Barbara F. Schloman, Ph.D., TRAILS Project Director Julie A. Gedeon, Ph.D., TRAILS Assessment Coordinator Kent State University Libraries and Media Services Using Standardized Assessment to Guide Instruction and Leverage Collaboration AASL Fall Forum October 18, 2008

1.What is TRAILS 2.Use to date 3.Exploring how it might serve you Providing an Introduction

TRAILS is: Tool to measure information literacy competencies Assessments based on 6 th and 9 th grade standards Freely available on the Web A project of the Institute for Library & Information Literacy Education (ILILE) funded through the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the U.S. Department of Education. What is TRAILS?

Goal: To develop a tool to assist library media specialists in measuring the information literacy competencies of students. Specific objectives: –Standards-based –Available on the Web at no cost –Easy to administer –Insure privacy –Report outcomes by student and by class TRAILS

TRAILS Development Process 1. Standards reviewed for information literacy: –Ohio Academic Content Standards: Identified all Ohio standards, benchmarks, indicators that relate to information literacy at the 6 th /9 th grade level. –AASL Information Power: Reviewed standards and indicators.

Information Literacy Categories 2. Standards categorized into five measurable information literacy categories: Develop topic Identify potential sources Develop, use, and revise search strategies Evaluate sources and information Recognize how to use information responsibly, ethically, and legally

Developing Assessment Items 3. Priority competencies determined. Within each category the information literacy skills common across the standards were identified and prioritized. 4. Objectives developed. Student learning objectives were developed to address the priority competency areas. 5. Items written. Items were then written to address the objectives for each category.

Testing and Revising Items 6. Items field tested by library media specialists and then revised. –Are the items understandable as written? –Are they measuring what was intended? TRAILS-9: Field testing of items by volunteer library media specialists working with a small number of 9 th grade students. TRAILS-6: Sample assessments being administered to 6 th grade students in over 130 schools nationwide during October 2007.

Available Assessments TRAILS-9: Two 30-item general assessments covering all five of the information literacy categories. Two sets of 10-item assessments for each of the five categories. TRAILS-6: Two 25-item general assessments covering all five of the information literacy categories.

How TRAILS Works Sign up for an account Create a class session –Choose desired assessment –Consider use of student codes Administer assessment Close session and generate reports –Class report by info literacy category –Student report by code

View Assessment

TRAILS Use TRAILS-9 live in January 2006 TRAILS-6 live in January 2008 In administered to almost 8,500 (6 th ) and 49,400 (9 th ) students Geographic distribution: All 50 states plus the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands; over 30 countries To date administered to over 100,000 students

How TRAILS has been used to integrate information literacy Collaboration with classroom teachers for a specific class With a particular grade level To target librarian instruction To share results with administration As part of an overall school improvement plan As a professional development opportunity For personal development

“I am an Illinois high school media specialist and have been using TRAILS with my ninth grade students. Thank you for your work. TRAILS provides an objective evaluation of information skills that would otherwise be difficult to achieve by sole practitioners.” [Illinois] “I have been using a couple of the #2 assessments with Seniors taking a Research Paper class. They have been extremely helpful to reinforce specific information literacy skills for which they have received instruction.” [Minnesota] “We are using Trails 9 to gather baseline assessments. I'm setting up logins by grade level but we are not tracking each student by name. Our goal is to find out where our students currently stand with competencies.” [New York] Users Report

Benchmarking Data Benchmarks now possible due to level of use –For 9 th grade General Assessments –Reporting for total dataset, plus for some high usage states Reported by TRAILS category

Ranked Category% Correct 5. Recognize how to use info responsibly, ethically, legally 72.6% 2. Identify potential sources68.7% 3. Develop, use, revise search strategies 61.4% 1. Develop topic59.8% 4. Evaluate sources and info44.1% Performance on 9th Grade General Assessment I

In the breakout sessions, participants will: Develop a better understanding of TRAILS options and the potential role of assessment in furthering an information literacy program Collaborate with participants in similar settings to define challenges, barriers, opportunities Set information literacy goals utilizing assessment Develop an implementation plan with timeline and resources needed