items test the objectives with which they are associated, is currently ongoing. For each test, at least 5 content experts review each item and it’s objectives and indicate its level of association.Threshold/Cut Score determination, determining the competency threshold for each test will occur next. Focus groups will be convened where the tests, the other findings of the study, and proficiency and/or competency thresholds will be determined.
To take our zombie theme full circle, (read slide)I do think we’ve accomplished a lot. Obviously the work never ends and there’s more to do. Help solve the problems of your institutions, make yourselves indispensible, focus on your students.