This collection development plan focuses on improving reading comprehension and reference skills for students in 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades at Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur, Georgia. The school serves 390 students in grades Pre-K through 5th, over 90% of whom receive free or reduced lunch. Test scores show that many students are below grade level in reading. The plan identifies relevant state standards and proposes performance tasks to help students practice using dictionaries, glossaries, and other reference materials to build vocabulary and comprehension.

1. Tracee M. Pearson
Collection Development Plan
FRIT 7134- Spring 2009
March 4, 2009
SCHOOL SITE DESCRIPTION AND LEARNER ANALYSIS
Welcome! You are entering the doors of the Ronald E. McNair Discovery
Learning Academy. This Pre-K-5th grade school is located in Decatur, Georgia,
approximately ten miles east of downtown Atlanta. It is situated in a low socio-economic
community with more than 90% of its 859 students receiving free or reduced lunch.
McNair Discovery Learning Academy opened its doors for the first time on August 11,
2008, to students.
There are sixty-six certified educators, three administrators, two counselors, and
thirty support personnel. The school is a Discovery Learning Academy with a community
oriented focus. What this means is that in addition to its daily instructional program, the
school depends on subject matter experts to visit regularly and facilitate classroom
discussions with students, while maintaining a focus on the Georgia Performance
Standards. The faculty and staff of the school operate in PLCs (Professional Learning
Communities). Each PLC consists of three grade levels which meet bimonthly. The
Media Center serves as the hub, or focal point, of the school. It is located near the front
entrance of the building and houses 14, 340 books. It contains two office spaces, one
storage room, one audio/visual room, one media production room, and one conference
room. Computers in our library are used for our electronic card catalog, connecting to the
Internet and online encyclopedias, and using the Accelerated Reader program. The
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2. Media Center operates on a flexible schedule with visits being an extension of each
teacher’s classroom learning activities.
This Collection Development Plan focuses on the topic of reading comprehension
and the use of reference materials to locate information for three reasons: 1) this is the
subject area in which students in grades 3 and 5 must meet promotion requirements for
the Criterion Referenced Competency Tests (800+ is a passing score), and 2) this strand
of reading (or a similar component) is addressed at least five times in the Georgia
Performance Standards for elementary students, and 3) based on current school data, this
is one skill in which students on most grade levels need assistance.
The grade levels of focus for this assignment are first, third, and fifth grades. In first
grade, there are a total of 6 classes and teachers containing 120 students. About 20 of
these students are served by an EIP teacher. All EIP students are performing below grade
level expectations in reading/language arts, math, or both, and are served by two EIP
teachers. The classes have a total of 10 gifted students.
In grade three, there are a total of 7 classes and teachers containing a combined
total of 145 students. There is one self-contained Early Intervention Program (EIP) class
that has 16 students. About 24 of the students in third grade are served by EIP teachers,
and there are 5 gifted students. As in grade one the EIP students are performing below
grade level expectations in reading/language arts, math, or both.
For fifth grade, there are six classes and homeroom teachers with 125 students.
There are two gender-based classes (one all girls, one all boys), each containing 17
students. Seven of the 125 students are served in the gifted program (Discovery), and 25
students are served by EIP teachers. In addition to these students, there is one model class
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3. that is co-taught by the homeroom and EIP teacher. For Learner Analysis Totals, see
Table 1 below:
R.E. McNair Discovery First Third Fifth Total
Grade Grade Grade
Learning Academy
Students 120 145 125 390
Girls 45 61 74 180
Boys 75 84 51 210
African American 118 142 125 385
Hispanic 2 3 0 5
Asian 0 0 0 0
Caucasian 0 0 0 0
EIP Class 20 24 25 69
ESOL 2 3 0 5
Gifted 10 5 7 22
Learning/Cognitive Disability 3 10 8 21
Below Grade Reading 17 15 20 52
Previously Retained 4 11 15 30
McNair Discovery Learning Academy is a Targeted Assisted school, which means that
this school year it is receiving a total allocation of $186, 175.00 in government funds to
improve instructional services and/or aid in staff development programs. One area in
which these funds are spent is through the Afterschool Tutorial Program. The program
serves to give additional instruction to those students who scored below grade level in
reading and/or math the previous school year on the CRCT (Criterion Reference
Competency Test). Test scores are based on the following:
Key
Reading/Math Level I: Below 799
Reading Only Level I: Below 799
Reading/Math Low Level II: 800-810
Reading Only Low Level II: 800-810
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4. CURRICULUM REVIEW
Below are the Georgia Performance Standards which represent the specific
learning goals related to reading comprehension and using reference materials:
Grade 1- COMPREHENSION ELA1R6 The student uses a variety of strategies to
understand and gain meaning from grade-level text. The student
k. Begins to use dictionary and glossary skills to determine word meanings.
