On separate missions
Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 09:13AM 
Allison Zmuda and David Loertscher gave an outstanding workshop here in Minnesota yesterday. As part of her opening remarks, Allison shared a couple of long lists of sample school library media program mission statements. Most of them looked something like this:
The LMC's mission is to develop inquisitive learners who can creatively, responsibly, and effectively solve problems and communicate their thinking/findings to others.
The point Allison made was that our mission statements should not be a laundry list of things we do, but a tool that helps us focus and prioritize our efforts. I agree wholeheartedly.
But I noticed that not one of the library program's statements included supporting the mission or goals of its parent organization - the school itself. When I asked Allison about this at lunch, she said the mission statements were purposely designed this way. OK. And if the library mission statement differed or even seemed contrary to the school mission? Then get a new job, was her reply. Hmmmmmm.
What should the ethical professional do when it seems his/her mission deviates from his/her organization? What seems like a growing number of librarians and technology folks are fully committed to creating constructivist learning environments that stress collaboration, creativity, communications, authentic assessment, and relevance but work for schools that focus on test scores, test scores, test scores, test scores and basic skills.
What are one's choices if you and your school seem to have differnt views of how to educate kids and what an educated person looks like?
- Quit and get a job in a school that aligns to your own educational philosophy. Easy to say, hard to do, since most of us have mortgages and families to feed. Many people are constrained geographically by other ties. Contructivist-based schools, most often small charters, are still few and far between.
- Stay and be subversive. Popular choice with many (and my personal favorite.) Nod and pay homage to the school leadership, but quietly do what you believe is best for kids under the radar. Be satisfied with small wins.
- Stay and complain - loudly. Do what the school requires but make a big stink about it, and make sure everyone knows that you really do know better. OK, I suppose, for those with tenure, but if it's only griping, nobody benefits.
- Stay, rationalize buying into a system you know is not good for kids, and shut up. It seems to work for many, but I don't know what it says about one's professionalism.
I'm sure there are other, better approaches to this dilemma. Help me out here...
Here's another angle on libraries and their missions:
David talked yesterday that even after being around for 50 years, school libraries still are not regarded as a core, essential ingredient of an effective school. And I'd suggest that this where we are with instructional technology after 30 years as well - a nice extra, at best.
Just for the sake of argument, might the reason for our marginalization be that librarians and tech enthusiasts have always had their own agenda/mission and worked toward accomplishing it rather than working toward the goals their schools felt important?
See poster above.
Reader Comments (11)
"subversive librarianship" should be a mainstay in all library training programs! It's a constant facet of the job. Still, I wish there were another way to try to meet our library goals. Truthfully, I probably swing wildly among options 2, 3 and 4 above in any given week. I hope that I spend the preponderance of my time though, quietly going about meeting my students' leisure reading needs & helping them become successful users of information and life-long learners. It's fairly lonely most days though... Thanks for this thought-provoking post. I hope others comment and share their thoughts!
As a classroom teacher with 20+ years experience who has recently moved to a library/media specialist position in an elementary school, this is such an interesting post. What I (think) I know for sure is that in an elementary school, the classroom teacher is the job that impacts kids most. The way for us--as librarians, and any other person or program outside of the classroom teacher--to make an impact is to allign our work closely with the school and the classroom teachers. I think the best libraries work BECAUSE the library program alligns with the goals of the school and staff. The classroom is the anchor for kids and if we want to meet our own goals in the library, they have to connect for the kids. Otherwise, kids get mixed messages and nothing is accomplished. I am not sure if this babbling even makes sense but I can't imagine a school library's mission not alligning and still making much of an impact on kids. If the library is to be the hub of the school and an important part, then I agree that it has to be connected to the bigger goals of the school and community. It can't really stand alone as a separate thing. I don't think we all have to be at the same place in our thinking--but moving in the same direction as a school community.
Thank you for always making me pause to think. Obviously, #1 is not a choice unless you are independently wealthy, or are lucky enough to have such a school close by and hiring. #3 is not in my nature, so not likely to happen. I agree with Franki in that we must work closely with our classroom teachers. That's probably the best way we can further our goals and the goals of the school.
As a 7/8 middle school librarian, I work closely with my staff to align what I do to their curriculum goals. Their curriculum goals, through the common assessments, are linked to the school goals. Personally, I need the help of my awesome classroom teachers to "develop inquisitive learners who can creatively, responsibly, and effectively solve problems and communicate their thinking/findings to others." Their assignments and goals are the jumping off place for my program.
