From Planning to Advocacy: Utilizing the OASL Standards

By: Leigh Morlock, OASL Standards Chair

As teacher-librarians, we know how important library instruction is to our students at all grade levels. We want our students to build the skills and knowledge they need to be information literate, to become lifelong readers, and to practice ethical online behaviors. Our statewide standards and learning goals are our guidelines for ensuring that Oregon students develop these habits of mind. 

The OASL Standards provide a framework for teacher-librarians to design and implement effective library programs that foster student learning and curiosity. Not only are these standards designed to assess student learning outcomes and assure that student learning across the state is consistent, they also help us assess our own library instruction and programming. 

For elementary librarians, instruction and programming comes in a variety of forms, whether led by a district librarian, completely self-contained, in collaboration with other teachers or grades, or some combination. In middle and high school, most of our work is done in collaboration with classroom teachers, where our standards can be applied to all content areas. Regardless of grade level, students need to develop information literacy and good digital citizenship to succeed -- in school and beyond. Our expertise utilizing the OASL standards will help them get there.

The OASL Standards Committee developed the standards with different supports in order to facilitate more efficient planning. Completely new to the standards, or just want to share the main points with your principal? Start here with the OASL Standards document that highlights the three strands (Information Literacy, Reading Engagement, and Social Responsibility) and their corresponding three standards.

As librarians develop and dig into each standard, the OASL Standards with Indicators and the Grade Level Learning Goals for Information Literacy will assist in fleshing out what your lesson will include and what you want students to walk away understanding. These documents have a combined searchable database through the OASL website with a video tutorial and glossary. The EIDPA K-14 Articulation document can help with what to teach when. If your school asks that your lessons align with other standards, check out the Crosswalk of OASL Standards to English Language Arts & Literacy Standards. 

More work will be done as the committee continues to work on grade level learning goals for the other two strands, Reading Engagement and Social Responsibility. Feedback can be left on our survey, or you can email standards@oasl.olaweb.org. 

Even beyond our own use, the standards provide an advocacy tool with other teachers, administrators, and district leaders that allows them to see exactly what we teach and how our work correlates and supports other instruction throughout the building. These standards and learning goals are our voice in the educational community. Let us not be silent.