Whitetree Collection Development Plan

Collection Development Plan

Suzanna Whitetree

FRIT 7134 Spring 2011

March 2, 2011
 Whitetree Collection Development Plan

Collection Development Plan

Description of Site and Learners

The Camden County School System is in Camden County, Georgia which is located in
the farthest Southeastern corner of Georgia. The area is bordered on one side by the Atlantic
Ocean and is best known for being the “Gateway to Cumberland Island.” The county’s
population maintains just below 50,000 people. The county has 3 principal cities: Kingsland, St.
Marys, and Woodbine, which is where the county seat is located. The median income is $53,424.
Sixty-five percent of the population is urban, while thirty-five percent is rural. The Naval
Submarine Base, Kingsbay, is located in Camden County and is the major employer, while the
Camden County Board of Education comes in second. The area has 3 satellite college campuses
and a satellite technical school. Each of the three cities has its own public library that is
interconnected to the Three Rivers Regional Library System.

The school I work for is Camden Middle School located in Kingsland, Georgia. It is one
of two middle schools in Camden County. Camden Middle School is fed by five elementary
schools and leads up to the Ninth Grade Center and then Camden County High School which
houses grades 10 - 12. The enrollment for Camden Middle School for the 2010-2011 school year
is 1210 students in grades six through eight. The ethnic breakdown is 64% Caucasian, 26%
African American, 3% Hispanic, 5% mixed, and less than 3% Asian or Native American. The
age of attendance is from slightly younger than eleven years of age to slightly over 15 years of
age. Fourty-nine percent of the student body is female and fifty-nine percent is male. Ten
percent of the student population has special needs and less than one percent (3 students) has
limited English language.

Camden Middle School is run by an administrator staff of 1 principal, 2 assistant

principals, 2 full time and one half-time guidance counselors, 1 social worker and 1 lead teacher.
There are 47 regular academic classroom teachers, 14 special education teachers, 3 remedial
teachers, 10 exploratory teachers, and 1 media specialist. There are also support staff and
paraprofessionals that perform a variety of duties both clerical and for students. The teacher to
student ratio is 1:26. The school runs on block scheduling with 100 minute academic classes and
55 minute exploratories. Students attend a reading/language arts class, a math class, and two
exploratories every day, and alternate on an A/B rotation for 4 weeks and 1 day for social studies
and science. Camden Middle School is a Title I School due to 43% of students qualifying for free
or reduced lunch. Camden Middle School has met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) each year
and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The Criterion
Reference Competency Test data for the 2010 FY is as follows:

6th meets/exceeds 7th meets/exceeds 8th meets/exceeds

Reading 93.5% 92.5% 98.9%
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Language Arts 91% 96.1% 97%

Math 79.8% 93.7% 85.7%
Science 75% 88.2% 76%
Social Studies 63.2% N/A 74.7%

The media center at Camden Middle School houses 14,291 books. This averages to 11.8
books per student which is slightly above the 10 books required to meet SACS approval. The
media center also houses various audio/visual equipment such as televisions, DVD players,
VCRs, compact disc and tape players. There are 150 video tapes and 94 DVDs. Replacing video
tapes with DVDs is a goal of the media specialist, however it has been a slow process because
many teachers still have televisions with VCRs located in their classrooms that they are not
willing to give up. The school was equipped with Closed Captioning but it no longer works and
there is not a plan to repair it since it is rarely used. The media center has 6 computers for student
research and 4 computers for student access to the online catalog, Destiny. Camden Middle
School has subscriptions to FactCite (Lincoln Library Online), Study Island, BrainPop,
SkillsTutor, Hot Math, and Orchard. Most of these programs, with the exception of Factcite,
were purchased with Title I money to improve test scores in the area of Math. Camden Middle
School also has two computer labs for whole classes to visit with teachers; one is reserved
mainly for math and the other is reserved mainly for language arts classes. Paraprofessionals are
assigned to the computer labs but only for assistance with passwords or logging onto the server.
All classrooms are now equipped with LCD projectors mounted to the ceilings and pull-down
screens. Most teachers have computers with DVD player capabilities that are connected to the
LCD projector. All math teachers have a “tech suite” which also includes a Smartboard and an
Airliner writing tablet. Very few other teachers have this technology available to them.

