"Whenever educators are told, as they periodically are, to deal with the apparent mediocrity in schools, an abundance of programs and spin offs emerge. State legislatures and school districts put time and money into new programs and technologies, only to find that test scores are still unsatisfactory. The long history of reform of public education in this country is, simply stated, a history built on discrimination and quick-fix choices." ~ Robert C. Morris
"The market for self-teaching and for supplemental materials for whatever courses you may be taking will expand. Books that teach test-taking skills and study strategy -- that kind of thing is going to be very, very big." ~ Gilson
"The biggest story right now in this area -- by far -- is the emergence of high-stakes testing at the state level." ~ Tom Russell
"...While many parents are uncomfortable with the idea of test preparation for young students, they do recognize that it would be a mistake not to prepare their child for these high-stakes tests." ~ Maureen McMahon
"Although we have a critical teacher shortage, the nation's 1,300 schools of education prepare more than enough teachers each year. Out public schools leak talent like a sieve: more than 30 percent of all teachers, and up to 50 percent of teachers in large urban districts leave their jobs within five years." ~ Vartan Gregorian
"We're seeing one of the largest group of high school graduates in the history of North America coming up, and the first truly digital generation. There is also a tremendous growth in community college enrollments and an increase in both international and U.S.-based graduate exams taken abroad." ~ Ellen Mendlow
Education has several meanings as this complaint and plea indicates. Education may be an institution or the structure of education in a particular place at a particular time. For example, we speak of American (U.S.) education versus Japanese education.
Education may also be activity--the continuous process of learning. Here the focus is on how one learns to do new things, including how to act, how to code, and how sing patriotic songs. Education could be the process of humanizing each new generation.
Education could also be seen as the methods and techniques, plus psychological aspects, of teaching or dealing with students. Students may be formal or informal. Teaching and learning are obviously related, but can be quite different.
Education may also be content. Curriculum is the content of education.
Education may also be a product. An employable person, for example, or a good citizen is the product of the educational system.
Educational sciences are a European concept. In 1912, an institute of educational sciences was established in Geneva. This is related to pedagogical science, the practical theory of education borrowing heavily from psychology, particularly child psychology, and sociology. In a broader sense, pedagogical science includes all disciplines which deal with educational facts and situations in their historical, social, economic, technical, and political context. This phrase has been popular in Europe, but is uncommon here.
Pedagogy is an older name for the profession of training teachers. It usually includes:
In the English speaking world, education is seen more as a profession than as a social science discipline. Education is an applied art which sometimes uses scientific approaches. It is interdisciplinary since it uses knowledge and technique from several social sciences in examining educational phenomena.
Education may also be defined as the study of educational phenomena and situations. Educational phenomena are a function of several variables which depend on the general condition of the school within the society. Such variables might include:
Major components of education include Comparative education, Educational physiology, Educational psychology, Teaching/learning theory, and Curriculum and instruction. For a long time, education was almost entirely curriculum and instruction especially as related to a particular subject like social studies or English.
Although a minor problem, there are the usual border disputes. Is the philosophy of education really part of philosophy? Is the history of education really part of history? Is educational sociology really part of sociology? Is educational economics really part of economics? Is educational demographics really part of demography? Is educational administration really part of administration or management? In general, the border areas of education have had relatively little contact with the cognate discipline. Educational psychology and psychology are probably the major exceptions.
Education has always been with us, but only recently has it been a major government responsibility. Most education has taken place in the family. "Home schooling" was the primary educational method for thousands of years. This older home and work schooling placed more emphasis on training than on education.
Much education by governmental and religious agencies placed considerable emphasis on indoctrination. Many early schools were associated with temples or other religious institutions. Education included religious, moral, and vocational training. With few exceptions, formal education was limited to members of the elite. Women were excluded from formal education until quite recently. They are still excluded in many developing countries.
Greek education focused on obedience and manliness in an attempt to develop men of wisdom and courage who would also revere the gods. Roman education attempted to be more practical and meet the needs of home, army, farm, and shop. Roman education for the elite was intended to develop a good, virtuous man, skilled in oratory.
The Protestant Reformation, with its emphasis on individual Bible reading, had a dramatic impact upon education. Mass education was needed so that all might read the Bible. Early U.S. education begins in the 1640s in Massachusetts. By the 1780s, the Northwest Ordinances created a structure for state public school funds. Rural one-room schools grew rapidly. Some taxpayers and churches opposed public schools and argued for wholly private education.
