The new version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (the original law that empowered school libraries) now includes an expectation that each school will have strong library programs. The link to the left shows what that means and what TSLAC is proposing related to the new law. TSLAC operates under TEA's direction.

For the first time in many years, the federal education laws allows schools to fund school library programs and to provide professional development for school librarians with Title funds. Effective library programs are meant to help students develop critical thinking skills, technical skills, reading and research skills in order to be successful.

School librarians are considered "specialized instructional support personnel." Title funds and grant funds should be used to send school librarians to professional development, and school librarians should offer professional development to staff, specifically to help them "increase access to personalized, rigorous learning experiences supported by technology."

So digital literacy is a key component of the new law. School librarians specialize in digital literacy and curriculum development.

Although budget cuts in past years led to librarians being cut or shifted among multiple campuses, the trend currently is to replace librarians in full-time positions. Only about 17,000 schools nationwide do not have certified librarians now. According to the State Librarian of Texas, TEA intends for schools to have a full-time librarian at each campus.

What does your child need then?

We have many studies for many decades that say the same things:

1. Your child needs a large library collection from which to choose books for pleasure reading. Our students seem to prefer to read for pleasure in print but to do their research in digital media. Reading for pleasure in the child's comfort zone (not pushed too hard or too fast too increase a "reading level" is vital for reading improvement. Our libraries are not increasing in size; some are shrinking. We need bigger budgets for books and audio-visual materials.
2. Your child needs daily sustained silent reading. Schools need a plan for silent reading in the classrooms every day for at least fifteen minutes. This might be a DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) program or some other form of silent reading. The silent reading must be from a book or magazine of the student's choice. The silent reading should not be graded. The teacher should be reading silently also during this time to model the importance of daily silent reading.
3. Your child needs to do research in all forms of information, and they need to learn to do it better than they know how to do it presently to succeed in their college and/or career plans. Students tend to believe everything is on the Internet and they usually perform simple Google searches which yield results based on the number of times a site gets a hit. Librarians teach how to use all materials, how to use online databases, how to evaluate materials, and how to perform better searches. We also teach how to organize, plan, and complete a project.
4. The public library cannot be a substitute for the school library, particularly for children living in poverty. Research confirms this. Research also confirms that school libraries adequately staffed by certified librarians can negate the effects of poverty.
5. Your child needs a librarian who teaches information literacy and digital literacy. It is the role of the librarian to teach these skills. Librarians are teachers. Are your children's teachers taking their classes to the library for this instruction?
6. Research proves that your child will improve in all areas of education if your child:
   1. reads daily
   2. reads books that he or she chooses freely
   3. reads for pleasure
   4. is not forced to read at a certain "level" or for a certain required reading program such as AR
   5. has a good place to read
   6. has time set aside to read
   7. has reading material at home (which is why we have book fairs)
   8. sees adults reading for pleasure
   9. has adults who read aloud
   10. hears people talking about reading and has opportunities to talk about reading
   11. is not made to turn reading into a chore
   12. has large classroom libraries in each room (even in math), but those do not take the place of visiting the library to find books to read for pleasure
7. Your child needs a fully staffed library with a librarian who has a teaching certificate, and at minimum a Learning Resources Certificate (K-12). Going forward, the job description should also require a master's degree in Library Science or Library Information Science. The master's degree is the best way to be prepared to give your child what he or she needs. Paras alone cannot teach. TEA mandates that they be "in close proximity to the teacher of record" (the librarian).
8. Your child needs a library paraprofessional to take care of the circulation desk and the shelving so that the librarian can take care of the teaching and the administrative tasks that the paraprofessional is not qualified to take care of. Otherwise, the librarian is forced to forego many of the librarian's professional duties because the daily tasks of the circulation desk and shelving may not be postponed. In addition, the library paraprofessional should be considered an instructional para rather than a clerical para ever since NCLB was initiated. Currently, library paras in Spring are not considered instructional paras.
9. Your child needs an adequate number of certified staff and paraprofessional staff to meet his or her needs, and the state has recommended guidelines based on enrollment to meet those needs.
10. You should know whether or not your library is operated by a certified, degreed professional or by a paraprofessional.
11. The library paraprofessional is an instructional aide but should not be allowed to teach unless the librarian is in the facility with the para in order to supervise the teaching. We believe and have seen that paras may accidentally make instructional errors by misstatement, omission, giving outdated information, or giving incomplete information.
12. The library paraprofessional interview questions currently used are inadequate. The questions being used come from Region 4 and are for classroom paraprofessionals and are unrelated to the library paraprofessional position.
13. Your child should be able to visit the library "at point of need." Flexible scheduling is the only way that this can happen. The State recommends all libraries have flexible scheduling as opposed to fixed scheduling where the teachers drop the kids off during their conference time. This allows for more research (and we should be doing research even in elementary school), more circulation for pleasure reading, and better use of the facility and the librarian's time. It also will allow librarians to plan with teachers, according to the intent of the new ESSA law.