Research Finding:
Secondary school principals are important partners
in developing integrated instructional programs
in the effective use of information and ideas.
Comment
If the search skills and strategies necessary to access,
retrieve and use information independently and astutely
is critical to student success then principals need
to support and encourage initiatives to integrate classroom/library
instruction into the mainstream of the school program
where organizational mechanisms can guarantee teacher
involvement and student participation.
Principals who provide effective support for integrated
instruction are able to link collaborative program
planning and teaching to other initiatives in the school.
Effective principals set direction, facilitate change
and communicate with stakeholders; they also allocate
necessary resources, solve problems and monitor implementation.
The principal's vision, planning for evolutionary
change and empowerment are critical to success.
Principal support must be combined with teacher-librarian
proactivity and commitment to meeting student needs,
including improved access to technology, collections
of materials built on curriculum needs and student
interests, an invitational atmosphere with informal
reading areas and positive assistance to students.
The TL must also be a risk-taker, prepared to collaborate
with colleagues and to educate teachers in resource-based
education.
Sources
Campbell, Barbara Stehman. High school principal
roles and implementation themes for mainstreaming
information literacy instruction. Ph.D. dissertation.
The University of Connecticut, 1994.
Gehlken, Vivian Seiber. The role of the high school
library media program in three nationally recognized
South Caroline blue ribbon secondary schools. Ph.D.
dissertation. University of South Carolina, 1994.
Yetter, Cathleen Langley. Resource-based learning
in the information age school: The intersection of
roles and relationships of the school library media
specialist, teachers, and principal. Ed.D. dissertation.
Seattle University, 1994.