If we are to be relevant, we should be aligned closely with school initiatives, interests, and the almighty mission statement. To be happy, we must mix in a healthy and appropriate dose of 2,3, and 4. We can dream of number 1 when it is time to walk away with our retirement securely in our hand....
Now back to my study of "High Schools that Work" so I'll be in tune with my new school's current focus.
It seems to me that many school mission statements are in conflict with their working agendas. We have some that go along the lines of developing resilient students who can think for themselves and be flexible and well-rounded. Wouldn't it be lovely if all our mission statements were focused on creating flexible, well-rounded students who can think for themselves, have basic skills, and can be resilient when there is fighting all night at home, parents sometimes absent, hurricanes or fires displacing them, homes washed away from floods, or just face learning disabilities or physical/mental disabilities daily? I would like it if all our mission statements put the students first and had their true nature at the heart of what we are doing. Reality is that no matter what the mission statement, the politicians have set the agendas for us, and we all are doing things that make trained and experienced educators ill (and sometimes fearful for our students). It reminds me of the tests we had to take for certification as librarians--just answer the questions as if your library facility were perfect and money were no object. We seem to do some really silly things sometimes. I think as long as we know what professional librarianship entails and we hold to our principles as much as possible, that might be all we can do in these political times. And I like to think beyond the schoolhouse gates to a time when that student becomes an adult and fondly remembers her school library days because the librarian was a go-to person. Somewhere along the lines, I think my schools taught me to be resilient and intrinsically motivated. Maybe I am doing the same for some of my students.
I think you are missing an option here that should run as an undercurrent running benieth many of these options. That is, look for policy windows and be ready to push through an agenda. Policy windows open for all kinds of reasons at all sorts of levels. A changing of the guard is a policy window. If you have a new principal, superintendent, or school board members you have a wide open policy window. If a crisis occurs there is a policy window so long as you can portray your agenda as a solution. The releasing of state test scores in the summer is a potential policy window (especially if there are any surprises or if your school is on AYP). You can also create your own policy windows. One way to do so is to receive a grant from a respected organization (e.g. the NEA Foundation) that would involve a shifting of policy to accommodate the grant. This incentives a policy change because without it the school misses out on the funding. Also, don't forget that policy in our schools is to some degree handed down to them. Policy at the state or fed level can also be changed to force a change at the local level.
Franki says: "The classroom is the anchor for kids and if we want to meet our own goals in the library, they have to connect for the kids."
The classroom might be the anchor, but the library is the sail.
Hi Jamie,
Not only is subversion good for kids, it's also kind of fun! That would make a good college class: Subversion 101!
Oh, this post garnered quite a few comments. I hope you come back to read them.
Doug
Hi Carolyn,
My sense is that you and Franki's program goals are already aligned with your teachers'. A happy situation to be in!
Thanks for the comment,
Doug
Hi Mary Kay,
It puts the LMS in a good position being that of helping others achieve THEIR goals. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Doug
Hi Cathy,
Knowing you, I suspect you are a subversive at heart, however!
Doug
Hi Charlotte,
Thanks so much for your very thougtful and though-provoking comment. Indeed, life does get in the way of our aspirations too often, especially in schools.
All the very best,
Doug
Hi Carl,
Your suggestion makes a lot of sense and thanks for sharing it. I agree about policies at the state and federal level. Unfortunately that is where most of the problems are coming from (IMHO) in education right now.
Thanks for commenting,
Doug
lpbryan,
Perhaps we should have this as our unofficial motto in libraries:
"The classroom is the school's anchor, but the library is its sail."
I love it!
Doug
What about one more possibility: grabbing each and every opportunity by the throat to educate policy-makers about best practice? Yes, we've got test scores to worry about...but we've got a ton of studies showing that strong relationship between an excellent library program and high test scores. I was talking to one of my teachers yesterday and she told me about her subversive practice of giving her kids (unauthorized) 30 minutes of DEAR time after their weekly library visits--that her kids utterly adore coming to the library and do anything to make sure they get to come...and then have their illicit pleasure of (gasp! so naughty!!) reading for pleasure in their classroom! She told me that if an administrator were to walk in and see her kids "just reading", she'd get in trouble. I'm going to pull out research to back up that excellent practice and have it ready for our administrators when we come back. I'm not going to tell on her--I wouldn't--but I am going to be a lot more proactive about why we need to change what we do.
Hi Sue,
This is an excellent idea, of course, and something we all need to be doing. A concern I have is that administrators are getting "research" from so many directions, often with the loudest and most number of voices being heard. But that is certainly not to say we stop trying.
All the best and thank you for the comment,
Doug