Nicki Harrison FRIT 7739- Practicum Technology Program Administrator Part A: Program Evaluation Executive Summary The media

center at Coffee Middle School is a thriving center providing services for students, teachers, and staff. The media specialist, Sonya Malphus, is the leader of library operations and serves as the technology coordinator for the middle school. Media Specialist is a big job because Coffee Middle School is one of the biggest middle schools in the state with around 1800 students. The media assistants as well as the media specialist have worked together to encourage students to visit the library and use the resources that are available, especially with the implementation of the rainforest caf that is currently being built to reward students who meet the state reading goal of 20 books per year. While the library is frequently in use, I would recommend keeping a record using a spread sheets to evaluate which library services are being used most often whether it be computers, books, or teaching materials. I would also recommend that a monthly survey be completed about whether the library is meeting the needs of the school or if different services need to be offered to help more students. This survey could be emailed out to staff using surveymonkey, so that the data is free and easy to collect. These changes will help to better the Coffee Middle School media center and make it more effective for students and staff. Organizational Chart

Methods Throughout the semester I was able to complete observations weekly during my planning time, and I was also able to observe the library for a complete day three times when my students were using library services during class time. During my observations I used a checklist (attached in the appendix) to document the number of students who visited to use books, desktops, laptops, game center, and teachers using the workroom. While observing I noticed that on average around 15 students visited the library per hour to return or check out books, approximately 6 students visited to use a computer for studying or research, approximately 8 teachers visited the workroom per hour, approximately 2 teachers per hour asked the media specialist technology questions, elementary students (teachers children) used the computers in the afternoon when they arrived at the school, and a class had the desktop computers reserved at least 3 days per week for the entire day. I was also able to conduct an interview with the Media Specialist, with all results attached in the appendix. The media center at Coffee Middle School serves as one of the main sites for technology in the school and the media specialist, Sonya Malphus, is in control of all the technology operations. She has been a media specialist in three different schools including middle and elementary levels for over thirteen years. Center Context and Goals Coffee Middle School is a relatively new facility built eight years ago. When the facility was constructed it was intended to be a center for technology and was built with a large computer area to accommodate for the large school size. Over these eight years the school has continued to grow and in order to meet the needs of the students the library has ordered mobile laptop carts that can be checked out or used in the library to accommodate more students. It is important to keep up with the latest technology since it is used more often than the paper books, but with the new state initiative that all middle school students must read 20 books a year there has been a large push, and more interest than ever in the literature section of the media center. The media specialist, Sonya Malphus, has a request list where students can right down books or series they would like ordered. The most popular books right now are defiantly the Hunger Games series. The library is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the large student and teacher population of Coffee Middle School. The mission of the media center is to support and enhance the curriculum by offering patrons (students and staff) resources and services that meet instructional and leisure needs. The media center meets these needs in a variety of ways so that all stakeholder including: parents, teachers, students, staff, and community members who enter the school to use the media center feel welcome and have equal accessibility to the materials that are offered. The goals for Instructional Media at Coffee Middle School The Coffee County School System will provide media that enrich and support the curriculum taking into consideration the varied students served.

Media will be provided which stimulates growth in factual knowledge, literacy appreciation, aesthetic values and ethical standards. Also, media will relate to and support the basic educational goals adopted by the school system. Media will be provided that will give various sides of controversial issues so that young people may develop, under guidance, the practice of critical reading, viewing, listening, and thinking. Media will be provided that are representative of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to world heritage.

Currently, the Coffee Middle School media center staffs three full time employees including a media specialist and two media assistants. Sonya Malphus is the media specialist and is in charge of all technology for the school, as well as the school website, and school yearbook. The media assistants Ms. Jackson and Ms. Yogasundram are responsible for helping students to find resources, check books in and out, and assist teachers using machines in the teacher workroom. Each of these staff members are important to the everyday operations of the media center so that teachers and students are able to use the center appropriately and efficiently. Center Activities The Coffee Middle School media center offers many traditional library services as well as accommodating as a center for school and club meetings, and a center for school research. The media specialist is in charge of the school websites and yearbook and much of the information for those sources of media are compiled and edited by students and staff using the school media center. The media assistants also offer classes at the beginning of the year for 6th grade students to show them how the media center is set up and how to use each service that the media center has to offer. Lastly, the media center sponsors activities such as the decorate a bookmark contest each year to promote reading and art. The winner will have their bookmark design used to create a bookmark for each child in the school. Evaluation The Coffee Middle School media center is currently running smoothly and meeting many of the goals as well as the mission statement that it has set forth. The mission statement stated that the media center is to support and enhance the curriculum by offering patrons (students and staff) resources and services that meet instructional and leisure needs. I do believe instructional needs of the students and staff is being met, but the leisure needs could be improved upon. Most students use of computers is for educational purposes and the books that checked out are only read to meet the reading goal set forth by the state and school. I do think that the library could encourage more leisure reading by introducing a reading nook in the library with bean bag chairs so that students are encouraged to read and it will seem more for fun and enjoyable. It is currently difficult to evaluate if the media centers goals are being met because they are not designed with measurable achievements in mind. A suggestion should be made to create SMART goals in which a measurable outcome is possible to account for whether the media center is living up to the expectations set forth by the school. The school should set a goal as to

