Houston Independent School District
Librarians' Alternative Certification Training Schedule

The Librarian ACP Schedule is broken down into 3 instructional modules:  Summer Session, Fall Session, Spring Session/Test Preparation

Summer Session:

The ACP summer session takes place during the month of June.   Typically, the cohort meets 5 days a week beginning June 1 through June 30, from 8:30am -3:30pm Monday through Thursday and 8:30-12:30 on Fridays.   There are several days of field prep work in which students travel to various HISD libraries to do work and get experience in the field. Students complete a variety of assignments during this summer session including an Author Study (bulletin board, lesson plan with corresponding digital presentation), a thematic book talk, and a 100 book review assignment.  Additional instructional on the following general areas are included during the summer session.

• National and state library standards

• Dewey decimal system

• Cataloging and processing library materials

• Library automation system - basic and intermediate skills

• Weeding

• Collection Development

• Inventory

• Book talks

• Library programming, book fairs

• Online resources

• Reference sources

• Copyright

• Big 6 - Research and bibliographic instructional models

• Lesson planning

• Special populations resources

• Acquisitions

• Accelerated Reader

• Lexiles

• General technology training

Fall Session

The ACP Fall session begins in August. Interns are required to attend 2 important inservices:  HISD New Librarian inservice and the general inservice day for ALL HISD librarians.  The remainder of the sessions are held every other Tuesday evening from 5:00 - 8:00pm from the beginning of August until the last week in October.

By this point, ACP librarian interns are in library positions, functioning as the librarian on the campus.  Fall instructional sessions cover topics of interest to new librarians, especially regarding daily library operation, the library schedule and instructional component and any procedural issues that arise during these first few months of school. Specific topics/activities include:

• Meeting with mentor

• Identifying goals/objectives for the year

• Library automation system - Advanced topics, reports, State of the Library Report

• Technology training follow-up

• Experienced librarian observation - elementary, middle and high school

• Ongoing portfolio assignments

In addition, there is also a Fall portfolio of projects that are ongoing throughout the remainder of the ACP Librarian program.  Assignments in the portfolio will each have a communication, collection development, program management and instructional component. 

Spring Session/Test Preparation

The final module begins in January and ends the week before the Texas Examinations of Educator Standards™ (TExES™) test is given. Every person seeking educator certification in Texas is required to take and pass a comprehensive test of content and/or professional knowledge.  To be a fully certified school librarian in Texas, the intern must take and pass the TExES test for School Librarians (150).

For more information concerning the Alternative Certification Program, click HERE.