Educating for School Library Leadership: Developing the Instructional Partnership Role

The American Association of School Librarians and researchers in the field have identified the instructional partner role as critical to the future of school librarianship. Educators of school librarians must help prepare preservice candidates to serve effectively in this role. This research report describes a content analysis study conducted in three sections of LS5443: Librarians as Instructional Partners, an online graduate course. The purpose of the study was to investigate course features, assignments, tools, and resources that made the greatest change in candidates' understandings of the competencies needed to enact instructional partnerships. The findings suggest dispositions, communication skills, and collaborative practices, including the use of technology tools required to collaborate with three or more classmates, influenced study participants' previously-held understandings of instructional partnerships.Keywords: LIS education, LIS school librarian students, instructional partnerships, content analysis, online educationIntroductionIn Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs (AASL, 2009), the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) outlines five roles for the school librarian: leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and program administrator. Kachel et al. (20 1 1 ) summarized the research findings of the School Library Impact Studies (Library Research Service, 201 1) and identified a positive correlation between classroom-library collaboration for instruction and increased student achievement in fifteen out of the twenty-one studies they reviewed. More specifically, planning with teachers, coteaching, teaching ICT (information and communication technologies), and providing in-services to teachers are among the library predictors of students' academic achievement on standardized tests, particularly in reading and language arts (Achterman, 2008, p. 62-65).As instructional partners, the work of school librarians is integrated into the academic program of the school, increasing their potential to affect student achievement significantly. However, when school librarians are asked whom they serve, "most would answer students, yet the primary clientele in terms of power, impact, and effect would be teachers" (Haycock, 2010, p. 3). Further evidence of a lack of attention to the instructional partner role has been cited in professional development activities for school librarians. In a study of 2010-2011 school librarian conference offerings, Cahill, Moreillon, and McKee (201 1) found that the fewest number of sessions involved presenters who shared their experiences in the instructional partner role. Where will preservice school librarians learn and initially practice this role if not in the university classroom?Study Context, Problem, and PurposesAs suggested by the course title, the goal of LS5443: Librarians as Instructional Partners is to develop preservice school librarians' understandings and competencies related to practicing instructional partnerships. This course is taught completely online; the three course sections under study were taught in the regular 15-week semester in fall 2010 and spring 201 1. The course is not self-paced, but is designed for candidates to interact with one another through biweekly online discussions and multiple collaborative assignments. It is designed with a constructivist learning framework in which candidates take responsibility for their own learning by building on their prior experiences, interacting with course materials and one another, and developing skills as instructional partners through collaborative project-based assignments.LS5443 is most often one of the last courses candidates take before participating in their practicum field-work experiences. As a faculty practicum supervisor, the researcher/instructor reviews candidates' goals and objectives for their practicum placements, which occur in both elementary and secondary schools. …