Um... developmentally appropriate practice would be the norm? Policies and standards would be written and evaluated by experts in the field, instead of legislators and stakeholders with little knowledge on the subject? Librarians would be included in the pool of experts?

I'm not sure exactly what would happen if everybody understood child development, but I'm glad people like Rae Pica, and the guests she interacts with through the BAM! Radio Network are asking big questions and engaging in discussion.

If you haven't heard of the book, What if Everybody Understood Child Development, put it on your to-read list. It's a slim book, weighing in at just 137 pages, divided into 29 short essays on a variety of topics-- from standardized testing, teaching handwriting, to so called "gun play." Each essay includes a list of resources, and some ideas of how to implement change right away.

This book will keep me thinking for a long time, and I keep asking myself new questions. I've purposely archived Scott's thoughts on Brick by Brick from his book study to read now that I've finished the book. And the Early Childhood department at DCTC is in the middle of a book study of this, too.

One of the things I remember learning/hearing/saying a lot when I was in graduate school and first practicing was public librarians saying, "I'm not a teacher," which, in one sense is true of many of us. Many of us have not had the educational coursework that would prepare us to take the teacher licensing tests for whichever area we live. Funnily enough, at the same time I was hearing that message, I was also hearing the same pool of professionals urging us to remind parents that they are their child's first teachers. Now, surely, some parents are trained teachers, but we weren't just speaking to them. We were speaking to each parent in the room, because we understood, from the research that culminated in Every Child Ready to Read, that how parents interacted with their children mattered to their child's readiness for formal learning.

Would the world stop turning if public librarians learned to first characterize themselves as educators, and secondly, include themselves in educator community?