Needs Assessment Middle School in Guilford County Hallie

Needs Assessment Middle School in Guilford County Hallie Fields, Alicia Luke, Catherine Prince, and Devon Willis

The School • • • Middle School in Greensboro, NC It has 988 students in grades 6 through 8 and 56 teachers An Honor School of Excellence for high test scores o Scores for math and reading at 68. 6% and 68. 1% compared to the state average of 42. 3% and 43. 9%. School Mission: Middle School offers a challenging, progressive, character building, standards-based curriculum that enables students to become selfdirected, service oriented learners. School Vision: Middle School is committed to educating students while supporting them socially and emotionally as they develop into responsible citizens, lifelong learners, and productive members of the global society.

Principal • • “Hub of learning” Current school vs. previous school Technology Budget

Media Coordinator • • Media Center space Updating furniture Flex schedule Technology to enhance media center services (QR codes and tablets) e-books Relationship with external customers Budget cuts and being a team player Mission statement- Our media center is RADICAL

Teachers ● 30 teachers responded; 54% response rate ● 29 out of 30 teachers are comfortable collaborating with the media specialist ● Teachers are satisfied with the collection and the space and layout for themselves and their students Scale: 1 -Very dissatisfied 5 -Very satisfied 1 2 3 4 5 Weighted Average Does the media center collection meet your needs? 0 3 10% 8 26. 7% 9 30% 10 33. 3% 3. 9 Does the media center space and layout meet your needs? 0 0 3 10% 15 50% 12 40% 4. 3 Does the media center space and layout meet the needs of your students? 0 0 4 13. 3% 15 50% 11 36. 7% 4. 2 ● 56. 7% of teachers feel neutral about moving professional resources to the Curriculum Facilitator’s office.

Teachers-2 Teachers are using the media coordinator often to collaborate on lesson plans Teachers are using the media center for a wide variety of purposes

Students ● 48 students completed the survey; 5% of the student population ● Wide variety of students sampled ● Majority of responses were positive ○ “I feel like the library is doing really well I like how you can checkout to 5 books a day there is not really anything you need to do better” ○ “Yes, because it is nice, calming even relaxing to just go in there and read books also Mrs. S is wonderful!” ● Some students seem unaware of resources the library offers ○ “I think they could have a shelf of just new books. ” ○ “They should provide a system to help show books to different levels of readers”

Conclusions and Recommendations • • • Media center space is meeting user needs overall External customers are satisfied and have a good relationship with the media coordinator The collection is a central focus of all parties Improving signage and orientation for users Incorporate more tablet use Develop a budget

Strengths & Weaknesses ● It is hard to create a survey! ● Talking to the principal is valuable, even though he doesn’t check out books or need help with lesson plans. ● It’s hard to cover all that the media coordinator does in one interview. ● Choosing a library where you are known is helpful!

Questions?