Rolling Hills Elementary School

Memorandum
To: Cherish Pipkins
From: Tamara Ballard
CC: Connie Fowler

This semester has been a challenge due to the pandemic and the changes we faced, but
there was so much to be proud of regarding the media center. I hope that I was able to
make an impact to the media center and offer support to the administrators and my
other colleges. I have had the privilege to work with Connie Fowler and were able to
conduct a self-evaluation of Rolling Hills media center. The self-evaluation came from
the “2016 Judy Serritella Exemplary Library Media Program Self-Evaluation Rubric”.
The rubric focused on 6 target indicators and categories, and 21 subcategories. The
rubric required either a meet or exceed by defining that Basic which is the lowest
rating, then proficient, and the highest is exemplary.

The rubric revealed that the school library had the results of 10 Basic levels, 6
Proficient levels, and 6 Exemplary levels. Both Proficient and Exemplary tied with the
same number of categories, despite the fact that there were more categories with a level
of Basic.

An attached document provides suggestions that will focus on the Basic and Proficient
levels and ways to improve the level of proficiency to becoming Exemplary.

Thank you for your time,

Tamara Ballard

450 ROLLING HILLS PL, LANCASTER, TX 75146

T (972) 218-1525 U HTTPS://WWW.LANCASTERISD.ORG/DOMAIN/19
The Exemplary resulted from the following:

1) The media center is important to the school’s reading program in order to meet
the needs of different curriculums.
2) Students will achieve based on their data and from the teacher along with the
library media program’s support.
3) Streaming video, other technologies, whiteboards, and other electronic devices
that meet state requirements.
4) There are many resources that are available from the LAN in the school and in
the library media center such as print or non-print, internet access, and many
more library resources available to students.
5) The OPAC is consistently updated and available on a LAN throughout the
school. MARC records all resources, along with other resources being available
regarding the internet in the media center along with outside of the school.
6) The Library Media Specialist and administrators within the district maintains
its communication. The SMCP is aware of the Library Media Specialist’s daily
role in the library as well as announcements and services on the district’s
website.

The Proficient resulted from the following:

1) The curriculum integrates standards from information literacy skills from

teachers and Library Media Specialist efforts when collaborating.
2) A full-time Library Media Specialist is available all day and will maintain the
duties within their role at the school.
3) Library Media Specialist only performs duties and tasks on a regular basis,
while a part-time works in the other roles.
4) The FTE determines the square footage of the media center to hold groups of
different sizes, storage, shelving, and electric wiring to meet the needs of the
collection.
5) The school and district administrators are involved in the school library and
meet regularly. They encourage teachers to utilize the resources in the library.
6) At least twice a year the library media advisory committee meets to plan and
evaluate the library media program.

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The Basic resulted from the following:

1) Teachers can request for the Library Media Specialist to plan a collaborative
lesson.
The Library Media Specialist participates in collaborative planning when
initiated by the teacher.
2) Students are given suggestions for reading and projects by the Media Specialist.
3) Student achievement will be assessed by their teachers.
4) The technology in the library lacks virtual presence, old hardware, and
teacher’s lack of knowledge of the electronic database.
5) Technology reinforces a variety of ways to teach the curriculum to 21st-Century
Learners to support their achievement.
6) A schedule would be created but could be overridden and should be available to
teachers and students.
7) GALILEO will be used by students with a password.
8) Library media policies should be implemented and updated.
9) The library receives expenditures yearly.
10) Library Media Specialist participates in staff developments, provide resources
to teachers, and collaborative planning.

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 Action Plan

Here are the suggestions that focus on all of the Basic levels and one Proficient level to
improve the level of proficiency to become Exemplary.

Level of Proficiency: Basic (Goal-Exemplary)

1) The media specialist will actively plan with the grade level to share resources and
strategies for literacy based on their curriculum. Planning will take place throughout
the school year. The media specials will support the teachers with digital resources.

2) To meet the needs of all students, either the teacher or media specialist will give
assessments to students. Teachers and the media specialist will decide where a student
will test when collaborating. This will determine if the student has accommodation,
then the student(s) could test in an environment that meet their IEP requirements. I
suggest that at times students could be tested in the media center and give them a new
place to test.

3) Many tools will be used to measure student’s achievement from collaborative

planning. Students will be given many opportunities to show growth through available
resources to support their learning such as using and having an understanding of a
rubric.

4) Technology will be updated within the media center to meet the needs to support the
infrastructure for students by creating an active plan. The active plan will allow
students to present their work virtually and teachers would know of the resources
available to function 24-7. Students would be able to research materials online
anytime.

5) The library will integrate technology so students can independently access the
blended choice of technology. That will support different types of learner’s interest
and style to maintain knowledge from modeling technology integration.

6) The media specialist will be flexible with the library hours of operation. This way it
would meet the needs of students to have more opportunities to check out books or to
just utilize the library. The teachers would be able to plan with the school librarian
because of the flexible time.

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7) Promoting Tex Quest will allow students to research and practice procedures. Staff
development will be available to support teachers though virtual lessons. There could
also be an online professional development workshop through Zoom or a video of a
screencast how to video.

8) Yearly, the library media policy which is a guide for the media specialist. It will be
updated by an advisory committee (media specialist, administrators, teachers, parents,
and the community members) to have the media policy approved by the district board
members. I suggest that after approval the media policy would be updated on the
school’s website for all stakeholders to view.

9) The advisory committee will create the media center budget. The budget could
come from grants of all sizes, school fundraisers, school events hosted by the media
center, and business partnerships. I suggest for the advisory committee to create and
spread out events on a calendar.

10.The past staff developments had a low attendance turnout being the reason it scored
a basic level. Due to the pandemic, many teachers are searching for new/other
resources to improve their hybrid classrooms. In order to become exemplary, I suggest
that the media specialist host a virtual staff development. During the staff
development, the media specialist would share digital resources such as a curated
resource page with a diverse number of categories to select from. There would be a
mention of the media specialist duties that would support all staff members, and
providing a calendar to schedule a collaborative lesson. Finally, there would be a
media specialist bitmoji virtual library for teacher and one for grade levels to go to
with a click of a button. It would stay updated with books and resources to support
students in the classroom and at home.

Level of Proficiency: Proficient (Goal-Exemplary)

Although subcategory 11 met most of the requirements from the rubric, there are other
components that can take it to becoming Exemplary. There are few suggestions that I
believe will make the space in the media center more useful. I think that the media
center has more than enough space, but just needs a mini makeover and students would
love to be in that new area. The space upstairs with the couch would attract the
attention of students if they knew about its existence. There should be a sign above the
start of the stairway that says “The Tiger Cave”. The couch should be removed and
replaced with about 9 flexible seating for more space and add 3 short tables. I think
the Tiger Cave should look like a mini coffee shop with bright colors.