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| Photo by Polina Zimmerman from Pexels |
School libraries play an important role in making opportunities for literacy achievement more equitable. Not only does literacy impact a student's understanding of the curriculum and their demonstration of knowledge, but it also impacts whether or not they remain in school. Many students actually make the decision in middle school that they will drop out in high school (Davidson and Koppenhaver, 2017). Schools have often presented these statistics and data but teachers lack the training in how to address these inequities within their own classroom. This is where school librarians can come in.
Middle and high school teachers have often not been trained in teaching early literacy skills; librarians can work directly with staff by creating professional development opportunities or ongoing training. They also can give recommendations on lower levels of reading as teachers often do not have access to or ability to review alternatives to their chosen texts. Librarians should be advocates for the students and the teachers, pushing for whatever training or support is needed to create a strong literacy focus within the school.
The library should also reflect its users and librarians need to make an effort to provide a wider range of materials. This includes texts in other languages that are prominent in the school population. Students are spending their school days working on English language skills but should have access to books in their native language to check out on their own. Different levels of texts should also be made available, particularly at the middle and high school levels. Having a library full of on-level, English materials are not useful if they are just sitting there and not being used. The library should be a safe haven and students are going to be more likely to gravitate towards it if they can see their own needs reflected in its space.
The reality many schools are facing is that students who are not reading or writing at grade level will not suddenly do so by only being taught or exposed to literacy skills at grade level. We need to meet students where they are and librarians are in a unique position to offer that training, support, and space to work directly with both students and staff.
Citations:
Davidson, J., & Koppenhaver, D. (2017). Adolescent literacy: What works and why. Retrieved from https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/8exHDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT7.
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