Every student, every day, is engaged in meaningful, affirming, grade-level instruction.
The Oregon State Board of Education endorsed the Oregon Association of School Libraries (OASL) standards for Library and Media Education on January 22, 2015. During that meeting, the Board recommended adding Grade-Level Learning Goals that were later embedded in the standards. OASL shared an informational report to the State Board of Education on September 19, 2019, to introduce the udpated standards and grade-level learning goals for the school library standards.
The Oregon Library and Media Education Standards provide a coherent set of expectations for the knowledge, skills, and practices that students will develop throughout their education. Grounded in research and informed by community input, the standards emphasize the skill development and instruction provided through school library programs, including information literacy. They support students in evaluating, organizing, using, creating, and sharing information across physical and digital environments while using resources, tools, and critical thinking to inquire, build knowledge, draw conclusions, make informed decisions apply learning in new contexts, and communicate new understandings.
These standards reflect Oregon's commitment to equity, excellence, and access for every student and serve as the foundation for instruction, assessment, and high-quality instructional materials selection and implementation. students.
Grounded in this foundation, Oregon's required
Transformative SEL Standards are to be integrated alongside Library and Media Education standards to create the conditions for learning and thriving.
Oregon's
Freedom to Read Bill (SB 1098) is currently being implemented, which reinforces that it is illegal to discriminate against protected classes as it relates to materials used in Oregon public schools. It is codified in
ORS 337.277 and
ORS 337.280 (school and classroom library materials),
ORS 337.260 (textbooks and instructional materials), and
ORS 336.082(3) (curriculum and program materials). Protected classes are defined in
ORS 659.850 as race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, marital status, age, or disability. The Oregon Department of Education published a
webpage and
FAQ about SB1098.
Standards
The Oregon School Library Standards were developed by a committee of the Oregon Association of School Libraries to provide direction about skill development and instruction provided through school library programs.
National School Library Standards
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) developed the National School Library Standards with sections that apply to learners, school librarians, and school library programs.
Guidance & Resources
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Addressing Challenged Materials in K-12 Education: Guidance to School Districts Each year, teachers, librarians, and schools across the country face challenges to books and other instructional materials for a variety of reasons. It is important for districts to offer professional guidelines for the selection and reconsideration of library materials. This document provides guidance to school districts, administrators, classroom educators, and school library staff when a challenge to instructional materials is presented, and has been updated to reflect the passage of Senate Bill 1098 (2025) the Freedom to Read Act.
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Report about School Libraries from ODE to Legislature (MPSS 2021) This report is the end product of a directive that ODE received from the Legislature during the 2021 legislative session: The Department of Education shall convene a group to study the State Board of Education developed media program standards. The study must evaluate the appropriateness of the standards and whether they adequately address student media needs, and methods to measure and ensure compliance with the standards. The Department should consult with organizations that represent public school educators and those who promote school libraries in selecting members of the group. The Department shall report the study's result and any recommendations by December 30, 2021.
Key Resources