Purpose of the Research

This research has two main purposes:

1. To replicate a previous study that used a simple measure to assess the impact of teacher librarians who partner with classroom teachers on learning experiences that take advantage of the information and technological resources of the library learning commons.

2. To recommend to teacher librarians and other professional staff of the library learning commons a simple tracking method to regularly assess the impact of these professionals on teaching and learning throughout the school.

The Research Design

The research design is to look across at least 100 K-12 schools to micro document the results of individual learning experiences conducted by the classroom teacher and the teacher librarian. The participants are volunteers. No randomization is attempted. The researcher wants to know how many learners participated in the learning experience and how many of those learners met or exceeded both adults expectations.

In some cases, an instructional coach, a technology integration specialist, an administrator, or other professional specialist might join in for part or all of the learning experience. The judgment of whether individual students meet or exceed expectations comes from whatever normal assessments, both formative or summative, are used by the adults. A particular assessment is not required by the researcher. The researcher assumes that normal assessment practices are at work and are done according to normal local procedures.

The differences between this research and other designs are:

• Two adults with complimentary expertise are coaching/teaching together - the classroom teacher and the teacher librarian or technology integration specialist.
• The learning experience draws upon the rich information and technology of the library learning commons in the school.
• The two adults teach and mentor throughout the learning experience.
• Normal local assessments happen.
• The outcome is based on the performance of individual students in that one learning experience.
• The results constitute a micro documentation of one event - one case.
• Each learning experience with its group of learners constitute a population where percentages are appropriate.
• Such a documentation, if tracked over time and over learning experiences, demonstrates a pattern valuable school by school by school.
• Such a documentation would work well in schools where personalized learning, problem based learning, project based learning, genius hour, collaborative inquiry, or other current instructional model is being used or tested.
• The measure of success is simple and requires almost no resources.
• The research assumes that the primary focus of the library learning commons goes beyond just the consumption of knowledge into the realm of the creation of knowledge. Thus, the library learning commons, is not just a storage and retrieval space, but a dynamic teaching, learning, and creating space.
• Administrators may choose to interview the group of learners after the learning experience is over to get their ideas about what went right or wrong and what can make such learning experiences more successful.