12.+Program+Evaluation+Tools


 * "ISTA - ISTA TEACHER EVALUATIONS."** //ISTA: Indiana State Teachers Association//. Indiana State Teachers Association, 2012. Web. .

This website contains information about RISE, a performance-based evaluation of teachers that Indiana plans to implement in 2012, which I found when exploring ISTA’s site. This evaluation will be a reality for me if I am hired in the state of Indiana, so it is a good idea for me to familiarize myself with it now. According to the information I’ve read, the evaluation is based on a lot of data—observations and student achievement. A weakness of this evaluation is that it may be written for the classroom teacher and won’t take into account the unique aspects of the school media specialist job. There are a lot of other criticisms of this evaluation, but I am still looking into it so I won’t list them here.


 * "Planning Guide for Empowering Learners."** //American Association of School Librarians//. American Library Association, 1997-2012. Web. <[]>.

AASL provides this planning guide, which includes an evaluation tool for school library programs. I found the tool when browsing the AASL website and I would imagine it is based on the AASL standards, since it’s called Empowering Learners. The strength of this tool is that, because it is developed by AASL, it’s truly tuned into school media-specific goals. I can’t see the tool itself because it requires a subscription.

American Library Association. **"Library Bill of Rights."** //ALA: American Library Association//. American Library Association, 1997-2012. Web. .

This isn’t considered a true evaluation tool, but I plan to use the Library Bill of Rights to guide my collection development, specifically if books are called into question. The weakness of this Bill of Rights is that a school library, regardless of whether or not it’s in a public school, is not the same as a public library because of the audience, namely students.