Grade 3- COMPREHENSION ELA3R3 The student uses a variety of strategies to gain
meaning from grade-level text. The student
r. Applies dictionary, thesaurus, and glossary skills to determine word meanings.
Grade 5- ELA5R3 The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it
correctly in reading and writing. The student
d. Determines pronunciations, meanings, alternate word choices, and parts of
speech of words using dictionaries and thesauruses.
See Table 2 below for performance tasks for each standard and grade level:
Reading Comprehension- Reference Skills
Grade Content Standards Performance Task
First Concepts of Print, ELA1R1 The student will read to research facts
and produce a report.
Vocabulary, and ELA1R5 The student may complete an outline or
Comprehension ELA1R6 graphic organizer designed by the
teacher
while researching previously selected
books and materials.
The student may contribute his/her
research to a class big book (continents,
landforms,
and city, county, state). (Sample books
may include Me on the Map by Joan
Sweeny and Annette Cable.)
The student may orally share
information with the class.
Third Vocabulary and ELA3R2 The student will correctly use multiple
meaning words by developing a book
Listening/Speaking/Viewing ELA3LSV1 that
ELA3R3 demonstrates evidence of
understanding, and s/he will present the
book to the class or another class.
For example:
F Flip book
F Fold out book
F Personal dictionary
F Journal writing
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5. Fifth Vocabulary ELA5R3 The student will keep a vocabulary
journal documenting interesting and/or
unusual words encountered during
independent reading, guided reading, or
a teacher read-aloud. In the vocabulary
journal the student will list the word, its
meaning, write a brief response
describing their initial encounter with
the word (their thoughts on the word,
the strategies they used to pronounce
the word and to gain meaning, etc.),
and use it in a sentence. The student
may add his/her word(s) to the word
wall. Students may participate in peer
conferences and/or the author’s chair to
discuss and share newly acquired
vocabulary.
COLLECTION EVALUATION
To determine the condition of the reference collection at Ronald E. McNair Discovery
Learning Academy, the following collection evaluation techniques were used:
 Checking Lists (copies obtained from Media Specialist)
 Scanning Shelves (It was a quick process that provided data instantly)
 Comparing Statistics (It was used to compare the number of reference materials to
other materials available in the Media Center)
My techniques were mainly collection-centered because I looked at actual materials.
I began my evaluation by speaking with the Media Specialist. She and I decided to do a
team teaching activity with a group of third graders using dictionaries to examine the
degree of difficulty in which students had with this skill. Students were placed in groups,
and at each group, there were dictionaries and worksheets that gave directions for
locating specific words. During this activity, about 7 of the 21 students needed assistance
locating words, and were instructed on the use of guide words in their search for answers.
