From a Rosen Publishing and EveryLibrary Announcement:
Rosen Publishing and EveryLibrary today announce a joint project to provide pro-bono strategic consulting services to state-level school library stakeholders for ESSA Implementation Planning in their states.
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Rosen Publishing and EveryLibrary have undertaken this time-sensitive project to support school library stakeholders during state-level ESSA Implementation Planning processes in several states. “ESSA has created tremendous new opportunities for states to put effective school library programs to work for their students,” says Roger Rosen, President of Rosen Publishing. “The success that ALA and AASL had in Washington getting school library issues into the bill was a singular achievement. We support them as federal rulemaking continues. But each state’s approach to ESSA Implementation will be local and distinct. EveryLibrary is uniquely positioned to provide tactical advice and support to advance a lobbying and advocacy agenda on a state-by-state basis. We are proud to provide new donor funding to EveryLibrary so they can expand their pro-bono work with the school library community.”
With ESSA, the gap for school library programs and school librarian positions from No Child Left Behind has closed. Effective school library programs have new opportunities for grant funding. School librarians are now formally recognized in the federal law as “Specialized Instructional Support Personnel”. Each state is required to develop an ESSA Implementation Plan that addresses at least three key action areas: standards and assessment, accountability, and school improvement. The goal of this pro-bono state-level support project is to ensure that each state’s ESSA Implementation Plan has school library stakeholders at the table during development, a robust professional engagement during public comment to support the stakeholder objectives, and that every avenue to expand the role and stature of school librarians in each state is, as authorized under federal law, explored.
“We could not be effective in this project without the policy work that AASL and ALA have done,” says John Chrastka, Executive Director of EveryLibrary. “Their ‘Unpacking ESSA’ tool kit provides the standards-based and outcomes-based framework that each school library stakeholder group needs to use in their particular policy setting. Rosen Publishing’s commitment to the school library community is well known and long term. They were an early donor to our public library campaigns. EveryLibrary is grateful for their expanded support for our pro-bono work. This new donation allows us to provide tactical and strategic support to these state-level school stakeholders for free.”
A comprehensive calendar of dates and deadlines for the ESSA Implementation Planning Processes in each state is posted on EveryLibrary. The US Department of Education requires all states to submit their ESSA Plan by April 2017 for Implementation in August 2017. Many are on an even more compressed timeline. EveryLibrary and Rosen Publishing invite every state school library association, school sections of state chapters, and school library stakeholders to contact us for a tactical review of ESSA Implementation. For Rosen Publishing, school libraries are at the core of our mission. For EveryLibrary, the success of school librarians is critical to the entire library ecosystem.
Source: Joint Announcement
See Also: State ESSA Implementation Planning for School Library Stakeholders (via EveryLibrary)
See Also: ESSA Calendar for School Library Stakeholders (via EveryLibrary)
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