"Throughout the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, public school students attended classes for only a few weeks each winter, often in poorly equipped schoolhouses with untrained teachers." New York state, in 1812, appointed the first state superintendent of Schools. Horace Mann in Massachusetts established the first state board of education in 1837 and promoted public education as key to economic development. The first state normal school, to train teachers also appeared in Massachusetts in the same year. Coeducation began a year later at Oberlin College. It wasn't until 1852, that we have the first compulsory attendance law (Massachusetts). The national PTA was not organized until 1896. The Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 created land grant universities with a focus on practical education, particularly agriculture and engineering. The U.S. has its first Commissioner of Education in 1889.
The first junior college (now community college) appeared in Joliet, Illinois in 1901. In 1905, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon develop a test to determine the mental age of children. Much more testing to follow, especially after Louis Stern developed the IQ concept in 1912. In 1907, Maria Montessori open her first "children's house." In 1909, we have the first female superintendent of a major city school system (Elia Young).
The growth of the industrial revolution and World War I encouraged a more vocationally oriented curriculum as well as the notion that schools should be run with industrial efficiency. This meant lock-step scheduling. The application of industrial management to public education focused on efficiency and created a professional bureaucracy of superintendents and principals to manage public education. At the same time, John Dewey's child-centered learning with education based on the world beyond the classroom began to receive increased attention and served as the basis for what is often called "progressive education."
In 1944, the GI Bill of Rights begins a dramatic change in the composition of college and university students. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown vs. Board of Education declared that separate education cannot be equal and is illegal. Three years later, the now famous "Little Rock Nine" came to an integrated school. In 1955, the "Blackboard Jungle" gave Americans the first Hollywood film on school violence.
In 1957, the launch of Sputnik frightened many. The National Defense Education Act of 1958 was quickly passed to promote research in education, especially science and language, so that we could more effectively compete with the Soviets.
In 1965, Federal government involvement in K12 education increases with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. In the same year, affirmative action became law. In 1995, the Regents of the University of California eliminated race and gender from the admission process. In 1969, Sesame Street has its first broadcast. In 1974, the Rehabilitation Act barred discrimination based on disability.
In the 1980s, there was considerable emphasis on school consolidation and on the implementation of a uniform state-wide curriculum for public schools.
At the beginning of the 21st Century, mandatory testing was seen as the way to force public schools to improve.
Mass public education as we know it is a recent phenomena. Education as either an academic discipline or a profession is also relatively new.
Public education, primarily K12, but also higher education, has become a dramatically large governmental expenditure. While most states have had the resources to support public education in good times, there are problems in the lean years. The substantial and growing costs limit the ability of state and local government to spend money for other needed services. The fact that spending is sometimes not related to performance also creates problems. Some states, Tennessee is one, can not afford to support equitable public education. Equity, the notion that children who attend schools in less affluent areas should have the same opportunities as those who attend schools in affluent areas, is a continuing problem with substantial budgetary implications.
Preparation for K12 teaching has received substantial critical comment for years and that continues today. Typical complaints focus on:
The notion that small schools should be consolidated into larger units was widely accepted. "Bigger is better" carried the day. Besides economies of scale, larger schools would be able to offer more electives and more student activities. However, large schools may be somewhat dysfunctional as the sense of community is lost.
The growing number of students from various ethnic and racial groups continues to be a problem when these students are much less likely to be successful in public schools. Urban schools in particular often provide an inferior educational experience. Mandatory testing is likely to make the situation worse because of the highly visible failure rate of these students in many schools.
The political power of teacher's organizations, especially the National Education Association, remains controversial. Historically, teacher organizations have affiliated with the Democratic Party and that party has opposed charter schools and voucher plans. With increased citizen interest, education has become more political.
Clearly, preparing students to be good citizens is a major role for K12 education. The definition of "good citizen" and how to encourage students to adopt proper values and attitudes remains controversial. Indoctrination is still favored by some community organizations. Others favor adding more religious value/orientation to the curriculum and school life.
The length of required education has grown considerably during the past years, effectively making childhood longer and longer. Children are required to stay in school for a longer time. Preschool attendance has increased dramatically. High school graduation, once a major event, is deemed less important as more employers seek college graduates. College, once available to a relatively small segment of the population, is now seen as part of nearly everyone's life.