The sixth grade student body is made up of 324 students. The sixth grade team of
teachers is made up of 5 language arts teachers, 5 math teachers, 2 science teachers, 2 social
studies teachers, one teacher who teaches both science and social studies, and 3 special education
teachers who teach both collaboratively with another teacher and in pull-out classes. One of
these teachers teaches two gifted language arts classes and one teaches 2 gifted math classes.
There are 44 students that qualify and receive services for gifted education. There are also three
classes each of Advance Placement for math and language arts for the 55 students who achieved
Level 3 on CRCT and maintained an A average in 5th grade. There are 7 special education
students served in resource classes, and 13 special education students served in collaborative
classrooms. There are 2 English Language Learners, but only one of these gets additional
instruction for ELL based on his Access scores. The average reading level for 6th grade students
from the STAR reading test administered in August is 5.2 with the range being 4.1 to 6.3.

Social studies has been a unique area because of it being the last to roll in the new
Georgia Performance Standards. The CRCT data from last year is the first one in several years to
be recorded due to the new test since the GPS roll in. Due to the block scheduling, students
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alternate between social studies and science for 4 weeks and 1 day of each quarter. Social
studies is an area in which compared to other subjects, students do not tend to perform well (see
CRCT data above). It is also an area in which performance is of the least concern.

Curriculum Review

I have chosen 6th grade social studies Georgia Performance Standards for this assignment.
Specifically, I am concentrating on Latin America and the Caribbean. The following standards
will be addressed:

SS6G1 The student will locate selected features of Latin America and the Caribbean.
a. Locate on a world and regional political-physical map: Amazon River, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of
Mexico, Pacific Ocean, Panama Canal, Andes Mountains, Sierra Madre Mountains, and Atacama
Desert.
b. Locate on a world and regional political-physical map the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela.

SS6G2 The student will discuss environmental issues in Latin America.

a. Explain the major environmental concerns of Latin America regarding the issues of air pollution in
Mexico City, Mexico, the destruction of the rain forest in Brazil, and oil-related pollution in
Venezuela.

SS6G3 The student will explain the impact of location, climate, distribution of natural
resources, and population distribution on Latin America and the Caribbean.
a. Compare how the location, climate, and natural resources of Mexico and Venezuela affect where
people live and how they trade.
b. Compare how the location, climate, and natural resources of Brazil and Cuba affect where people
live and how they trade.

SS6G4 The student will describe the cultural characteristics of people who live in Latin
America and the Caribbean.
a. Describe the results of blending of ethnic groups in Latin America and the Caribbean.
b. Explain why Latin America is a region based on the languages of Portuguese and Spanish.
c. Evaluate how the literacy rate affects the standard of living.

SS6CG2 The student will explain the structures of national governments in Latin America and
the Caribbean.
a. Compare the federal-republican systems of the Federative Republic of Brazil (Brazil) and the
United Mexican States (Mexico) to the dictatorship of the Republic of Cuba (Cuba), distinguishing
the form of leadership and the role of the citizen in terms of voting and personal freedoms.

SS6E3 The student will describe factors that influence economic growth and examine their
presence or absence in Latin America.
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a. Explain the relationship between investment in human capital (education and training) and gross
domestic product (GDP).
b. Explain the relationship between investment in capital (factories, machinery, and technology) and
gross domestic product (GDP).
c. Describe the role of natural resources in a country’s economy.
d. Describe the role of entrepreneurship.

