*IMPORTANT. Please respond to the MDE survey by AUGUST 16 (TUESDAY) per the information below. This is a chance to make a possible difference for supporting Michigan's students with effective school library programs! Please contact me if you have any questions. * ALA and AASL worked diligently to have school library/librarian provisions added to the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The act is written such that each state has autonomy in how they implement the details of the act. Thus, AASL and ALA are encouraging library supporters in each state to provide input to each state department of education to make sure the school library provisions are included in their implementation. The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is currently asking for input on their ESSA Implementation Work with a public survey. The survey will close on August 16th. Thus, your action is needed now! Please encourage others to participate as well and feel free to forward this to other groups. MDE needs to hear multiple and varied voices about the importance of school library programs in our state. Currently, Michigan ranks 41st on 4th grade reading achievement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). http://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2016/05/18/ michigan-students-sliding-toward-bottom/84535876/ Michigan’s reading scores dropped at the same time that Michigan lost over 60% of its certified school library media specialist positions. Michigan now ranks 47th in the ratio of students to school library media specialists. Please voice your opinion about the importance of school libraries in Michigan and respond to the MDE survey. *Please feel free to use any of the talking points* found in the attached document which ALA/AASL provided specifically to help Michigan respond to the MDE survey. This document also includes some state specific information provided by MAME. The link to the online survey is here <https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9R8KHHV>. Of the 7 active sections which relate to MDE’s Action Teams that are working on the implementation plan, there is no obvious location for school library supporter support; so we are recommending that our supporters please RESPOND AT LEAST ONE QUESTION within the following sections as outlined in the attached document. 1) Supports, 2) Additional Indicator of School Quality and Transparency Dashboard 3) Teacher and Leader Quality 4) Using Data to Inform Instruction Please personalize your response and feel free to answer more (or less) of the survey questions. An additional handout on other talking points that you might find useful can be found at bit.ly/MIESSALIB You can also go to www.michigan.gov/essa to find out more about MDE's ESSA Implementation work. --Kathy Kathy Lester, MLIS, MA MAME Advocacy Chair, Past-President 2014 School Library Media Specialist / Technology Coach East Middle School, Plymouth-Canton Schools *2012 **State Librarian's Excellence Award Winner* kathyL@mimame.org