Instructional Efforts: Information Literacy K-12

|| Constructivist Learning || Big 6 || Situation in California || Santa Cruz County High Schools || Personal Observations ||
|| District School Library Plans || Other Educational Efforts ||

Constructivist(1) Learning
Learning theories come and go as they are applied to teaching. I would be foolish to attempt to summarize what is, by itself, a rich and complicated field of study. That being said, however, it is important to note in some fashion that, part and parcel to the Information Age, there is an increased emphasis in America's schools on constructivist learning.

Since the mid-1990s, proposals for school reform (K-12 and college) have called for moving away from teacher-centered, didactic instruction and toward student-centered, understanding-based teaching. These approaches are often called constructivist, student-centered, active learning, project based, or inquiry based. The theory stems from the idea that students learn best by actively constructing their own knowledge. In this theoretical framework, knowledge is seen not as a product, but, rather, as an active process. Emphasis is placed on problem analysis and problem solving, and frequently on collaborative work. When the focus is on learners constructing their own learning, teachers become guides, or coaches, or mentors.

The idea that learning is best seen as a process of inquiry or discovery is as old as John Dewey and Jerome Bruner, of course. The newly-awakened interest in constructivist approaches, however, is a direct response to the onslaught of the Information Age -- to the new technologies, and to the increasing information needs found in the workplace.

Interactive technologies of various sorts (multimedia programs, interactive software, the Internet) support active learning approaches.(2) Many writers and researchers assert that interactive technologies have direct instructional effectiveness. A host of studies (3) would indicate that use of these various educational technologies in classrooms promotes critical thinking, problem-solving, collaborative learning, and teamwork. Further, that they allow individualization (students learning at different rates), and, in themselves, improve communication skills, and support a variety of learning styles. There is an increased focus on questioning and problem-solving.

Constructivist approaches can be used throughout the curriculum. At the college level, they are especially referenced in relation to learning communities (e.g., Constructivist Design Principles at Texas Christian University; Rochester Institute of Technology's PowerPoint presentation Constructivism).

Constructivist principles are widely used in teaching information literacy.

And how is information literacy usually taught? On all levels, the common pattern is to have librarians partner or collaborate with classroom faculty to design inquiry-based, problem-solving curricular units.

The Big 6
Michael Eisenberg (School of Library and Information Science, University of Washington) and Robert E. Berkowitz (School Library Specialist with Wayne (NY) Central School District) partnered in developing Information Problem-Solving: The Big Six Approach to Library & Information Skills Instruction (1990).

The six steps cover

The Big 6 approach has been widely adopted by school districts (mostly K-12, but some colleges, as well) -- if not in its entirety, then as a rubric or set of guiding princples. Big6: Information Problem Solving with Technology is a PowerPoint presentation about Big6. A good overview is provided by Teaching Information Literacy: The Big Six Skills Approach to Information Problem Solving.

The Situation in California's Schools(4)
Funding for education in California has been in real crisis over the last several decades. School libraries have lost credentialed staff and have endured years of devastating underfunding. The California Department of Education released figures in late 1998 that showed that the average copyright date of a school library nonfiction book in California is 1972. Whereas the national ratio of library media teacher (i.e., school librarian) to students is 1:882, in California that ratio is 1:5,342. Of the 1075 school districts (not schools) in California, 148 (about 14%) have credentialed staff in their school libraries.

Two major pieces of recent legislation and investment are trying to turn parts of this around.

The first piece is technology funding. Since 1997, the California Department of Education's Digital High School initiative (in response to AB 64, 1997) has been changing California's secondary schools. A primary objective of AB 64 is "to provide all high school pupils with basic computer skills including ... the ability to utilize electronic mail, word processing programs, electronic publishing software, spreadsheet programs, courseware and related software, and Internet search and retrieval tools."

There are 8 high schools in Santa Cruz County. Three are alternative high schools and have no formal school libraries. The Digital High School project has come to Watsonville, Aptos, Santa Cruz, Harbor, Soque, and San Lorenzo Valley high schools.