Education at home, which appeared to be less important than education received in an institutional setting, has received a boost with the increasing interest in home schooling. Several religious and more non religious groups emphasize the importance of family education.
It is difficult for the public school to do all that the community wants--from driver education to teaching values."Schools are trying to be all things to all people at all times." Trying to do too much often results in poor performance in several areas. Jack of all trades and master of none.
This problem also relates to extra-curricular activities where parent and community expectations are often high -- a rich variety of activities at a high quality level require substantial resources.
Especially since World War II, education is seen as the key to social and economic mobility. Those who are well educated move up the ladder. Jobs for those without education are more and more difficult to find. This may lead to students who care about the economic rewards, but are not seriously interested in learning. Related to this is the notion that education is an investment that will pay notable dividends to both individuals and the community. Education then is the process of creating human capital. This may not be the case, especially for college graduates with considerable debt and an interest in human service professions.
For years, business people have argued that education ought to be run like a business. This notion is more popular today than in the past. Outsourcing is a good example of how schools act more like business. Universities and colleges that use large numbers of adjuncts (temps) are another. It is not clear that the business model, customer driven or whatever, is appropriate for education.
As we have entered the information economy where people need to be educated and reeducated, trained and retrained, many see education as a profitable business. Distance education, in particular, seems to attract those who are interested in making a profit from education. The fact that the College Board, which administers the SAT exam, is going to establish a for-profit one stop WWW site to meet the college applicant's every need is an indication of the power of the commercialization of the college application process.
Many large business firms have substantial educational and training programs for their employees and a few even offer academic degrees. One of the rationales for such educational initiatives is the failure of public education to produce properly trained workers and the impact of IT on traditional manufacturing and service work.
It is clear that a large number of children, especially racial/ethnic minorities in urban settings, have been poorly served by public education. Home schooling, charter schools, and voucher programs are designed to improve things. An increasing number of students live in poverty, violence, and with some family disintegration.
With the main streaming of disabled or challenged students, public education has assumed a substantial and expensive responsibility. This responsibility involves considerable expense, impacts the education of other students, and involves legal sanctions.
A large number of K12 and college teachers will retire in the next few years. There may not be enough replacements, especially for schools with lower salaries and less attractive locations. At the same time, teacher qualifications are more rigorous than before. A large proportion of those who enter teaching leave after a few years. Teacher recruitment and retention is a substantial, continuing problem.
Education for the teaching profession continues to generate criticism. There is a notable movement toward subject content specialists at the BA/BS level with a MS in education. There is increased emphasis on field work early in the educational experience.
Teacher education has received considerable criticism in recent years. Some argue that academic education programs range from "inadequate to appalling." Faults identified include:
There is considerable controversy about the proper role of the Federal government in education, especially since education is primarily a local responsibility. Research and standards have received some attention.
The major concern at the state level is equity--that students should have equal educational opportunity regardless of the wealth of their immediate community. State and Federal court decisions often require state initiatives to increase equity between poor and rich school districts.
Most states link compensation to the number of college or university hours taken. This creates demands for courses that are popular and not too demanding. It might be better to more strongly link compensation to skills, knowledge, and performance [controversial].
Increased emphasis on accountability has created considerable interest in tests and testing. Proponents argue that testing will drive educational reform and focus on the basics. Opponents argue that teaching to the test devalues teaching and learning while taking time away from electives. With both state and federal government testing requirements, this topic will remain in the news for some time.
Although there are some questions about rigor, the regional accrediting associations play a major role in accountability. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools plays a major role in our region for both secondary and post-secondary education. It accredits more than 12,000 educational institutions.
Educational research has had little impact on educational practice. Research, particularly on reform ideas, is often weak, inconclusive, or absent. Educational research has been criticized for lacking rigor and little focus on achievement. While the American Educational Research Association has more than 23,000 members and much research has been published, it seems to have made little difference in outcomes. Educational reform is often "shaped by political whim and pedagogic fashion." Good research may be ignored if findings are not popular. For example, automatic promotion is being abandoned even though evidence suggests that it works better than holding students back. Until the 1970s, education research was mostly done by cognitive psychologists with laboratory studies or academics using college students as subjects. Since then, there has been increased interest in qualitative, anthropological studies based upon classroom observations. Social scientists from outside education have begun to analyze test data and look for statistical correlations in large data sets. Implementation, or how to create more effective methods and materials based on research findings/conclusions, has been weak. In many cases, we simply do not know how to best facilitate learning.
