Stop, Collaborate, and Listen: How the AASL and ISTE Standards Work Together

 If you are already living in the world of education, standards and their frameworks are nothing new. Each content area and level uses these to guide and plan instruction. However, many educators are not aware of the important standards which also exist to help guide the relationship between school librarians, school libraries, and learners. Before reading the May/June 2019 issue of Knowledge Quest, I know I was not familiar with these standards, but I was familiar with the ISTE standards. Having this familiarity, I really enjoyed and connected with the article "Collaborating to Communicate: Librarian Reading Groups and Understanding Standards" by Courtney L. Lewis. The way in which she discusses librarian reading groups, and how they have worked together to unpack and create a strong plan for implementing these new standards was insightful and helpful as a soon-to-be school librarian. The way she focuses on the strength found in collaboration reminded me of the way the AASL standards and ISTE standards can collaborate with each other, and just as importantly, the way in which school librarians must collaborate with all learners and stakeholders to best implement both of these sets of standards.

Overall, I feel there are more similarities than differences between the AASL and ISTE standards. I think a large part of this is probably due to the AASL standards being reorganized and using updated language in comparison to the standards which were in place before. In one of the Explainer Videos, they mentioned updating the band language so that it was aligned more closely with the inquiry method, which is a currently a large part of the expectations for learners.

For example, here is a brief screen recording of the AASL and ISTE Crosswalk which better demonstrates how these standards collaborate with one another (please excuse the background noise - my daughter's school is currently virtual):

All of this to say, when looking through, standard by standard and band by band, the similarities and connections between these two sets of standards are not difficult to identify or imagine working in a real school library space. Yes, there are certainly differences, and necessarily so. The ISTE standards were created to provide a more intentional guide for how students, educators, and leaders are using and implementing technology. Is technology being used to empower students? Are students and educators better able to create and collaborate because of technology? To me, these are the questions the ISTE standards bring focus to. The AASL standards connect to these questions, but using a different lens. The school library is a space which does use and implement technology, but is is also a space which supports learners in other ways. Not every AASL standard has an ISTE counterpart because the school library, librarians, and learners use technology as just a piece of how they are developing into 21st century learners and leaders. 

Now, back to this idea of collaboration and its importance. Not all educators or educational leaders may understand the collaborative nature between these sets of standards right way. It is necessary moving forward for school librarians to take on a leadership role within their schools to promote education about these standards and to promote collaboration between all school stakeholders. In some areas, the school library is still seen as a room with books, and the school librarians is not utilized by educators or learners to the fullest extent. Both the AASL and ISTE standards make it clear that without collaboration between all members, the high expectations set forth cannot be reached. 

In my final thought, I think a great place to start this conversation about collaboration (both between these standards and all stakeholders) is to remind educators of the additional roles and supports school librarians now play. One of the easiest ways to start this is centered around the inquiry method. Inquiry is applicable to all levels and content areas, and most importantly it is fun! Below is a graphic created by Trevor Mackenzie and Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt about how school librarians can support inquiry. I will also provide the link to the entire article by Trevor Mackenzie in my references section for anyone who is interested in reading it - I think it would make a great conversation and collaboration starter to share with other educators.

References:

American Association of School Librarians. (2021, March 9). Crosswalks. National School Library Standards. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://standards.aasl.org/project/crosswalks/

Lewis, C. L. (2019). Collaborating to communicate: School librarian reading groups and understanding standards. Knowledge Quest, 47(5), 36–43.

Mackenzie, T. (2019, April 22). How your Teacher-Librarian can be an ally when teaching with inquiry. KQED. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/53417/how-your-teacher-librarian-can-be-an-ally-when-teaching-with-inquiry