Before you think:

“Assessment is not my responsibility”

Or

“My job is getting kids excited about reading and helping them with their research”

Or

“My goal is to produce lifelong learners. That is a long-term goal. It happens in the future and you can’t asses these skills now”

Or

“I don’t have time to give them tests so I can’t really assess their work…”

Take a look at the work being done in Hawaii by Violet Harada and Joan Yoshina. In today’s schools, assessment for student learning is every school professional's business – and every student’s. As well as the benefits to students, there is a real need for librarians to report the library contribution to student progress in a way that communicates the results to school staff, students and parents.

Violet and Joan are interested in the tools and processes in the library that provide students with accurate, descriptive feedback and which involve students in the process.

For librarians to have a recognised  part in learning in schools, Violet and Joan suggest the following 21^st century understandings are important:

• Teaching can no longer exist in isolated silos.
• Librarians must go beyond location and access.
• Assessment is not an add on, it is an integral part of learning.

Tools for assessment include the use of checklists, rubrics, portfolios graphic organisers and logs. 

It’s a big topic and a very important one.

Harada, V. H.(2010). Self-assessment: Challenging students to take charge of learning. School Library Monthly, 26(10), 13-15

Glynis