Based on published papers between 2000 and 2004, the top five universities for educational research were:
According to ISI Essential Science Indicators [2004], these are leading education and educational research periodicals [ranked by impact].
With increased interest in correlations between various variables and test scores, there is increased interest in data archives. Some of this information is available from Federal and state government agencies. Some of is held by not-for-profit and for-profit testing organizations.
Statistics might deal with curriculum and achievement:
Statistics might deal with finance:
Statistics might deal with students:
Statistics might deal with schools:
Statistics might deal with Teachers and administrators:
The National Center for Educational Statistics is the major source of educational statistics. The American Statistical Index is useful for finding statistics, but it may be troublesome finding the actual data. Lexis-Nexis Statistical is a good choice and is often found in larger academic libraries. Education Week is a good current awareness source for U.S. educational statistics. State educational agencies normally issue statistics for their state and some are now making this data available on a WWW site.
Research reports are of continuing interest. Many of these are available via ERIC. Research reports are produced by Federal and state government educational agencies. Foundations and other non-profit agencies (think tanks) also fund educational research. Given the increasing visibility of education issues, and substantial public interest, research on educational issues is done by researchers in several social science disciplines, including economics and political sciences.
Scholarly periodicals remain important, especially for the specialty areas. Monographs are of less importance for scholars, although they remain especially important for education history and policy areas.
With a few exceptions such as early childhood education, there appears to be little interest in foreign research/publication.
Education Full Text by H.W. Wilson is probably the best way to approach educational periodicals, especially in the WWW version. About 700 English language periodicals are covered plus some annuals. Indexing begins in 1983, with abstracts in 1994, and selected full text from 1996. About 300 titles are available in full text. Includes peer-reviewed open access journals. Updated daily on WilsonWeb.Searching is clear and easy. Indexing is more current and complete than ERIC, but covers fewer titles. However, ERIC does not include full text. Updated four times per week on WilsonWeb. Some libraries will provide access to the variants Education Abstracts, and Education Index. As ERIC is reduced in scope and quality, this source becomes even more important.
[Below you will find a description of ERIC before the recent and dramatic changes by the Bush Administration.]
The Educational Resources Information Centers celebrated their 30th birthday in 1996/7. The ERIC data base was the largest educational database in the world. It began in 1966 and included more than 900,000 records of periodical articles, research reports, curriculum/teaching guides, conference papers and books. Resources in Education was the print index of the document literature. It included subject, author, institution, input type, and ED number indexes. About 95% of the items indexed were available on ED microfiche. Interestingly, ERIC was the first commercial on-line database. In recent years, it has been available from a variety of information providers, including Dialog, OCLC, Ovid Technologies (the first major bibliographic database on CD-ROM), EBSCO, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, ERIC, Oryx Press, and Silver Platter. Any item in the database with an ED (ERIC document) number could be found in the 1000 or so research libraries with microfiche sets (including UTK). E*Subscribe was a service that provided access to the ED documents in a PDF format [1983- ] . UT Libraries had this database and incorporated it in its ERIC database. This service was eliminated on October 2004. Instead, full-text non periodical resources will be made available on the web [no more fiche distribution].
The ERIC database also includes articles from about 900 education-related periodicals. These have EJ numbers. Current Index to Journals in Education published by Oryx Press provides access to these periodical articles.
The Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors with its subject descriptors is especially useful when using ERIC. You may also search on publication year, document type, and identifiers--usually proper names or concepts. It has been revised somewhat under the new organization.
ERIC was network of information centers, but now there is one contractor and the information analysis centers in universities are no longer part of ERIC. Each information center was part of a clearing house. Each clearing house collected, abstracted,and indexed relevant material. It also responded to information queries (no cost). The clearing house was responsible for disseminating research findings. Most clearing houses had websites. Seven hosted 27 different discussion groups. There was a network of 16 subject specific information clearing houses:
Adjunct Clearing houses were more specialized and have a narrower focus:
ERIC provided a variety of reference services, but ACCESS ERIC and AskERIC [not part of the new ERIC] were the most visible. ERIC published a Directory of Education-related Information Centers and a calendar of education-related Conferences. ERIC Review contained current awareness information about the various centers. Public services included AskERIC, a toll-free reference service that received about 50,000 calls and 80,000 letters each year. Nearly 250 topical guides/bibliographies were available. ERIC Digests were two page research summaries. More than 1800 were currently available. ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS) produced and sold microfiche and paper copies of the ED documents in the database.
