Longwood University has recently added a new graduate degree to its curriculum. Longwood will be the first public institution in Virginia to offer a Master of Education degree program in School Librarianship.
“In Virginia, there are only two colleges that have nationally recognized programs to prepare people to be school librarians,” said Associate Professor and Coordinator of the School Library Media Program Dr. Audrey Church. “Old Dominion University is one, and Longwood is the other.”
According to Church, Longwood has prepared individuals to work as PreK-12 school librarians since 1989, but currently our program is a concentration under the Master of Science in Education. As of fall 2014, the program will be a stand-alone degree program.
“We’ve been working on the curriculum revisions and all of the paper work for about a year now,” said Church. “It had to get approved by all the Curriculum Committees on campus, the Board of Visitors in December and we just got it approved by the State Council of Higher Education (SCHEV) Tuesday, March 18.”
“This degree program is still under the school of education, and we are currently a concentration under a big
umbrella of a Masters of Science and Education,” said Church. The classes are offered in hybrid format, and the professors meet with the students anywhere from three to five Saturdays a semester. The rest of the classwork is done online.
“The majority of our students already have jobs,” said Church. Most of these students are older and are already teachers who want to transition into becoming school librarians.
This program does not have any undergraduate students, and only two students are full time students. It takes most students three years to complete the program because they have full-time jobs. The program typically graduates, on average, 25 students a year.
“We partner with school divisions across the state, so the majority of our classes are offered off campus,” said Church. “We are currently partnering with six different school divisions across the state. We offer the classes on cite for the teachers,” said Church. “By going out and teaching all around the state, we get Longwood’s name out there. Some of the places these professors commute to are Chesterfield, Hanover, Spotsylvania, Prince William, Fairfax and Williamsburg. They are practically Longwood ambassadors when they go to other schools, according to the Church.
“Students are eligible to be hired as school librarians in Virginia, and any states that have teaching reciprocity with Virginia as well,” said Church.
The School Library Media Program has been nationally recognized by The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), now known as The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) and The American Association of School Librarians (AASL).
Graduates of the program are prepared to work as 21st century school librarians who help students become literate in media, technologically and digital information.
They work with Pre-K-12 to help them become critical thinkers, enthusiastic readers, skillful researchers and ethical users of information.
