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School librarians are in short supply across the state of Texas and certification options are limited to nine universities. Dallas ISD created an alternative certification program for librarians in their school district in order to fill some of these positions.

A school librarian task force worked behind the scenes a full year before the program actually began. The program they developed consisted of several components. Participants took 9 hours of university coursework in the summer before beginning as a school librarian. A job shadowing component allowed participants to choose from an approved job shadow pool at each level for 5 days during the year. Mentoring was also part of the program. Experienced librarians were invited to complete a mentor application and were selected by the alternative certification staff. The mentors received training and a $1000 stipend. The district’s moodle system was used to post information for the mentors to use when working with the AC new librarians. AC librarians also participated in traditional district new librarian training along with fully certified librarians who were new to the library/district.

The AC Coordinator met once a month with the AC librarians to discuss questions and concerns, made site visits, gave TExES preparation training, and offered cataloging and children’s literature courses.

AC participants also had to complete portfolios to show growth for the year. The program allowed participants to become certified school librarians in two years.

Participants were actively recruited through newspaper ads, information sessions, district web sites and other communication publications.

The program was funded by the A-Plus grant (Alternative Programs for Librarians in Urban Settings) and was awarded almost $1 million. The program added 45 librarians to the district over three years.

Approximate program expense was about $6000 (if a participant was not in the grant).

Applicants to the program had to provide an application, a resume, transcripts, 3 letters of recommendation. The web site for the program is http://teachfordallas.com/librarian.

Candidates who qualified for the program were interviewed with a ranking instrument. They also had to take a computer test consisting of basic Word skills, web searching skills, and basic lesson planning ability.

Most participants passed the state certification exam on the first attempt.

Presented by Terry Alegria Roper, AC Coordinator, Dallas ISD

This entry was posted on June 11, 2009 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Conferences. Tagged: certification, tasla09. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.