IN the future, more full-text ERIC documents will be available on their website. An extensive Internet lesson plan catalog is also planned. The contractor is making progress, but the final shape of the new ERIC remains fuzzy.
[Below you will find a description of ERIC now.]
The last ERIC contract ended on 31 December 2003. The subject-specific Clearinghouses were eliminated as was AskERIC, ERIC digests and bibliographies and a variety of services now performed by subject experts. The one central database -- the What Works Clearinghouse -- now uses author supplied abstracts, automatic indexing, and there will be no filtering of content by content subject experts. This is certainly ironic since the ERIC Clearinghouses were the most widely used information resources provided by the Department of Education, responding to more than 150,000 email messages and phone calls each year. Lesson plans will not be included in the new ERIC. The ERIC five year contract was awarded to Computer Sciences Corporation.
The Department of Education evidently believes that ERIC should emphasize practical information and that "teachers and administrators are merely confused" by the wealth of information formerly provided.
The ERIC database is updated weekly. Most new content is peer-reviewed and there is a peer-reviewed field in ERIC search results. The "News" section of the ERIC website provides information on new content and database enhancements. In 2005, a clipboard feature was added to make it easier to print, email, or export records.
Located in the Institute for Education Sciences in the Department of Education, this National Library might have become the equivalent of the National Agriculture Library. However, the Bush Administration effectively eliminated the Library in July, 2003.
Class room teachers have little interest in scholarly research since it appears to have little relationship to current problems. There is interest in "how I teach good" material. Curriculum and instruction remains an important, continuing topic. Technology creates many problems and some opportunities for teachers so they are interested in practical tips, handbooks, and guides.
Periodicals are often limited to those that come with membership in the national and state educational association. Again, the emphasis is on current awareness news and practical guidance in dealing with common problems.
This segment continues to grow and contains many enthusiastic advocates. Almost all home schoolers use the public library at least twice per month. Home schooling appeals to a variety of parents and not just those on the religious right. Until the late 19th Century, home schooling was the normal means of education. Supporting education in the home fits well with the PL mission for self-education. Home schoolers often use the PL as their school library media center, especially for enrichment. They may also be interested in work on effective instruction, and resource identification and evaluation (resource lists). Some home schoolers are not particularly interested in information technology and its place in the curriculum. Others use IT to expand the home class room and would be interested in "homework helper" WWW sites. Sometimes, home schoolers may make unreasonable demands upon the library. They may also find some library materials obnoxious from their viewpoint.
It is essential that library staff be nonjudgmental in their work with home schooling families. Staff training on their unique needs is usually needed. A home school resource file [state laws, regulations, and compliance forms, organization directory, lists of appropriate WWW sites, bibliographies of sources and materials] and a core collection of home schooling materials represents the beginning of quality service. Later, library tours and programs on appropriate topics may be presented.
The library will need to evaluate its collection development policy to consider need for religiously oriented curricular materials, including creationism materials.
While many parents are interested in education, relatively few care enough to want to read about educational issues and problems. Dramatic, popular material on major issues in the news such as charter schools or home schooling may interest more concerned parents.
By 2008, all 50 states will be administering tests to students in elementary, middle, and high school. The No Child Left Behind Act also mandates a vigorous testing program. How to prepare for tests is now and will become increasingly essential for many parents. Students who do poorly on these tests may be held back or not allowed to graduate. Textbook publishers have created guides and workbooks to improve test performance. Some of this material is suitable for PLs. In some communities, material in Spanish will be needed.
There is substantial interest in finding material needed for student reports and projects such as those for science fairs. Public libraries will need to consider the degree to which they will support the local school curricula with collections and services.
Several categories of educational material have considerable popularity:
College selection guides are even more popular as a larger number of high school graduates go on to college. "College guides abound, each with its own personality, style and information presentation. Some rely on experts in the field, others compile facts from college admission offices, while still others rely on student surveys." A reasonable selection of the standards is essential. Special interest college guides focus on more subjective aspects such as colleges where average students can excel or colleges for Christian students. A few guides encourage colleges to pay for supplementary pages or even require payment to be included. Best college or university lists along with most college/university ratings are controversial and perhaps unreliable. Every public and most academic libraries should have a strong study guide and college selection selections.
As the cost of higher education continues to rise, the hunt for financial aid becomes more important. Besides the usual financial aid/scholarship/grant books, there are many useful WWW sites. The public library should select the best and make an appropriate WWW page available.
