In an effort to improve service to members and meet its new strategic goals, ASCD has merged two existing departments and created a new one.
The Education and Technology Resource Center (ETRC)—is now in place. The ETRC resulted from the merger of the former Curriculum/Technology Resource Center (CTRC) and the Research and Information (R&I) departments. Frank Betts, who formerly directed the CTRC, will serve as director of the restructured department.
In addition, a new Collaborative Ventures department has been established, directed by Helené Hodges, formerly the director of R&I. Collaborative Ventures will coordinate ASCD's many collaborative activities, including consortiums and joint projects with other organizations. The department also will coordinate ASCD's future grant acquisitions and provide leadership to the development of new programs, projects, and services targeted to ASCD's urban constituents.
The work of the Collaborative Ventures department will directly address the new strategic goals recently approved by ASCD's Executive Council. For example, one of the new goals calls for ASCD to better serve schools with large numbers of poor and minority students (see August Update). An urban advisory group, convened this summer, generated some ideas for serving urban schools, Hodges says, and ASCD is currently forming a long-term advisory board to plan long-range strategies.
The merger of the CTRC and R&I Departments, in addition to serving ASCD's strategic goals, is expected to improve service to ASCD members. Information was the primary "product" of both the CTRC and R&I departments, Betts says in explaining the merger, but accessing and packaging that information was not as efficient as possible. Betts hopes that the ETRC will serve as "a supermarket for information," where members and staff can more easily browse through information and capture whatever serves their needs.
Every day, for example, ASCD members and staff members themselves look to the Association to help with their information needs. A teacher member from Topeka might want information on classroom management strategies for primary students. An ASCD staff member could use the names of schools using learning styles. And a central office employee in San Jose would appreciate a bibliography of research on cooperative learning—and the full text of all articles on the topic in Educational Leadership over the past five years.
The ETRC will be developing ways to better meet these and other information demands over the next several years, says Betts. The formation of the ETRC comes during a major reconsideration of ASCD's information management systems. Within the next several years, ASCD will have evaluated all aspects of its operations—from data entry to fax capabilities—with an eye toward making the flow of information between and among ASCD members and staff as useful and efficient as possible. Look for a report on this effort in a future Update.