Renée Jackson

Collection Development Plan

FRIT 7134
Spring 2009

School Site and Learner Description

This Collection Development Plan is for D. L. Sims Elementary School located in south
Rockdale County. Rockdale County is the second smallest Georgia county in area and is
considered a part of the metro Atlanta area. There are four regular high schools, one
magnet high school, four middle schools and eleven elementary schools. 51% of
Rockdale County is considered economically disadvantaged.

Sims Elementary was built in 1988 and sits on 38.9 acres. The school serves students in
Pre-K through Grade 5 and is a Title 1 school. The amenities for students include a
gymnasium, a pond and an outdoor classroom, a guidance and counseling area, a video
and audio newsroom for student broadcasts, two computer labs, a music classroom, and a
student-centered media center with extended hours. The design capacity of the school is
for 550 students. The current enrollment is 515 students. 56% of Sims students are
classified as economically disadvantaged. Sims is comprised of 5% multiracial, 24%
Caucasian, 5% Hispanic, 63% African-American, and 3% Asian students.

There are 45 certified staff members, including three administrators. There are 27 regular
education classroom teachers. The staff includes one teacher and one bilingual tutor for
the ELL students and two special education teachers for the 10% of students that qualify
for those services. Two EIP teachers are also employed. There is one Pre-K class, four
classes each for Kindergarten and grades 1, 2, 4 and 5, and six grade 3 classes.

Rockdale County employs separate media and technology specialists in each school. The
technology specialist takes care of all of the technology purchases and the computer labs
while the media specialist is in charge of the media center. The media center has 11
computers and a collection analysis completed on February 10, 2009 showed a total of
10,809 items. This would be approximately 21 items per student. There are several
resource links on the school website to resources. The one that stands out as an especially
useful link is a link to Internet 4 Classrooms where there are assessments for students.
The url is http://www.internet4classrooms.com/k12links.htm. Teachers also have access
to http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/.

Comparison of Sims 2007-2008 CRCT scores with other elementary schools in the
district showed that although Sims made adequate yearly progress, the student percentage
that performed at Exceeds on both academic and grade levels were usually below the
district performance, and 18% of the students were at the Basic/Does Not Meet level.
Sims scores on the Georgia Writing assessment given to fifth grade students and third
grade students were also below district performance. To address this concern an assistant
principal, a former literacy coach with extensive writing skills, was hired and a strategic
plan was created that included several writing based actions.
An Author’s Corner to showcase student writing is currently in place. Grade level themes
are chosen quarterly and one piece of exemplary student work on the topic is chosen from
each class. The students are then gathered to read their work. The other action is a school-
wide post office to provide opportunities for authentic writing. This project will involve
the media center but has not yet been implemented. The class schedule for all grades K-5
call for 30 minutes of writing each day along with regular curriculum writing
assignments. Because of the current emphasis on improving writing skills, I chose to
focus on the craft of writing and writing genre for my development plan.

Curriculum Review
While the major focus of the Collection Plan would be to provide materials to help
students in grades 3 and 5 improve their writing scores on the state mandated writing
assessment, the plan is also designed to address the GPS for grades 1 through 5. The
following information on the Grade 3 and Grade 5 Writing Assessment came from the
Georgia Department of Education’s website http://www.gadoe.org/.
.

Grade 3 Writing Assessment

Description:
The grade three writing assessment consists of teacher evaluation of a student’s writing.
The Grade 3 Assessment and Instructional Guide contains the scoring rubric and the
types of writing required by the GPS (narrative, informational, persuasive and response to
literature). The teacher uses representative samples of student writing to determine the
performance levels in each domain for each student. Students should be provided many
opportunities to produce the four types of writing: narrative, informational, persuasive,
and response to literature throughout the year.

Types of Writing

1. Narrative
o Relating Personal Experience
o Creating an Imaginative Story
2. Informational
o Writing assignments may be related to all content areas.
o Students should incorporate information from resources.
3. Persuasive
o Students should take a position on an issue or topic.
o The assignment may occur after the class has researched the issue or read
related texts.
o The assignment may be part of a lesson on the issue in a particular content
area
4. Response to Literature
o Students form and support a position in response to a text they have read.
o The assignment should be linked to a specific piece of literature (short
stories, biographies, fables, plays, poetry, and chapter books).
 o Plot summaries or the retelling of an entire story are not appropriate
responses to literature.