The California Technology Assistance Project (CTAP) was established as a statewide educational technology initiative, to provide assistance to schools and their districts as they integrate technology into teaching and learning. CTAP's five major components are: 1. Staff development; 2. Technical assistance; 3. Information & learning resources; 4. Telecommunications infrastructure; 5. Coordination & funding.

The California School Library Association (CSLA) provides regional assistance for the the project (CSLA's Digital High School); the CSLA representative for this area (Region 5) is Mark Gordon, who is a consultant for Bay Area Coalition of Essential Schools (BayCES). Santa Cruz High School has applied to be a member of BayCES, and Gordon is a coach at Santa Cruz High in relation to those instructional efforts.

The second piece is funding for school library materials, via the California Public School Library Act of 1998 (AB 862) (called the "California Public School Library Protection Act," in the Code itself):

Allocations ($28.80 per student) for library materials became available beginning in Spring/Fall 1999. Libraries at all levels (K-12) are finally able to purchase new books! Prior to receiving funding, a "districtwide school library plan" (which has been certified by the district's governing board) had to be submitted to the State.

In my visits to the high schools in this area, I asked for and received copies of the district library plans. (See below for notes on the district school library plans from this area.)

What Some of the High Schools are Doing in this County
San Lorenzo Valley High School (SLVHS) was the first in the county to get state money for the Digital High School initiative. According to their principal, 85% of the SLVHS's students have access to a computer at home.(5)

Each high school has planned and implemented its own vision of the Digital High School (DHS) initiative. But, there are commonalities (influenced, obviously, by the requirements of the legislation). The high schools are networked (Santa Cruz High's plan, for example, specifies that "each classroom will have two cable drops for network access;" Aptos High has a new fiber optic network). Students have broad access to computers and a networked environment throughout the school, including the library.

Constructivist learning approaches underlie new educational objectives at the schools. For example, in its vision statement, Santa Cruz High states that its reform process "has focused on collaboration, relationships and performance, centered on teacher as coach and student as worker." One of Santa Cruz High's objectives is to develop self-directed learning through inquiry-based projects, and its plan emphasizes problem-solving. Soquel High School indicates that its Digital High School initiative

Information literacy objectives are important, guiding goals in all the plans I read. Aptos High School's Digital High School Project Plan begins with this statement: "Information literacy is embedded in the comprehensive curriculum" Goal 1 of Aptos High's plan is focused on "Research Skills and Analytical Skills: Students will be able to research, analyze, and evaluate data from various sources and draw appropriate conclusions based on their research."

Each high school has worked to implement both computer and information literacy. At Aptos High, 13 skills have been identified as important to career and academic success; most are technology-oriented. One hundred percent of students are expected to achieve proficiences in basic skills which include knowledge of the following: email; word processing (and keyboarding at minimum 35 wpm with 90% accuracy); spreadsheet and data use; Internet search and retrieval (including evaluation); and basic hardware and maintenance skills. More advanced skills include: use of images (PhotoShop; scanning; digital camera); production of electronically integrated documents and PowerPoint presentations and Web pages, etc. Similar skills are the expressed outcomes of teaching and learning efforts at the other high schools.

At Santa Cruz High, inquiry-based learning (IBL) is emphasized at each grade level because, not only does it employ cross-discipline study and critical thinking skills, but also "promotes student-centered learning, accomodates individual learning styles, and is based on student ownership of the learning process."(7) 1999/2000 was the implementation year for Santa Cruz High, and during this first year, their Information Literacy focus was on a 9th grade required Health/Life Skills course. The course uses IBL and inquiry-based projects (IBPs) to introduce controversial issues which require data analysis and Internet research. Associated learning objectives include word processing skills, development of a Web page and PowerPoint presentation, and production of a pamphlet (desktop publishing) or video demonstrating content knowledge.

Alongside course-related projects, which serve as performance measures, learner outcome measures at the high schools include electronic portfolios (or "netfolios," as Soquel HS calls them in their plan). Santa Cruz High School's DHS plan indicates that an information skills exam will be administered to all students in a priority subject area.

