Blog Post #1

Partnering AASL, ISTE, and ELA Standards to Support Literacy Education

Adolescents in the middle school setting are constantly changing and growing as they are maturing from children into their teenage years. As a middle school teacher, I see firsthand how literacy, and its different types, impacts them as learners. Students bring with them various types of literacies on top of the general literacy related to reading and writing. Surprisingly, Spiering (2019) notes that “adolescent literacy research as a field operates largely apart from the research about school libraries and vice versa” (p. 46). Considering that English Language Arts depends on similar standards and ideals as the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) standards, one would think that these two fields would work together in some capacity. 

Four middle school aged students (2 boys and 2 girls) each reading a book while standing beside each other. 
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Literacy is more than simply reading and writing. Middle level English Language Arts educators realize this in the 2015 and 2023 editions of the South Carolina College and Career Ready Standards (SCCCR). Using the perspectives of the SCCCR standards and the research behind adolescent literacy presented in “Engaging Adolescent Literacies with the Standards,” there are many similarities between that research and the AASL and International Society of Technology in Education (ISTE) standards. Adolescent literacy research recognizes that learners have out of school interests, which causes those learners to be literate in other ways. It is our goal as educators and librarians to utilize those literacies in our instruction. The AASL foundations and domains align well with both the ISTE and SCCCR standards. For example, the inquiry foundation in the AASL standards directly relates to the Empowered Learner and Knowledge standards for ISTE and the Inquiry-Based Literacy Standards in the SCCCR standards. Since these three domains and indicators relate to one another, a teacher and a school librarian could both support these literacies in their instruction. Spiering’s line of thought would argue that the collaboration between the two would be mutually beneficial for both the professional and the students. In almost every domain and indicator of AASL, ISTE, and SCCCR, there is alignment. This again indicates that having the fields of adolescent literacy and school library research in conversation with one another would be valuable to both parties. 

In contrast, the generality of the domains and indicators may correlate with one another, however when taking a deeper dive into them you can notice some differences. An example of this is the AASL Include Foundation and the Think Domain. On the National School Library Standards crosswalk with ISTE Standards for Students and Educators document, there is no direct ISTE standard to compare with the Think domain under the Include foundation (American Association of School Librarians). Also, there are other misalignments in some of the domains for the school librarian and school library sections. This misalignment could be because the two research fields of adolescent literacy and school library do not operate in similar realms. If these two fields shared research and ideas, there could possibly be a better alignment between all standards to support students and their literacy learning. 

A man and woman sitting at a table smiling at the camera. They are working together on something. 
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Personally, I envision these groups of standards working together through a partnership amongst the school librarian, classroom teacher, and any other related or invested parties (ex. technology teacher). Through this partnership, each involved party could share their expertise of their own standards and create collaborative lessons. These lessons could start in the library and end in the classroom, or vice versa. Since each party is an expert in their field, they can teach other and create a common language to use in lessons. I believe that doing this would set students up for success in an ever changing and dynamic society. Finally, the burden would not be on just one party to ensure these standards are being addressed and met, which would be beneficial to everyone involved in the learning process. 

References

American Association of School Librarians. (2018). National School Library Standards crosswalk with ISTE Standards for Students and Educators. https://standards.aasl.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/180828-aasl-standards-crosswalk-iste.pdf 

Spiering, J. (2019). Engaging adolescent literacies with the standards. Knowledge Quest, 47(5), 44-49.