Many employment opportunities require testing. Test preparation material is popular and often disappears from the collection. State Trooper & Highway Patrol Exam Preparation Books comes with a high score or your money back guarantee. In the world of IT, Microsoft Systems Engineer Certification or Cisco systems router management certification are important and training books/guides are popular. Material that helps the learner to become competent at a particular task such as key boarding or preparing documents in MS Word are popular. Here, the need is for reasonably detailed step by step instruction with many practical tips. When people are laid off or change positions, they may be interested in the educational requirements associated with particular occupations. Books, videos, CD-ROMS, and WWW materials may be useful for those preparing for a new position.
Besides employment, many adults remain interested in self-improvement and how-to-do-it. One may wish to learn how to reduce stress, to be thinner, or how to manage time more effectively. Another may wish to learn how to do interior decorating, organic gardening, or repair an appliance. Again, books and videos with clear, step by step instruction and many clear, attractive images are needed. Self-improvement and how-to-do-it will be the most popular parts of the non-fiction collection in many public libraries. Learning how to do a necessary or desired task is a continuing educational experience for nearly everyone.
Those adults without a high school degree may be part of the more than four million who took GED courses. Many of these drop out, but GED study guides and test preparation materials should be available in even the smallest public library. Math Essentials for the Pre-GED Student is an example.
For years, college students have purchased guides that promise to tell them what they need to know about calculus or Hamlet or whatever. The basics of series remain popular and some are now available on the WWW for at no cost or for downloading after a fee is paid.
For those students wishing to go on to graduate school, test preparation material on the GRE and GMAT examinations are popular. As more and more of these tests are presented digitally, libraries need guides that combine easily followed print with practice CDs.
Much of what children/teens need or want from the information agency will be done by parents. Again, much demand for educational material will be a function of school assignments or school performance. Skill builders/study guides for various subjects are popular. How to study effectively, test taking skills, speed reading tips, and term paper tips materials will be popular.
There is a continuing demand for items that help students to understand difficult material. Cliffs Notes with 220 titles and 5 other study guide lines is the best example of this genre. Many teachers and some librarians strongly dislike this material.
Many students are fearful and anxious about preparing for college admissions tests. With more students going to college than before and inadequate guidance from high schools, demand for content to help with college decisions is likely to grow. As Laurie Barnett says: "The competition for college admissions has reached unprecedented highs. Taking the right AP and SAT subject tests, along with scoring high on the SAT and the ACT, has become more important than ever."
Libraries need several guides for each major test. TOEFL for Dummies is a recent example of particular interest to foreign students. Book/software packages are increasingly popular and this combination may create some problems for libraries. Kaplan, Princeton Review, Arco [more than 45 titles], and Barron's are major publishers, but the number of new publishers has increased.These materials are often stolen and may need to be limited to library use in the reference department. Older volumes may circulate. More tests are moving to a computer-administered format so that CD-ROM or other digital formats provide better preparation. In fact, most of today's high school students expect "user-friendly" digital technology that will allow them to take sample tests under timed conditions, receive a score, and tips on how to do better. Important tests to be covered in the test collection include:
Besides test preparation guides from the major publishers, the websites for these tests should also be bookmarked and easily found, i.e. <www.act.org>. Since these tests change from time to time as with the now required written essay in the SAT examination, test preparation collections need to be kept current. Since there has been an explosion of test preparation books for different audiences, selection has become much more of a challenge. Certainly, there are far more useful new items than most libraries could afford to select. Test help material is needed for both those who prepare well in advance and those who prepare at the last moment.
As the number of Advanced Placement tests increase [more than 25], more AP test preparation books are needed [Cliffs AP U.S. Government and Politics or Cliffs AP Spanish are good examples].
The need for college and university directories has rapidly declined because so much college information is now available on websites.
Children/teens will also be interested in learning new skills. For example, they may want to learn how to play fullback (soccer), how to build model cars, or how to learn which stamps come from which countries. Books with many well organized, clear and attractive images are needed. Directions should be clear and broken down into easily learned steps
Which educational trends or problems are most likely to impact your library ( select a library type) library collections and services?
To what degree should the public library provide collections and services to support the local school curriculum?
To what degree should the public library provide collections and services to support home schoolers?
Reasonable for public, academic, and school libraries to form partnerships to share collections and services for students?
Last major revision: August 2007.
