Organizations for learning professionals - ASCD

Places please for effective instruction.

Today we examine one of the foremost organizations for teaching professionals - ASCD.

This is the second in a series listing the various non-profit national training, educational, and speaking organizations that any training and development professional should be familiar with. The first article showcased ASTD.

ASCD, formerly the Association for Supervision &  Development, founded in 1943 is one of the largest educational associations in the world. Focused on educational leadership, it is dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of each student. ASCD describes itself as developing “programs, products, and services essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead.”

The organization is large, with over 175,000 members in 119 countries. Members consist of professional educators from all levels and subject areas, including superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members.

Located in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and East Asia, ASCD affiliates work with the ASCD community to foster common values and goals by doing the following three items.

1. Exploring state and local education issues
2. Honing leadership skills
3. Participating in professional development opportunities

ASCD publishes a number of resources for educators, including a blog, books, newsletters, and a daily educational news briefing called SmartBrief.

To improve teacher education and teacher quality, ASCD also sponsors student chapters. The ASCD Student Chapter Program is designed to accelerate the professional growth of educational students and their self-identification as education professionals and leaders. The program’s goal is to “meaningfully engaging student teachers with ASCD resources and involving them with members of the ASCD community, future educators and leaders gain an edge that energizes and raises their professional performance level.”

ASCD hosts institutes, regional conferences and an annual conference where over 8,000 superintendents, assistant superintendents, directors, district-level administrators, principals, classroom teachers, specialists, consultants, college-level educators, and others gather to learn from each other and industry leaders.

On March 8-010, 2010, the ASCD Annual Conference and Exhibit will gather in San Antonio, Texas. Featured speakers include Yong Zhao, University Distinguished Professor at the College of Education, Michigan State University; education broadcast journalist John Merrow; and Robyn Jackson, author of Never Work Harder Than Your Students.

For more information on ASCD, visit http://www.ascd.org/.