[Schlib] MSLA Letter to the Editor

[jagibson at pembinatrails.ca]

The following is a dispatch email from the administrators 
of the following web site.


http://www.manitobaschoollibraries.com/forums/
Your username:      schlib
Your email address: schlib at lists.merlin.mb.ca
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In case you missed it, here's a letter to the editor of the Winnipeg Free Press that was published on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010:

The members of the Manitoba School Library Association could not agree more with Marni Brownell, senior researcher at the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy, regarding her recent editorial Grading schools wrong way to success  (Feb. 6, p. A18).   In her article, she argues that Manitobans are far better off spending their limited educational financial resources supplementing early literacy interventions rather than ranking and reporting on schools based on student performance scores.
	Along with early childhood educators and reading specialists, the MSLA would also argue that more resources need to be spent hiring qualified teacher-librarians for every school at all levels in this province.   There have been numerous national and international studies to show that there is a direct link between having a qualified teacher-librarian employed in schools and improved student achievement.  An Ontario Library Association report in 2006 stated: "Our findings identified an association between school library staffing and student achievement on large-scale measures of reading achievement.  Of even more interest was the finding of associations  between school library staffing and students' attitudes towards reading.  Children in schools with a professionally staffed teacher librarian had more positive attitudes towards reading"(Blackett/Klinger).
	Clearly, student learning and literacy are affected when a trained teacher-librarian is present in a school.  Unfortunately, in far too many schools in Manitoba, this is not the case. The MSLA agrees that the mere act of posting individual school results will do little to improve the quality of education in our schools.  It's reading the research and staffing our schools accordingly that will make our schools more effective in the long run.

Jo-Anne Gibson
President, MSLA