SS6H1 The student will describe the impact of European contact on Latin America.
a. Describe the encounter and consequences of the conflict between the Spanish and the Aztecs and
Incas and the roles of Cortes, Montezuma, Pizarro, and Atahualpa.
b. Explain the impact of the Columbian Exchange on Latin America and Europe in terms of the
decline of the indigenous population, agricultural change, and the introduction of the horse.

SS6H2 The student will explain the development of Latin America and the Caribbean from
European colonies to independent nations.
a. Describe the influence of African slavery on the development of the Americas.
b. Describe the influence of the Spanish and the Portuguese on the language and religions of Latin
America.
c. Explain the Latin American independence movement; include the importance of Toussaint
L’Ouverture, Simon Bolivar, and Miguel Hidalgo.

SS6H3 The student will analyze important 20 th century issues in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
a. Explain the impact of the Cuban Revolution
b. Explain the impact and political outcomes of the Zapatista guerilla movement in Mexico.

Standard Concept Tasks/Activities/Products Resources

SS6G1 Landforms and  Locate landforms and countries in World Maps,
countries Latin America and the Caribbean Physical-political
using an outline of a blank map maps, Globes,
 Locate capital cities of: Mexico, projected maps and
Brazil, Venezuela, and Cuba outlines, textbooks
 Daily reviews

SS6G2 Environmental  Air pollution, oil-related pollution, Textbooks, non-

Issues destruction of rain-forest fiction books on
 Students will make a brochure of environmental
environmental issues and persuade issues, videos
people to take action before it is too showing
late devastating effects,
various websites
about problems
with environmental
issues, maps,
United Streaming
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videos
SS6G3 Location,  Effects of location, climate, and Textbooks, non-
climate, natural natural resources on Mexico and fiction books,
resources & Venezuela trade videos, various
population  Brazil and Cuba maps, United
 Identify climatic regions of : Brazil, Streaming videos
Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba
 Identify resources found in: Brazil,
Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba
 Compare and Contrast Mexico to
Venezuela and Brazil to Cuba
SS6G4 Cultural  Identify cultures found in Latin Various books on
characteristics America/Carribean cultures, people,
 Develop a Facebook style page folktales
representing a culture of people Fiction books
found in Latin America
SS6CG2 Government  Compare and contrast the federal Government
governments of Brazil, Mexico, and videos, non-fiction
Cuba books, current
 Make a poster identifying what type almanac, Venn
of government, form of leader, and diagrams
role of the citizen in one type of
government
SS6E3 Economic  Students will understand what helps Charts and graphs
Growth and hinders economic growth. showing growth or
 Students will make a plan on what to lack of growth, text
do if something effects the economic books, various
growth plan websites
SS6H1 Impact of  Students will research and develop a Encyclopedias,
Europe time line of how Latin America was paper, horse
impacted by European explorers. diagrams,
 Create a concrete poem in the shape timelines, websites,
of a horse using vocabulary words nonfiction books
learned from unit and videos
SS6H2 Development  Students will make trading cards Biographies,
and famous with famous people names and what textbooks,
people significance they had in history nonfiction
resources, index
cards, colored
pencils

SS6H3 Latin America  Students will make a travel brochure Art materials,
and the or scrapbook highlighting 20th internet resources,
Caribbean today century issues in Latin America current events,
today almanacs,
textbooks
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Collection Review

