Praxis School Librarian cheat sheet

AASL's five roles for the school librarian are leader, instructional partner, information specialist, teacher, and program administrator; each role implies distinct evaluation evidence.

The school library program budget has four typical lines: print and nonprint materials, technology and hardware, supplies and equipment, and professional development; per-pupil allocation formulas usually fund only the first.

Flexible scheduling means students visit as instructional need arises; fixed scheduling assigns each class a weekly slot and typically reduces collaboration and inquiry depth.

A written collection development policy, a challenged-materials procedure, and a reconsideration form are the three documents most often requested in a formal challenge.

Annual program data worth collecting: circulation per student, class visits, collaborative lessons taught, database sessions, and library use by demographic subgroup.

The library program should appear in the school improvement plan; without a written goal in that plan, library funding and staffing are treated as discretionary.

Staffing standards commonly cited: one full-time certified librarian plus one aide per building, with additional clerical support above roughly 500 students.

Facilities planning: shelving at 66-72 inches maximum for elementary, seating for at least one class, and network drops plus power at every student workstation.

Selection criteria checklist: curricular alignment, accuracy and currency, authority of author and publisher, literary or artistic merit, representation, format durability, and cost per use.

Weeding rule of thumb: fiction and general nonfiction older than 10-15 years, science and technology older than 5 years, and anything with superseded editions or dated imagery.

The CREW/MUSTIE method weeds by continuous review using MUSTIE: Misleading, Ugly, Superseded, Trivial, Irrelevant, or available Elsewhere.

Reconsideration workflow order: acknowledge in writing, apply the selection policy, convene a review committee, respond in writing, then allow appeal to the governing board.

Diversity auditing compares collection holdings against enrollment demographics and against published bibliographies rather than against national publishing output alone.

Ebook and database licenses differ: simultaneous-use, single-user, and unlimited-access models change cost; perpetual access versus subscription affects long-term holdings.

Donations should be evaluated by the same selection criteria as purchases; conditional gifts that restrict weeding or shelving should be declined or documented.

AASL's six Shared Foundations are Inquire, Include, Collaborate, Curate, Explore, and Engage; the four domains are Think, Create, Share, and Grow.

The inquiry process moves from wonder and question formulation through investigation, synthesis, and sharing, with reflection embedded at each stage rather than only at the end.

Source evaluation: lateral reading (leaving the page to check the source) outperforms checklist-only evaluation for detecting misleading sites.

Authority is constructed and contextual: a source credible for a health claim differs from one credible for a historical claim; students should name the relevant expertise.

Search operators: quotation marks for exact phrase, site: to limit to a domain, minus sign to exclude a term, and filetype: to target a document format.

Database versus web search: subscription databases index peer-reviewed and edited content with stable citations; open web results require independent verification of authorship and date.

Academic honesty instruction should teach note-taking with source attribution and paraphrasing practice, because most plagiarism is patchwriting rather than deliberate copying.

Assessment of inquiry should use process artifacts (question logs, annotated sources, reflection) alongside the final product.

The library program's mission statement should name student learning outcomes, not facility services; it anchors policy decisions and annual goals.

Collaboration models range from coordination (scheduling, resources) to cooperation (shared planning) to true collaboration (co-taught, co-assessed inquiry units).

A library advisory committee typically includes teachers from each grade band, an administrator, a student, and a parent; it reviews policy and program data.

Program advocacy uses student work and outcome data, not circulation counts alone, because circulation does not demonstrate learning impact.

Policies to keep current in writing: acceptable use, privacy and confidentiality of patron records, copyright and fair use, and challenged materials.

Library records are confidential in most states; circulation histories and search records should not be released without a subpoena or parental consent as state law allows.

Copyright: fair use weighs purpose, nature, amount, and market effect; classroom face-to-face teaching exemptions do not extend to posting full works online.

Professional learning communities and conference participation are typical evidence for the librarian's own professional growth in evaluation rubrics.

Backward design (Wiggins and McTighe) sequences instruction as desired results, acceptable evidence, then learning activities.

The TPACK framework names three knowledge bases (technological, pedagogical, content) plus the intersections; effective integration sits at the intersection, not in the tool alone.

SAMR levels are Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition; substitution and augmentation enhance, modification and redefinition transform.

Universal Design for Learning calls for multiple means of representation, action and expression, and engagement; captions, audio versions, and choice boards are concrete applications.

Co-teaching models: one teach one observe, station teaching, parallel teaching, alternative teaching, and team teaching.

Formative checkpoints in a research unit: topic narrowed, sources evaluated, notes with citations, draft outline; each is a point to reteach rather than a final grade event.

Digital citizenship instruction should cover copyright and Creative Commons licensing, digital footprint, cyberbullying reporting, and password and data hygiene.

Assistive technology in the library includes screen readers, text-to-speech, captioning, and switch access; the librarian verifies that databases and ebooks meet accessibility standards.

Reading motivation research identifies access, choice, time to read, and social interaction around books as the strongest levers a library controls.

Free voluntary reading and sustained silent reading show gains when students choose their own texts and have access to a well-stocked collection.

Reader's advisory matches readers by appeal factors: pace, character, story line, frame and setting, and language style, rather than by genre label alone.

Book award knowledge: Newbery (children's literature), Caldecott (picture book illustration), Printz (young adult), Coretta Scott King (African American authors and illustrators), Pura Belpré (Latino experience), and Sibert (informational).

Lexile and guided reading levels are text-complexity measures, not interest or maturity indicators; matching readers by level alone can reduce motivation.

Booktalks of two to three minutes with a hook, a brief plot setup, and a read-aloud excerpt are more effective than reviews for driving circulation.

Reluctant readers benefit from high-interest, shorter formats: graphic novels, hi-lo books, nonfiction browsing books, and series with familiar characters.

Summer reading loss is mitigated by book access programs and public library partnerships more than by required reading lists.