English Learner Library Initiative

Susan C. Kiss

Dominican University

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
“​Beginning in 2018, each Illinois school is receiving a Summative Designation, a 
measure of progress in academic performance and student success” (Illinois State 
Board of Education)​. Based on this Summative Designation, Barrington Middle 
School-Station Campus is currently an underperforming school. ​An underperforming 
school is one “in which one or more student groups is performing at or below the level 
of "all students" group in the lowest performing 5% of schools” (Illinois State Board of 
Education). The group that was targeted as underperforming is the EL (English 
Learners) group. The fact that the mission of District 220 is to “inspire all learners to 
achieve excellence,” but there is an entire population that is not achieving excellence 
at this particular school means that District 220 is not fulfilling its mission. Why are 
EL students not performing at or above state levels for standardized tests and 
academics?  
 
The current programs available at Station Middle School (heretofore referred to as 
Station) for EL students are Tier 1 intervention strategies such as pull-out reading and 
pull-out math and ESL co-teachers in their regular education classrooms to assist 
them with the curriculum and to make sure the students are understanding the 
English text. In addition to academic support, the EL students have a club dedicated 
to honoring their culture, Club Latino; one of Station’s Spanish teachers hosts a Latino 
lunch group for Latino students to just get together and hang out; a designated EL 
counselor; and an after school club for students who are falling behind in their 
schoolwork and may need one-on-one assistance called Guided Study. Clearly, Station 
has many supports in place for this group of students, however, these students are still 
underperforming in terms of state tests and academic work. This data classifies 
Station as an underperforming school which not only affects state funding, but the 
school district’s reputation and national ranking. 
 
Clearly, the programs and special accommodations are not as successful as Station or 
the district would like them to be. Currently, the library is not involved in any support 
other than as a place to read tests to students. Based on literature, “one way to 
address the achievement gap is by cultivating students’ interest in reading” 
(Henderson-Murphy, 2018, p. 62). What if the library partnered with the ESL and 
regular education teachers to incorporate specific lessons targeted at this clearly 
struggling EL group? The library could increase its Spanish book collection, as well as 
add a program one to two times a week, during the school day, to help increase the 
EL students’ grasp of the English language through read alouds and 
cognate-recognition strategies (​Henderson-Murphy, 2018, p. 62 & Montelongo, 2010). 
Instead of going to the cafeteria for lunch or their Colt Time, students would meet 
with the librarian for their “book club.” Meetings would be held on a bi-weekly basis 
with ESL and core teachers to discuss the impact, if any, of the new initiatives and, if 
needed, refocus. The librarian would work with the ESL counselor to communicate 
with parents via email/mail to inform them of and update them on the new program. 
The librarian would meet with parents once a quarter to discuss concerns and 
questions in order to build a partnership. Meetings with building administration 
would occur on a monthly basis or as determined by the administration. 
In order to cultivate this partnership, the following stakeholders need to be involved 
and on board: 
● District Administration 
● Building Principal and Assistant Principals 
● ESL teachers 
● ESL counselor 
● Librarian 
● Library support staff 
● Regular Education teachers 
● Parents of EL students 
● EL students 
 
SMART Goal:​ The ​library will partner with ESL and regular education classroom 
teachers to add a library component to the current supports. EL learners’ grades will 
be monitored on a quarterly basis, aligning with the school’s quarter grading system. 
The goal is that, with targeted intervention from the library, an increased partnership 
with parents, and more specific library programming dedicated to the EL population, 
student achievement will go up in order to meet state standards. State tests will be 
monitored on a yearly basis in order to monitor growth. 
I. Library Goals 
A. Expand current book collection 
1. “Ideally, this [Spanish] collection includes the same titles that ELL 
students’ peers are reading” (​Henderson-Murphy, 2018, p. 62). 
2. Include graphic novels because “the visual narrative 
accompanying the text in comic books ‘can provide clues that shed 
light on the meaning of an unfamiliar word or grammatical 
structure’ (as cited in Chun 2009, 146)” (Henderson-Murphy, 2018, 
p. 62). 
B. Add a library program during the school day, which includes reading 
aloud and discussion and reading strategies. 
1. Studies done by Hayden and Gramstorff (2000) and Krashen 
(2004) “indicated that for young people reading is a social 
process” (​Henderson-Murphy, 2018, p. 62). 
2. Use the cognate-recognition strategy as discussed by Jose 
Montelongo (2010) in order to get students to realize the 
relationship between some Spanish and English words. 
II. Budget 
A. Spanish books 
1. According to Titlewave.com (2019), books in Spanish are $36.99 
each.   
2. Current Spanish collection is 530 books according to a Destiny 
(2019) search. 
3. Expand Spanish collection by 70 books to include more recent and 
popular titles at a cost of $2,589.30 if the order came from Follett. 
4. Check Amazon.com for lower prices. 
 B. Library Program costs: 

