Survey and Needs Assessment

Britney Keith

MEDT 6466

Hillcrest Elementary School is one of fifteen elementary schools in Troup County. It serves students in Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade. There are approximately 430 students who attend

Hillcrest. The media center is located at a central location in the school. A certified media specialist and a paraprofessional work in the media center each day. One circulation desk, with a computer, is located in the media center. There are also four computers for students use and a computer in the media specialist’s office. The media center also has some independent reading areas, student work tables for whole group instruction, and a carpet area for story time. In the media center, there is also a room that houses VHS and DVD videos for teachers to check out. Another storage room in the media center houses the laminator and Ellison Die cut machine.

Four stakeholders were completed the survey and needs assessment. Those participants were the instructional specialist, Linda, the media specialist, Kim, a teacher/parent, Donna, and a 5th grade student, Taren.

A few strengths were seen in all of the surveys that were given. A major strength of the media center at Hillcrest is the degree to which the media center is used by students and faculty. Each student uses the media center at least once each week, either by checking out books or using library resources for assignments. Teachers take their classes to the media center for skills lessons and/or for book checkout at least bi-weekly.

Another strength of the media center is the availability of resources to support class assignments. Teachers are usually able to find the resources needed for lessons in the media center. If a resource is not available, the media specialist will plan to purchase the resource if funds are available.

The media specialist has also contacted other school media centers in the county to see if they have the resource available and will loan it to the teacher who needs it. The technology that is available to students is “user friendly” because it is exactly like the technology in the classroom. The computers contain the same programs on the desktop as the computers in the classroom.

The Accelerated Reader program is a major part of the media center at Hillcrest. All students are actively encouraged to check out books, read, and take AR tests over those books. AR celebrations are planned quarterly and two major parties are held each year to celebrate those students who are meeting their grade level goals. These events have become favorites of the students and they work hard to be able to attend the celebrations.

Our media specialist, Kim, has a good rapport with all of the students. She works well with young students, as well as the students in the upper elementary grades. Any student at Hillcrest would describe Kim as a wonderful person. Having this type of relationship with the students is beneficial in helping to keep students interested in reading and visiting the media center.

A major weakness in the media center at Hillcrest is the amount of collaboration between the teachers and the media specialist. The most collaboration that is happening at the present time is when a teacher needs a resource. The media specialist and the teachers should be planning together at certain times. The media specialist could help suggest resources for lessons and they could collaborate on the information literacy skills that are being taught in the classroom as well as the media center.

Several of the Georgia Performance Standards are library skills. Collaborating about these standards would ensure that the students are getting the skills at the most beneficial level and being taught repetitively. Another weakness is that the media center can only accommodate on class or group at a time.

The media center is too small for more than one group to be using it at a time. Usually, if there is a group in the media center, the media specialist is working with them and the paraprofessional is checking out books for any students who are coming in independently. The media center and its staff have not been able to provide for more than one group task to happen at one time. This would need to be done with very strategic and thoughtful planning along with focused behavior management.

Overall, it seems that the media center is serving its stakeholders well. There were mostly positive remarks about the way that the media center is handled. More collaboration is wanted by all parties, so it is something that needs to be discussed and implemented.