5/6/13 Reflection on Standards! Standards! Standards!

Post date: May 13, 2013 12:35:37 PM

Donham, Jean. "Standards! Standards! Standards!." Teacher Librarian 35.4 (2008): 43-46. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. Web. 13 May 2013.

I found this article interesting because it talked about the different standards upheld by associations within a school library program and on the different ways that they overlap. The one that has held to the truest standard has been the American Association of School Libraries (AASL), while the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills, at first glance, only seems to cover the basics as well as some self-evaluation tools. The program is also more established, although these principles are all judged on the year 2007 so that they portray an accurate portrait of the similarities and differences. The chart judges between what standards are key concepts endorsed be the ALA, by the AASL, the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and Partnership for 21^st Century Skills.

While the chart had some overlap, what the Partnership for 21^st Centursy Skills did have that the others did not was a more developed, exact plan of which skills covered which things regarding technology and the media and so if a school wanted to focus on teaching children more digital skills as we reach a more digital age, I would look to the Partnership for the 21^st Century for the criteria to meet and if those are met, it would be highly likely that the AASL standards are being met as well. The ISTE covered the process of how one recognized different standards, but it did not have as many standards for putting those things into practice and actually learning them.

If a child had a speech impediment and this chart was being used to help him or her, the AASL would be concerned that he or she knew the language that he needed to speak, the ISTE standards would help him or her be able to recognize why the words made certain sounds and the Partnership for the 21^st Century would be the program that would equate to speech therapy, making the child practice until he or she was able to speak properly. I only use this analogy because it reminded me of my brother’s speech impediment that he had when he was very young and after hours of a speech pathologist and my parents working with him each day, he gradually was able to say words more clearly and understandably. Now there is no hint that he had a problem speaking as a child. The standards that call for actually practicing something and not just give the ability to recognize what something is seem the most practical to me in the age of technology because I am a hands-on type of person when it comes to that stuff. I’ve always been taught that the more times you physically do something, the better chance you will have of remembering it later when under pressure.