how many visitors they would expect for each sections of the library, how many students use online programs such as StudyIsland.com purchased with the technology budget, and how many teachers are using the resources in the workroom and well as manipulative and other research materials provided. With new SMART goals instated the library would have set standard to meet and they would know when they are meeting and exceeding the needs of the school. Part B: Monthly Report The Coffee County Media Center has a great deal to offer the school and community. Click on the link provided to see a short video displaying all the features provided. http://vimeo.com/59605750

Appendix A: Observation Checklist Activity Checking out books Using desktops Using laptop carts Using game center Using workroom resources Appendix B: Media Specialist Interview Questions What is the mission of the center? The mission of the media center is to support and enhance the curriculum by offering patrons (students and staff) resources and services that meet instructional and leisure needs. What are the goals of the media center? The goals for Instructional Media at Coffee Middle School The Coffee County School System will provide media that enrich and support the curriculum taking into consideration the varied students served. Media will be provided which stimulates growth in factual knowledge, literacy appreciation, aesthetic values and ethical standards. Also, media will relate to and support the basic educational goals adopted by the school system. Media will be provided that will give various sides of controversial issues so that young people may develop, under guidance, the practice of critical reading, viewing, listening, and thinking. Students Teacher/Staff

Media will be provided that are representative of the many religious, ethnic, and cultural groups and their contributions to world heritage.

Who are the stakeholders? There are many stakeholders in the Coffee County media center including parents, students, teachers, staff, board members, and community members all of which contribute to the overall success of the center. What are the job titles and duties of Media Center personnel? There is one media specialist (me Sonya Malphus) and 2 Media Assistants Ms. Jackson and Ms. Yogasundram. We work together to achieve all the goals set forth for the media specialist including: Coordinate the building media and technology committee Implement media policies and procedures in line with system policies Participate in curriculum development and implementation by serving on textbook committees, developing learning materials, recommending media and technology. Etc Manage and ensure accessibility to media resources Maintain awareness of new developments in technology and provide relevant information to teachers and staff Seek professional development opportunities for self and school Coordinate activities facilitated in the media center Assist in selection of media center staff (media specialist only) Adhere to federal copyright laws and make sure school follows system policy as well

What activities are provided by the school media center? Beginning of the year we offer 6th grade tours of the media center to make them aware of the different areas in the media center and the resources that we have to offer. We host meetings for yearbook staff, and student council. We also host a contest once a year to design a bookmark for the school. The winner receives a prize and every student will receive a bookmark with the winning design on it to help encourage reading. We also offer buddy pictures at the end of the year as a fundraiser to buy new book and technology for the media center. Provide a brief history of the Coffee Middle media center. The school opened in 2006 as a brand new facility combing East and West Coffee Middle School. When the school opened we were provided with a computer station of 30 computers so that we would have 1 full class set. We were provided one media specialist and one assistant. We now have two assistants in the media center because of the amount of students in the school. As the school continues to grow to almost 1800 students we have continued to add more technology in the media center especially through the use of mobile laptop carts that can be used in the center of checked out for classroom use. We have also had school wide wifi installed in the

media center and on each hallway. The technology department is working to update wifi for more efficient use constantly. Because our library has not been opened long there has not been a huge shift from books to technology like I experienced at the schools I worked at before. From the beginning here we have been heavily focused on the emerging technology that exists and is being created and modified constantly. On top of the computers in the media center that I am responsible for we also have a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade computer lab and 4 classroom computer labs for technology classes. Each of these labs has approximately 30 computers to accommodate an entire class at one time.