Grade 5 Writing Assessment

Description:
The grade five writing assessment consists of an evaluation of each student response to
an assigned prompt. A topic from a prompt bank representing three genres: narrative,
informational, and persuasive is assigned each student. Students must complete their
writing assignment in approximately 120 minutes. Analytical scoring is used in four
domains: Ideas, Organization, Style, and Conventions. Scale scores will be use in
reporting on student writing.

Related GPS – Writing

The following GPS information came from the Georgia Department of Education’s
website http://www.gadoe.org/.

ELA1W1 The student begins to understand the principles of writing. (The student
uses correct use of nouns, verbs and punctuation.)

ELA1W2 The student writes in a variety of genres, including narrative,

informational, persuasive and response to literature.

ELA2W1 The student begins to demonstrate competency in the writing process.

(The student uses correct punctuation, grammar, and uses a variety of resources to
research a topic and support word choices.)

ELA3W1 The student demonstrates competency in the writing process. (The student
develops a point of view, uses organizational development and develops characters.)

ELA3W2 The student writes in a variety of genres, including narrative,

informational, persuasive, and response to literature.

ELA4W1 The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate

organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a
coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure.

ELA4W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.

ELA4W3 The student uses research and technology to support writing.

ELA4W4 The student consistently uses a writing process to develop, revise,

and evaluate writing.
ELA5W1 The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate
organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a
coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure.

ELA5W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.

ELA5W3 The student uses research and technology to support writing.

ELA5W4 The student consistently uses a writing process to develop, revise,

and evaluate writing.

Related GPS - Conventions

ELA3C1
ELA4C1
ELA5C1
The student demonstrates understanding and control of the rules of the English
language, realizing that usage involves the appropriate application of conventions
and grammar in both written and spoken formats.

I talked with Ms. Paula Keinert, the grades 3-5 assistant principal and writing coordinator
about the writing projects in the school. She provided me with some ideas for needs for
the media center. She also told me about the Author’s Corner and that two of the students
chosen from the Author’s Corner were scheduled to present at a school board meeting. I
also conducted a survey of teachers on what specific materials pertaining to writing they
would like to see in the media center that are not currently available. The main theme was
a need for more materials on African Americans in history and DVDs to correlate with
books. I checked the teacher websites to see what students were working on currently.
Second grade students were working on persuasive writing, author’s purpose, friendly
letters, and response to literature. Third grade students were working on informational
writing, author’s purpose, and gaining meaning from context clues. Fourth grade students
were working on response to literature, tall tales and folk tales. Fifth grade students were
preparing for the state writing assessment with persuasive and narrative writing.

Collection Evaluation
I did a catalog search of key words writing, authors, and biographies. I looked at the
TitleWise collection analysis of the existing Sims collection. The average age of the
collection is 1990 and contains 10,809 items. I did a visual inspection of the books and
found the majority of the 333 books in the 800-890 Literature and Rhetoric category
(3.08% of the collection) to look worn with the average age of 1985. A circulation
activity report for July 2008 to February 2009 showed that 100 of the books in the 800-
890 Literature and Rhetoric category were circulated 202 times. The 920 -929.9
Biography, Genealogy, Insignia category had 8 titles and an average age of 1992 and they
also looked worn. Other areas of interest to my plan, their average age and number of
items in the category are as follows:
 Dewey Category Number of Items Average Age % of Collection
General Fiction 1454 1990 13.45
Reference 505 1992 4.67
Biography 473 1990 4.38
Easy 3341 1986 30.91
Language 37 1993 .34
Geography & History 750 1992 7.01

In summary, the majority of the Sims collection is made up of Easy (30.91%) and
General Fiction (13.45%). The striking weaknesses in the collection are in Language,
Religion, Philosophy and Psychology, Generalities, Paperback and Story Collection all
being less than 1% of the collection. Geography and History is less than 10%. Biography
is less than 5% as is Literature and Rhetoric. The school’s focus on writing warrants the
beefing up of the last two categories in particular. The circulation report shows that the
books that are available in these categories are not being circulated at a high rate. 63% of
the students at Sims are African-American so, I made an effort select items that reflected
that culture as well as some Asian and Hispanic influenced items.