Achieving National Board Certification for School Library Media Specialists: A Study Guide (ALA Editions)
A clear, accessible handbook. Dickinson provides the background of the program and reviews the best practices that must be utilized in everyday school librarianship, including collaboration, appreciation of literature, and technology integration. She then explains the certification process, including how to prepare for and complete the four prescribed entries. The text is written in reader-friendly, casual language, with lots of comments, suggestions, and humorous anecdotes from candidates found on Web-based discussion sites. A chapter on banking helps candidates envision certification as an extended process (one to four years) rather than as a one-time pass/fail situation. Candidates bank successful scores and can retake unsuccessful ones until the process is complete. Charts, helpful hints in shaded Food for Thought boxes, and extensive chapter notes are included. Potential candidates would do well to combine this guide with Peggy Milam'sNational Board Certification in Library Media:A Candidate's Journal(Linworth, 2005) to obtain both the professional and personal perspectives on the process.-Mary R. Hofmann, Rivera Middle School, Merced, CACopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.