My first method of collection review was a visual review. I wandered through the stacks
in the media center just looking to see what I could find on my subject. Because of the
arrangement of our media center, I browsed the fiction section first, then went on to the non-
fiction section, the biographies, then encyclopedias and the reference section of various
references that is located down the middle of the library. My first time through, I did not notice
anything pertaining to my subject. I did notice that in the 300 section, where I expected to find
most of the books on my subject, the books appeared old and worn out and none were inviting to
read. The reference section contained several sets of encyclopedias, two of those sets being
published fairly recently, one in 2008 and one in 2004. The encyclopedias are located on a short
shelf in the middle of the library that runs horizontally between the fiction and non-fiction
sections. The location of the encyclopedia sets has always seemed odd and uninviting to me.
There is one set of encyclopedias (copyright 2008) that are on a cart for teachers to check out for
classroom use. Another short double sided shelf runs down the middle of the media center
vertically separating two sets of tables for classroom use. On one side of this shelf is a small
section of lower level books and several collections of books that I was hopeful would contain
information on Latin America, but none of the collections had books containing the subject
matter I was looking for. These collections looked hardly used which leads me to believe that
like me, students do not know they are there. On the other side of this shelving unit was a large
section of really old Georgia History books (8th grade standard) and browsing books about things
such as cars or guns or collections. After much looking, and finally asking the media specialist, I
found the atlases on a podium style credenza. A large bulky atlas was located on top, and several
older, various atlases were located on pull out drawers beneath. After working at this school for 4
years and standing at that podium many times working with students, I never knew that this was
where the atlases were located! I also looked through the videos in the teacher resource room
located in the media center for videos pertaining to Latin American and the Caribbean, but only
found three video tapes that had been published in the 1990s.

The second method of collection review that I used was to search in our online catalog,
Destiny. I began with very broad subject searches such as Latin America and Carribean.
Searching Caribbean resulted in 8 fiction books and 2 non-fiction books. Searching Latin
America resulted in 7 non-fiction books which publication dates ranged from 1971 to 1994 and 2
video tapes. I continued to search other keywords taken from the standards with very similar
results. Some of the search results specifically related to Latin America and the Caribbean are
listed in the table below.

Subject Search Amount of Items Age Range

Latin America 7 books, 2 videos 1971 - 1997
Caribbean 12 books, 1 audio, 1 video 1966 - 2003
Incas/Aztecs 15 books, 1 audio, 3 video, 1
CDRom 1967 - 2008
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Amazon 8 books, 3 videos, 1 CDRom 1979 - 2008

Brazil 5 books, 1 video 1968 - 2003
Cuba 5 books 1967 - 1998
Simon Bolivar 2 books 1951 - 1984

I noticed several things that need to be addressed in this collection development plan.
First, the readability of most of the items currently in the collection is of a higher range than
most of the students who will be reading them. This is a major problem since this unit is the
second unit taught in social studies to 6th graders, so only a small percentage would be on that
high of reading level when these standards are being taught. The interest level of many of these
books was also young adult to professional, which would not keep the attention of 6th grade
students. It is important to have literature and subject matter with reading and interest levels of
the students who will be looking for these books. I also noticed that very few of the books
currently in the collection are Accelerated Reader. When students are required to read
Accelerated Reader for their reading classes, like many classes are at Camden Middle School,
they may be more motivated to read something on the topic in their social studies class if the
books were also Accelerated Reader books. Another thing I noticed is that the social studies
GPS span several different Dewey Decimal numbers, such as 300s, 500s, 700s, 900s, and fiction,
so it will be important to look for materials in all areas.

The third method of collection review is a recent Titlewave report that the media
specialist shared with me. Through this report, I realized that what does not seem so old to me is
as ancient as much of this subject matter to students that were born around the turn of the 21st
century! In fact, this report lists the average age of the entire Camden Middle School collection
as 1986. A further breakdown of the collection by hundreds and additional categories did not fare
much better. Interestingly, the majority of the collection falls in the 1980s copyright dates, when
the school opened in 1982. Another area of concern is that only slightly more than a third of the
entire library collection is located in the non-fiction section. While I expect most of a school
library collection to be located in fiction because of the popularity, it would be nice to see
reading increase in the non-fiction areas as well. Since material for the subject area I am looking
for could be located in so many different areas, I concentrated on those listings only. The
following is the breakdown of the age of the collection in the locations I am searching. Of
course, these numbers span a large amount of subject matter, but it is clear to see that the
collection is quite aged and in need of some serious updating.