Some Personal Observations
Plans on paper are one thing, of course; implementation is quite another. In visiting the high schools and talking with their library staffs, I have been extremely impressed. A lot of progress has been made; the DHS initiative has clearly had strong impacts. The library personnel are extremely dedicated and hard-working; without question, all staff have worked wonders in these transformational years.

High schools in Santa Cruz City School District (Santa Cruz High, Soquel High, and Harbor High) have professional librarians on staff. San Lorenzo Valley High School (San Lorenzo Valley School District), and Aptos High and Watsonville High (Pajaro Valley Unified School District) have no credentialed librarians on their staffs. I greatly admire the library media technicians who work at San Lorenzo Valley High School (SLVHS), Aptos High, and Watsonville High; they are wonderful individuals, with outstanding records of dedication, perseverence, and accomplishment. However, it is obvious to me that there are profound pedagological and learning outcome differences in the information literacy instructional effects if you compare the high schools with professional librarians to the others.

How so?

First, certificated librarians are teachers. They are colleagues of the classroom teaching faculty. Information literacy efforts across the country, on every level, grow out of partnerships between librarians and content area faculty. The Big6 approach emphasizes partnerships between school librarians and classroom faculty.(8) The American Association of School Librarians' Position Paper on Information Problem-Solving indicates that the library media specialist "works with the classroom teacher as a partner to plan, design, deliver, and evaluate instruction." Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning (from the American Association of School Librarians and the Association for Educational Communications and Technology) emphasizes partnerships between librarians and classroom faculty as an inherent concept.

Information literacy has to be integrated into school curricula. Information literacy skills are learned through coursework. Inquiry-based learning is resource-based learning. Librarians are critical partners in developing curricula that meet those learning objectives.

School librarians need to know about teaching, learning, and the construction of knowledge. The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), through its Library Media Standards (click in the table to download the Library Media Standards), establishes standards that include knowledge of learning theory, and principles of library and information science.

School librarians need to know how to create inquiry-based or problem-solving curricula. As expressed by the NPBTS standards, library media specialists know how to "integrate information literacy through collaboration, planning, implementation, and assessment of learning." Graduate library school programs include appropriate coursework to prepare their students for involvement in information literacy efforts. Every student in San Jose State University's School of Library and Information Science, for example, who is earning his/her School Library Media Teacher Credential takes a course from Dr. David Loertscher that deals with information literacy and collaborative planning; the students' final projects are units of curriculum about a topic or series of topics with an information literacy component.(9)

To quote from the Position Statement on Appropriate Staffing for School Library Media Centers from the American Association of School Librarians:

Three recently completed, statewide studies now show that strong library media programs, with fulltime library media specialists, help students learn more and score higher on standardized achievement tests. The studies are by the Colorado State Library's Library Research Service and the University of Denver's Library and Information Services Department. Schools in Alaska, Pennsylvania and Colorado participated in the study. The results replicate those of a 1993 study of schools just in Colorado.(10)

In the Santa Cruz City School District, all three high school libraries have professional librarian staff. My understanding is that librarians in those libraries are/were very much a part of the planning for the Digital High School initiative at their schools. Librarians work in partnership with classroom faculty. Information literacy efforts are programmatic at those schools.

Watsonville, Aptos, and SLV high schools do not have credentialed librarians. My understanding is that there was relatively little or no involvement by library staff in planning for implementation of the Digital High School initiative at those schools. Staff in these libraries are library media technicians. The usual path is for classroom faculty to partner with librarians to create curricula for information literacy; that does not happen in these schools. Following their DHS plans, teachers at these schools are integrating information literacy into their own curriculum. But, their efforts are not part of a programmatic, library-led effort, and, in my judgment, they are far less effective.

District School Library Plans
It was mentioned above that in order to get funding for book purchases from AB 862, school districts had to submit library plans (that had been signed by their Boards). I have copies of those plans for all three school districts (Pajaro Valley, San Lorenzo Valley, Santa Cruz City).

