I liked Ryan's list and also Sarah's question: "Are the students and teachers engaged in their own learning experiences?" It is important that the Learning Commons continues to grow with new knowledge gained by teacehrs and students and taught to each other. "The Realities of the Learning Commons Staffing" on page 73. Collaboration is key to measuring the effectiveness of a Learning Commons; for the school the student is presently attending and also to be able to transition to college, employment and the "real world."

I think the most effective way to assess the effectiveness of the New Learning Commons is through evaluating the results we ar receiving. Are students engaged and learning? Does staff see positive changes? Are staff needs being met? I imagine that there are more ways that we can asses that are more easily measured, but I think these are the ones that will probably be more reliable.

I think that one of the biggest things that would show me the effectiveness of the new learning commons would be the involvement of the students and the teachers. Is there a large interest in what is being offered or is there only a mediocre response to what is being done? And if there is only a mediocre response, what do I need to do to make it more effective? For me, I think most of it would have to do with relational type issues... Am I making an impact within the school and with the students and is it seen by the interactions that we all have together? I know that there may be surveys that would help give a more definite answer as to how things are going, but if you have a working community, it seems that you would know those that you're working with. This question is hard for me in some ways because I think of how everyone can define "effectiveness" differently. Someone may see test scores as being important, others may find the viewpoints of the parents as being most important and others (like myself) look to the relational aspects (is everyone working together?) I'll have to definitely think more on this question.

The effectiveness of the new learning commons can be measured by the success of the new measures taken within the library. Do the clients like it? That is the main measure of success. Are the librarians communicating well with the teachers and students? Is the library a busy place? Are the clients able to use the facilities on their own? If the answer to these questions is yes, then the learning commons is indeed a success.

I think the best way to measure the effectiveness of the new learning commons is to asks the students. The students are the main customers. I think maybe a school-wide survey would help out. I also think that teachers should interview they also important customers. I think the teacher librarian should create a yearly report.

I agree with what others have said, that besides using the traditional measurements, it would be useful to interview teachers and administrators about how much they have used the Learning Commons, the positive experiences they have had, and things that need to be improved. I also think a user survey would be great -- let the kids, teachers, administrators, and parents respond anonymously about the great and not-so-great features, and let them describe any positive or negative implications of the new Learning Commons' use.

One way to measure the effectiveness of the new Learning Commons would be to determine a way to assess how busy it actually is. Are there students/staff/parents regularly rotating through? Is the Teacher Librarian’s schedule maxed out? Are people regularly accessing materials online?

The effectiveness could be measured by the number of people that are engaged directly in the transformation, in all phases, but especially in the end result. Are all the teachers collaborating with the teacher librarian, is the community welcomed and involved, is the library bustling with students in varying areas of information gathering, does it have the look and the feel of a learning commons organization? With all of these elements in place, one would hope the true measure of effectiveness would be in significant student acheivement.

Once again, others have stated what I feel. While test scores and AYP goals can give us a snapshot of a school at a given time, the effectiveness of this shift in library programs should not be judged on test results alone, or even primarily. This is a revolutionary change in some places, and I do not think that can be measured for several years. Hopefully, as we go toward the client based format, we will see a steady increase in the students' involvement in their own education and therefore in the level of quality of their work. Whenever people have ownership in a product, or feel a valued part of the process, growth occurs but this growth may not be something that can be tracked as data at first. We are dealing with children, not widgets. We all grow at different rates but if we continue to help the students learn to use their intelligence and imagination, through this collegial way, the traditional "leaders" will benefit as much as those we hope to guide.

I agree with Brooke, but I also think that you can have other ways to measure the success as well.

- Test scores are a good indicator, but 1)they need to be considered over several years, not just one or two years.
- Teacher involvement is also a good indicator - if your teachers are using the library and finding it to be a resource that HELPS their instruction, that is an indicator of success.
- Student involvement in the library/learning commons. If kids show up and USE the facility and ENJOY learning there, then that is a success. However, counting the number of students in the library at any given time does NOT necessarily indicate an effectively used library. The students must be using the technology/resources.

And to be truthful, I think word of mouth is a big one. If students/teachers find the library to be a useful resource, they'll tell others, and hopefully, that will get back to the principal/administration.

The effectiveness of the learning commons will be measured by the patrons and residents of the school district and target school. Their perception of what the school is attempting and how well it is working will likely be gauged by the following:

Are student scores improving?
Are students actively involved in a positive, cooperative way?
Is the community involved in evaluating existing strategies and assisting with the development of new programs?
Is the school keeping up with technological improvements?
Does the school promote and develop an ever-widening scope of true "virtual" classroom?
Do staff/faculty members continue to develop personal skills and talents that lead to more support people and teaching professionals?
After surveying graduates, do district investigators find those graduating students well-prepared for college and university level classes, or are they struggling?
What is the school's reputation, i.e., how is it perceived by the general public?

Most simply, by test scores. As much as I, and every other teacher, detest standardized test, it is what we are measured by.