Upon completing this lesson, I perused the entire Reference collection in the Media
Center. The Dewey Reference section (000) is comprised of 623 titles. This includes
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6. encyclopedias, almanacs, and dictionaries. The encyclopedias that help make up the
collection include classics such as The World Book and Encyclopedia Britannica. In
addition to these, there are also online reference materials (i.e. Galileo, Encyclopedia
Britannica Online, and Compton’s). The entire collection of encyclopedias looked nearly
new, whereas dictionaries looked a little older, one published in 1986. I was impressed
with the various types of dictionaries available to students: English and Spanish,
Swedish, Japanese, French, World Book, picture, biographical). I saw a Junior Picture
Dictionary that was published in 1978, and was a bit concerned since we are a new
school. Our Media Specialist explained that some books in the collection are older
because before moving into McNair Discovery Learning Academy, she and her assistant
had to weed the collection of books from three schools that were closing to create part of
the collection for our school. She stated that they couldn’t weed everything. Per our
discussion, it was noted that students utilized the encyclopedias more than the
dictionaries because teachers placed a lot of emphasis on projects. However, use of the
internet greatly outweighs the use of either of these books due to ease of use, volume of
information, and popularity. Also, unlike other available materials in the Media Center,
some of the reference materials may not be checked out. When the Media Specialist was
asked if she could add to any collection in the Media Center, which area it would be, she
stated it would be literature- Easy section. In total, only 77 reference materials have been
checked out this year. Our Media Specialist states that this is primarily due to a late start-
up in the Media Center because she and her assistant were busy shelving and cataloguing
books at the beginning of the school year. In our school’s reference collection, there are
67 dictionaries, 41 children’s encyclopedias, 291 World Book materials, 1 set of
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7. Encyclopedia Britannica, and various videos and miscellaneous materials.
For this Collection Development Plan, I chose to focus on the use of dictionaries
and other reference materials because a dictionary is one of the most useful tools that a
child can have access to. It not only helps them with spelling, definitions, and
pronunciations, it serves as a valuable language learning tool for reading and writing. Use
of these types of materials allows children to expand their vocabularies.
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8. MATERIALS ORDER/CONSIDERATION FILE
Title/Item Number/ Item Grade
Vendor Description Type Author Level Review Publisher Price
Follett Children's And Young Adult Book- various K-3 This Set/Series Libraries
Titlewave Literature Reference HRD Contains 24 Titles Unlimited $1,603.68
relating to various
genres.
Follett Hardcover N/A K-5 The major reference Oceano
Titlewave Great Encyclopedic Set/Series encyclopedia meets
the dictionary in this $648.44
Dictionary-Spanish- unique work.
(#L178XX0) Essential knowledge
areas are
scrupulously covered
through a variety of
resources, including
300,000 words and
definitions in the
Spanish language,
more than 10,000
full-color
illustrations, a
complete and current
universal atlas, and
an extensive
chronology.
Follett Hardcover N/A 3-6 This innovative series Crabtree
Titlewave Crabtree Visual Dictionaries Set/Series is designed to
introduce historic Pub. $79.80
[set/series] (#R963XX1) communities in a
thematic way. Each
theme is featured in a
two-page spread and
covers such topics as
homes, clothing,
transportation, tools,
etc.
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9. Follett video Harry J. All A look at a Video
Titlewave Dictionaries and their recording Karabel; variety of English Tutor $29.95
meanings. : Part one written by dictionaries, with
(#40A6CV9) Edward B. an emphasis on
Jenkinson,
pronunciation
Michael J.
Griffin.
guides.
Follett Dictionaries and their video Harry J. All A look at a Video
Titlewave meanings. : Part two recording Karabel; variety of English Tutor $29.95
(#40B39V3) written by dictionaries, with
Edward B. an emphasis on
Jenkinson,
pronunciation
Michael J.
Griffin.
guides.
Library ABC Pronunciary: American DVD N/A Grades 5 This American N/A
Video.Com English Pronunciation to Adults English $34.95
pronunciation
Dictionary (Full Screen)- dictionary teaches the
V9671 sounds of the
alphabet, including
vowels, consonants,
digraphs, blends and
silent letters. The
program includes a
full description of the
mouth formation,
with word examples
for each sound, as
well as contrasts and
practice sentences.
Scholastic Reference N/A Grades 4-7 Vocabulary, N/A
Books Scholastic Children's Spelling, Word $15.96
Dictionary Origins and Usage,
Parts of Speech
Scholastic Reference N/A Grades 3 & With definitions and N/A
Books Scholastic Dictionary of - Up origins for over 600 $8.95
Paperback everyday American
Idioms sayings and
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10. expressions, this
appealing reference
book includes sample
sentences, a
substantive cross-
referencing index,
and amusing
illustrations.
$2, 451.64
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