Excerpts from Pajaro Valley's Library Development Plan for 1999-2000

Excerpts from San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District Library Plan 1999-2000

For San Lorenzo and Pajaro Valley districts, as of April 2001, these are still goals and objectives. They are not realities.(11)

Other Educational Efforts
Information literacy efforts are widespread across California and the country. Chico Unified School District offers an Advanced Information Retrieval/Literacy with Analysis of Web Sites Proficiency Test. Many school districts are implementing information literacy programs following guidelines spelled out in the American Association of School Librarians' Information Power.

In California, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing has added Standard 24.5 to its certification requirements. This new standard covers proficiencies required to use computer-based technology in classrooms, and includes information literacy skills. The new standards went into effect for teachers credentialed after 1 January 2000. Prior to that date, California's colleges of education (teacher preparation institutions) had to submit plans showing how they were going to incorporate technology and information literacy skills into their curricula.(12)

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has published National Educational Technology Standards for Students -- Connecting Curriculum and Technology (commonly referred to as NETS) which will influence the adoption of similar standards for computer competency and information literacy efforts. States are developing standards as well. In Oregon, for example, the Educational Media Association has set Information Literacy Benchmarks. To convey the level of sophistication expected, note that for grade 10, two benchmarks are -- Make selective and discriminating use of media and technology to meet specific information needs; and Demonstrate Boolean search strategies to assist in keyword searching. In Technology Scope and Sequence from the Santa Cruz School District, note that simple and complex Boolean searching are introduced in the 6th grade; searching of online reference resources is introduced in the 3rd grade.

Information literacy efforts in colleges and universities will necessarily want to build on the skill levels of incoming students. In the community college setting especially, there will always be reentry students, and the mix will always be broad.

However, it is increasingly true that students coming out of high schools (whether in this region or not) will already have basic and middle level technology skills (wordprocessing, spreadsheet, PowerPoint, Web page construction), and some will have advanced level technology skills (experience with PhotoShop, scanners, digital cameras, etc.). These students will likely have had exposure to inquiry-based, active learning, using information literacy rubrics such as The Big6. They will have been exposed to Internet search engines and subject directories; they will have learned how to frame search statements.

The computers at their high schools (including those in their high school libraries) will have provided them access to software for word processing, and spreadsheets along with access to the Internet, and they will have learned to integrate electronic documents (e.g., import something from the Web into a Word document).

After examining problem-based curricular assignments from a variety of high schools, and based on informal conversations with high school students in the last several months, I have become more aware of the information literacy and technology skill levels now emerging at the high school level. While it might be too soon to say that portions of Cabrillo College's Library 10 Information Research course (a required co-requisite to English 1A and our flagship information literacy course) are geared toward students of a (gulp!) bygone era, that sobering thought has resonance.

The Digital High School initiative has tremendous implications -- for students as they prepare for Information Age realities in the workplace and in college, and for faculty responsible for college-level information literacy programs.

Information literacy is similar to other areas of pedagogy -- we teach English composition to 5th graders and to high schoolers as well as in college. Increasingly sophistical perspectives build on what has been previously learned. To be involved in information literacy efforts at college levels requires an increased awareness of what kinds of realistic assumptions we can make about the skill and knowledge levels of incoming students.

Studies show that Internet users (high school and college students, as well as others) generally report that they have good Internet search skills. Librarians, in particular (who constantly work to hone their own information searching strategies, who realize that no single search engine covers more than about 30-35% of the Web, and who are regularly called upon to help those lost in cyberspace) tend to doubt these self-assessments. It may be the case that those who think they know, actually don't -- and can't picture or imagine what they don't know. [Or, of course, it may be an ego thing primarily -- everyone wants to think of themselves as good searchers....just like we are all good drivers, etc.]

To probe some of these issues a bit deeper as they might reflect different educational levels, I developed an Information Literacy Assessment tool which a variety of students at different educational levels (high school, lower division college, upper division college) have been taking. In the section Information Literacy Assessment: Distinguishing Different Levels of Understanding, I analyze the results, and discuss findings.