Librarians and Teachers as Research Partners: Reshaping Practices Based on Assessment and Reflection
Violet H. Harada, Department of Information and Computer Sciences,
University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Librarians, as key members of school communities, have a crucial stake in contributing to the quality of teaching that shapes student learning. They are instructional colleagues, who are strategically positioned to assume a leadership role in curriculum reform. The key to building instructional leadership is empowering partners to examine their teaching
practices through the lens of actual student behaviors. This knowledge is effectively communicated when practitioners collaborate with colleagues in implementing strategies, reflect on the results, and share them with the professional community. Practitioner research provides powerful opportunities for teachers and librarians to engage in this type of systematic and intentional inquiry.
As an academic researcher I have engaged both teachers and librarians in practitioner research. We work as partners in identifying issues and questions, determining alternative means of gathering necessary information to probe for solutions, participating in the collection and analysis of data, determining future classroom-library action based on
findings, and deciding on effective means of disseminating gained knowledge to the larger educational community.
The overarching questions that have driven our collective investigations are:
1. How do instructional partners effectively facilitate student learning, particularly learning that embeds the information search process?
2. How do instructional partners refine their craft knowledge?
3. How do they contribute to and expand the professional body of knowledge?
In this presentation, I focus on five case studies of practitioner research that were conducted in different elementary schools in Hawaii over the past decade. These studies, ranging from a semester to a year in length, are briefly captured in terms of contexts; specific questions addressed; data collected through field notes, interviews, anecdotal logs, and student work samples; and findings. Questions central to all of these studies focused on how instructional teams defined and refined their craft knowledge based on practice and reflection. Teams studied the effectiveness of various instructional interventions and tools used and how assessing for learning influenced their teaching. I end by identifying recurring themes and features that cross context boundaries and allow for purposeful and effective planning of change.
Note: A version of this research was shared at the International Research Symposium sponsored by the Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries, Rutgers University, convened in New York, April 28-29, 2005. It has also
been reported in School Libraries Worldwide (in Press)