Listing of Selection Average Age

300s 1988
500s 1987
700s 1984
900s 1984
Reference 1987
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Biographies (this
report broke this 1982
down from the 900
section)
Fiction 1987

The fourth and last method of collection review was an informal questioning of the 6th
grade social studies teachers. Social studies is definitely an area in which student achievement is
low. Part of this is because of the subject matter only being taught at 4 week intervals, but part is
also the subject matter is difficult for students to comprehend especially when many have been in
Camden County their whole lives and very few have traveled to other countries. The social
studies teachers also think that another aspect that makes this subject difficult is that the
readability of the textbook is so difficult for the majority of students and especially for the
special education students. The teachers that teach social studies and know the curriculum best
commented that there just are not enough resources available to teach the subject for 6th grade
students to grasp the concepts. When I asked them what they thought should be added to the
media center to help with student achievement, they said movies, references such as atlases, and
lower reading level books. The one thing they did not see that would help is to add fiction books
on the subject matter to the collection.

Finally, I looked at the circulation of the materials by call numbers for the year thus far. I
found that the circulation of items in the media center is higher than I thought. Circulation for the
year is at 22,650 items. Concentrating on the Dewey numbers previously mentioned, I looked at
the circulation data in these areas, reminding myself again that the information I am looking for
is just a small part of the number range.

Listing of Selection Circulation

300s 227
500s 175
700s 690
900s 722
While this seemed like a lot to me, when looking at a school the size of Camden Middle School
and comparing these to the total circulation amount, these are not significant amounts. However,
it does show that students are willing to seek out books in these sections to check out.

Summary of collection needs:

1. Choose more current resources. The age sensitivity of non-fiction materials is 5 years and
most of the collection at Camden Middle School is currently approximately 20 years
older than that. While some of this information has not changed in that time, it is still
important to have the look of a newer collection.
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2. Choose books that are appealing to 6th grade students that may not have learned to not
“judge a book by its cover.” If the book is not appealing, students will not check it out,
which means they will just sit on the shelf unused.
3. Choose some books with a lower reading level, but 6th grade interest level to
accommodate students with lower reading levels and special education students. Also
choose some books with higher reading level that will still be appealing to 6th grade
students to challenge the gifted students and higher level readers.
4. Look for books with Accelerated Reader tests to purchase to motivate students to read
non-fiction.
5. Update the reference collection. Even though there are encyclopedias, almanacs, and
atlases online, this school is not able to accommodate more than 5 students on the
computer at a time in the media center. With labs being reserved for math and language
arts, and social studies teachers generally not having student computers in their
classrooms, it is important to continue to keep updated print resources. Look for carts for
these resources so that they can be taken to the work tables when classes are working in
the media center.
6. Choose mostly non-fiction sources that directly correspond with the GPS.
7. Include fiction novels on topic (if available) to encourage teachers to teach cross-
curricular subjects and so students can apply knowledge across subject areas.
8. Order new DVDs, since they are being requested by teachers, but also look for and
encourage teacher use of United Streaming.

Budget Summary

The collection plan I have created is a well thought out plan that is meant to provide
additional literary resources for students and teachers to enhance the social studies curriculum in
the Georgia Performance Standards area of Latin America and the Caribbean. This collection
includes newer, up-to-date resources in both fiction and non-fiction that would appeal to the 6th
grade student. This plan also includes some cross-curricular resources that not only apply to the
social studies standards I chose to work with, but standards in language arts and math and other
social studies standards as well. I believe that this plan would enhance the collection in the media
center at Camden Middle School and would be used by students in all grade levels and content
areas including the self-contained special education group. I did not include very many resources
in other languages due to the low numbers of English Language Learners in our school and
community. The next step to this plan would be to submit the proposal for approval to spend the
budgeted amount of $3999.46. While researching the materials for this collection plan, I came
across several resources that could also be used for teaching these standards. These websites are
accessible at the following: http://www.portaportal.com/index.php (Username: swhitetree
password: gsuonline)
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