College Ready

High school librarians and teachers face the challenge of preparing students for the rigors of academic-level inquiry. To achieve this goal, one school examined its research practices and explored ways to more fully integrate information fluency skills, quality resources, and higher-order thinking into the curriculum. While collaborative partnerships existed, wider perspectives and a larger consensus were needed in order to improve practice. Collaboration between language arts department members and their librarian was seen as a solution to this problem and included an exploration of current best practices in information literacy and inquiry-based learning. Three main principles guided this work: a) a commitment to honoring the research process, b) improving students' nonfiction reading skills, and c) recognizing and enacting reflection as the driver of critical thinking. This chapter describes the collaborative process, the team protocols put into place, commitments, and instructional design tools, along with implications for ongoing improvement.