Using Standardized Assessment to Guide Instruction and Leverage Collaboration

1. Using Standardized Assessment to Guide Instruction and Leverage Collaboration AASL Fall Forum October 18, 2008 Barbara F. Schloman, Ph.D., TRAILS Project Director Julie A. Gedeon, Ph.D., TRAILS Assessment Coordinator Kent State UniversityLibraries and Media Services

2. Providing an Introduction • What is TRAILS • Use to date • Exploring how it might serve you

3. What is TRAILS? TRAILS is: • Tool to measure information literacy competencies • Assessments based on 6th and 9th grade standards • Freely available on the Web • A project of the Institute for Library & Information Literacy Education (ILILE) funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the U.S. Department of Education.

4. TRAILS Goal: To develop a tool to assist library media specialists in measuring the information literacy competencies of students. Specific objectives: • Standards-based • Available on the Web at no cost • Easy to administer • Insure privacy • Report outcomes by student and by class

5. TRAILS Development Process 1. Standards reviewed for information literacy: • Ohio Academic Content Standards: Identified all Ohio standards, benchmarks, indicators that relate to information literacy at the 6th/9th grade level. • AASL Information Power: Reviewed standards and indicators.

6. Information Literacy Categories 2. Standards categorized into five measurable information literacy categories: • Develop topic • Identify potential sources • Develop, use, and revise search strategies • Evaluate sources and information • Recognize how to use information responsibly, ethically, and legally

7. Developing Assessment Items 3. Priority competencies determined. Within each category the information literacy skills common across the standards were identified and prioritized. 4. Objectives developed. Student learning objectives were developed to address the priority competency areas. 5. Items written. Items were then written to address the objectives for each category.

8. Testing and Revising Items 6. Items field tested by library media specialists and then revised. • Are the items understandable as written? • Are they measuring what was intended? TRAILS-9: Field testing of items by volunteer library media specialists working with a small number of 9th grade students. TRAILS-6: Sample assessments being administered to 6th grade students in over 130 schools nationwide during October 2007.

9. Available Assessments TRAILS-9: • Two 30-item general assessments covering all five of the information literacy categories. • Two sets of 10-item assessments for each of the five categories. TRAILS-6: • Two 25-item general assessments covering all five of the information literacy categories.

10. http://www.trails-9.org

11. How TRAILS Works • Sign up for an account • Create a class session • Choose desired assessment • Consider use of student codes • Administer assessment • Close session and generate reports • Class report by info literacy category • Student report by code

12. View Assessment

15. TRAILS Use • TRAILS-9 live in January 2006 • TRAILS-6 live in January 2008 • In 2007-08 administered to almost 8,500 (6th) and 49,400 (9th) students • Geographic distribution: All 50 states plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands; over 30 countries • To date administered to over 100,000 students

16. How TRAILS has been used to integrate information literacy • Collaboration with classroom teachers for a specific class • With a particular grade level • To target librarian instruction • To share results with administration • As part of an overall school improvement plan • As a professional development opportunity • For personal development

17. Users Report “We are using Trails 9 to gather baseline assessments.  I'm setting up logins by grade level but we are not tracking each student by name.  Our goal is to find out where our students currently stand with competencies.” [New York] “I am an Illinois high school media specialist and have been using TRAILS with my ninth grade students. Thank you for your work. TRAILS provides an objective evaluation of information skills that would otherwise be difficult to achieve by sole practitioners.” [Illinois] “I have been using a couple of the #2 assessments with Seniors taking a Research Paper class. They have been extremely helpful to reinforce specific information literacy skills for which they have received instruction.” [Minnesota]

18. Benchmarking Data • Benchmarks now possible due to level of use • For 9th grade General Assessments • Reporting for total dataset, plus for some high usage states • Reported by TRAILS category

19. 2007-08 Performance on 9th Grade General Assessment I

20. In the breakout sessions, participants will: • Develop a better understanding of TRAILS options and the potential role of assessment in furthering an information literacy program • Collaborate with participants in similar settings to define challenges, barriers, opportunities • Set information literacy goals utilizing assessment • Develop an implementation plan with timeline and resources needed