 
III. Meet bi-weekly with regular and ESL teachers to discuss program progress and 
improvements. 
IV. Partner with ESL counselor to establish parent communication. 
V. Meet with parents once per quarter to answer questions and update them at 
their home school (Sunny Hill in Carpentersville) to accommodate them. 
VI. Meet with building administration on a monthly basis or as determined by 
administration. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
How will the program’s success be assessed? Because the school district is looking at 
standardized test scores as measures of success, those scores will be analyzed. During 
the year one program initiation, success will be determined by the spring standardized 
test scores such as MAP (Measured Academic Progress) and IAR (Illinois Assessment 
for Readiness) as compared to the fall scores for the former and the previous year’s 
results for the latter, as the IAR assessment occurs on a yearly basis. The goal of the 
program is to increase the EL learner’s grasp of the English language, so test scores 
are anticipated to rise if the proposed intervention succeeds in breaking down the 
language barrier.   
As a school, teachers and administrators will see an increase in academic 
performance. Success of the program in terms of the school itself will be measured in 
terms of grades; midterm, quarter, and year end. Given these are longer periods of 
time and the program needs to be monitored more closely during its inception, the 
first measure should be after the first summative evaluation in each academic class. 
Once a benchmark is established based on that first summative exam, then student 
performance can be assessed again at the three week midterm period. Test scores 
and summative evaluation scores will be the basis of the quantitative or measurable 
data. Qualitative data also needs to be analyzed. This will be done in terms of 
bi-weekly meetings with the teaching teams. The specific students who are involved in 
the new library initiative will be discussed in terms of performance on formative 
assignments, in-class work, class participation, and overall class demeanor. If the core 
teachers feel that the student is benefitting from the library program and they are 
seeing signs of success in homework completion, then it would appear that the 
program is working, so the student would continue. If teachers are not seeing any 
changes in the aforementioned performances, program changes would need to be 
made. Perhaps the students need more specific or different types of instruction within 
the library program or they need to attend more days. The program will evolve as it 
needs to in order to better serve the students and the core teachers will help to 
determine that.   
The ESL teachers will be invaluable partners, as they are the ones who are most 
closely working with the students to assess their needs. During the bi-weekly meetings 
with them, discussions will center around what changes they have noticed in their EL 
students. Word recognition, speech patterns, and general understanding of the 
academic texts they are studying will be discussed. ESL teachers will be asked to 
record how much assistance is being given in terms of explaining word meanings or 
phrases when they are reading tests aloud to the EL students. It is also important for 
the ESL teacher to determine whether or not the EL students are preferring to read 
their tests to themselves and/or are asking fewer questions about what 
questions/phrases mean. The ultimate goal is that the student’s overall academic 
performance will increase as a result of this targeted library intervention and a 
healthy and successful partnership will be built between the librarian and the teachers 
and between the EL students and the librarian. 
 
The timeline begins in the spring of 2019 in preparation for the start of the 2019/2020 
school year. After the proposal is accepted, the library will order the necessary 
materials, library books in Spanish. Posters with English and Spanish cognates can be 
created by the librarian during her planning time for the program. Once the 
materials have been ordered, there will be a lag time between when the order is 
placed and the materials arrive. When the materials arrive, the library staff will assist 
with preparing the materials for circulation. While the materials are en route, the 
librarian will meet with core and ESL teachers to target potential students and look 
at spring MAP scores. These scores will be used as a comparison tool for the fall MAP 
scores. In the fall, teacher/librarian meetings will again occur after the fall MAP tests. 
The preliminary student list will be reevaluated and students will either be added to or 
removed from the initial list for the library program. Once the students have been 
identified, the librarian will meet with students twice per week. After three weeks, the 
librarian will meet with ESL and core teachers to evaluate progress. Any changes or 
improvements that need to be made will be addressed and implemented. After the 
meeting with the teachers, the librarian will meet with administration to report 
progress. This process will occur throughout the school year on a regular basis based 
on the Gantt chart timeline. 
 
 References 
Henderson-Murphy, P. (2018). School libraries and addressing the needs of ELL
students: Enhancing language acquisition, confidence, and cultural fluency in
ELL students by developing a targeted collection and enriching your
makerspace. ​Knowledge Quest​, ​46(​ 4), p. 60–65. Retrieved from  
http://search.ebscohost.com.dom.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lls&AN=12819
9634&site=ehost-live&scope=site 

Illinois State Board of Education. (2018). ​Barrington Middle School Station (6-8)
[Data File]. Retrieved from 
https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/School.aspx?schoolID=340492200261003 (Links to 
an external site.)Links to an external site.
Montelongo, J. A. (2010). Library instruction and Spanish-English cognate recognition.
Teacher Librarian​, ​38(​ 1), 32–36. Retrieved from 
http://search.ebscohost.com.dom.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lls&AN=5030
06539&site=ehost-live&scope=site