I believe the effectiveness of the Learning Commons will be heard before it is seen. After using several web 2.0 tools with my students in class, they went home over the weekend and tried out sites like wordle, make belief comix, and blabber on their own. Although the use of these sites doesn't correlate to their published test scores, it is affecting their view of technology and empowering them to feel confident enough to use sites on their own. Like many other people have state, test scores will also show the effectiveness of the learning commons. I hope that some of the skills students learn through the learning commons will help prepare them for future careers that have yet to be created. The effectiveness of a learning commons should also be felt by teachers. Hopefully the availability of 24/7, 365 support will aide old and new teachers as they prepare units and projects.

I think the effectiveness of the Learning Commons can be measured by student motivation, student achievement, administrator and teacher evaluation of the Learning Commons. This is the first year that my elementary school is having a taste of the Learning Commons. The title 1 school always has worked strongly together in teams and vertical teams. It only makes sense that the library is a part of that collaboration. So far it is a perfect fit and my administrators and staff have received it with open arms. It will be interesting to see how students’ reading and writing scores are effected because of it!

I think that we would have to look at test scores and so on, but I also think that we would have to look at the engagement of the students and staff members. We could look at how well prepared the students are for their next level of learning, how satisified the parents are with their children's educational experience, how much more support teachers are receiving, how much are teachers collaborating, how much are teachers involved in making school decisions, etc.

The effectiveness of the new Learning Commons can be measured through AYP goals, state scores, surveys, data matrix scores, and of course what Ryan said! I feel like I just repeated what everyone else said!

Can we just let Ryan respond for all of us?! Seriously! OK, maybe I should get off my rear and respond a little earlier in the week :)

I do think, in addition to all of the wonderful things that my classmates have said, that we can look at the success of the Learning Commons as our administrators meet with us (the entire staff) about our yearly evaluations. If there is an emphasis (in the evaluation) on being part of the Learning Commons, it can be a great vehicle to discuss the multitude of ways that the staff is getting involved; what works, what doesn't, what could be tweaked. This way, the success is being measured on a relatively individual level: teachers set individual professional goals based around the Learning Commons and then reflect on their achievement (or non-achievement) of that goal.

One of the most significant long term ways to judge the effectiveness of the New Learning Commons is the dropout rate. The book mentions the high drop out rate of both students and teachers with previous models. Perhaps the Learning Commons will be most proven effective by lowered dropout rates. In the short term, I think that student and teacher surveys are the best method. Test scores should improve with this new model, but the impact on all involved is the true goal. Student/teacher surveys should show an increased interest in the school, more participation in various school programs, and collaboration between teachers, students, and specialists. Visible differences should be noticed throughout the school as clients begin to work together.

One measure of effectiveness could be taken through good surveying of the users. Beginning of year/end of year. And one needs to define effectiveness; Is it improved grades? Improved participation in library programs? Increased circulations and use of materials? A team of users and facilitators needs to come together to create measurable goals, perhaps a melding of several attributes. This helps to create a yardstick with which to measure effectiveness.

Uuuuummmmmm.........what Ryan said. :) I think he summed it up! Yes, if students and staff are motivated/engaged in learning and are transferring those skills learned in school to other parts of their life, then I think it would be considered a great success. I always believe that motivation/engagement has to come first before a learner is going to internalize any new information. They have to be turned on and they have to care. Then they will be excited to.......go to college, pursue pertinent professional endeavors, contribute to the community. Yes, really......what Ryan said!

I think that all of the normal measurements for school programs could be used to measure the success of a school learning commons. But I also like what Sarah has mentioned about students and teachers being more involved in what happens in the learning commons. I think that student success is a great measurement. Isn't that the point of creating a learning commons, to help students achieve? If student engagement and student success rates rise, then I believe that you've got a successful school learning commons.

I think traditional methods of scores, grades, and miscellaneous evaluations will do a good job of judging the effectiveness of this program, but I think this program can only exist in the absence of those very things.

I would look at the goals below that are based on continuing-education,vocational success, and professional improvement (It seems they must be evaluated over a course of years):

The students completed the entire educational program
The students are entering and succeeding at post-secondary schools
The students are transferring their collaborative efforts to outside environments
The students are gainfully employed
The students have transferred their skills learned to their new environments
The students feel an increased sense of passion towards education
The students positively review the program
The staff is able to participate in and contribute to the community
The staff senses they are improving professionally
The staff is seeking out further learning opportunities
The staff feels an increased sense of purpose in their field
The staff is able to conduct trainings, or move to new environments to create a similar setting
Administration is involved
Administration collaborates
Administration (all levels) funds the operation

Effectiveness of the new Learning Commons could be measured by Adequate Yearly Progress reports, School Accountability reports, state testing scores, simple surveys distributed to staff and students, and even the overall morale of the school.

The effectiveness of the new Learning Commons can to be measured through the same AYP goals that the school's effectiveness is measured. If it is a school-wide movement the same system that measured the school success should be able to measure the Learning Commons success. I would also ask these following questions when judging the effectiveness...
*Are the students and teachers involved in making choices?
*Are the students and teachers engaged in their own learning opportunities?
*Are the students and teachers feeling successful because of differentiation?