To talk with experts in the field of education, to keep abreast of trends in curriculum and instruction, to network with other educators—these are just a few of the reasons teachers, administrators, and others join professional organizations like ASCD. Now, preservice teachers can have access to many of the same benefits that those already in the field enjoy by joining or forming an ASCD student chapter.
Students need to join professional organizations during their teacher preparation years "so they'll be more inclined to continue their involvement once they enter the field," says Paul Plummer, faculty advisor for Pacific Union College ASCD in Angwin, Calif.
"Once students make a practice of joining such organizations and taking leadership positions, they'll do so for the rest of their professional lives," agrees Karen Rassmussen, ASCD's student chapter coordinator. By giving students a means to hone their leadership skills, ASCD establishes a pool of enthusiastic potential members, she adds. "These students really want to make a difference in education," Rassmussen observes, and they'll do so, in part, by becoming active in ASCD when they graduate.
It is such student leadership, in fact, that helped launch ASCD's student chapter program. In 1993, students at Hope College in Holland, Mich., established an unofficial ASCD chapter and helped lay the foundation for ASCD's student chapter program. In a ceremony held on the campus in the fall of 1995, students and faculty were applauded for their initiative, and Hope College ASCD now has the distinction of being known as the first student chapter. Five other colleges and two universities have since joined the program.
Students at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif., have long been interested in establishing official ties to ASCD, says Harriet Arnold, assistant professor in the university's Bernerd School of Education. "We thought it would be great to become an ASCD chapter before we knew such a program existed," she says. The benefits of forming an ASCD student chapter became almost immediately evident. "We were no longer a club, but actually a professional organization, able to register with the university as such," Arnold explains.
Students, buoyed by the support they received by the university, soon became seen as "education representatives" to the rest of the student body. Through university fundraising events, workshops and speaker series, and involvement in the local community, students who belong to University of the Pacific ASCD are "highly visible," Arnold says. These students "have a high comfort level with the bureaucracy of the school of education and the university," she explains. "They know it, understand it, and show other students how to work within the bureaucracy." Such an education, Arnold maintains, will be invaluable to students when they work with school bureaucracies after leaving the university. "Students are sponges. It's fun to see them soak up these reality-based lessons," she says.
Jeffrey Glanz, assistant professor in the department of instruction, curriculum, and administration at Kean College in Union, N.J., says he would have appreciated those "reality-based" lessons when he was in college. "I would have liked some forum that would have allowed me—and encouraged me—to grow professionally," he explains. As a result, Glanz, a longtime ASCD member, is happy to serve as a faculty advisor for Kean College ASCD. Through his role, Glanz hopes to show students hoe belonging to a professional organization can enhance their knowledge and skills.
"People should join so they can learn about the `hot topics' in education," agrees Sharon Bertram, a member of the student leadership team Glanz assembled to help coordinate the student chapter activities. Bertram, who is also a computer-research teacher at Bergen Middle School in Bloomingdale, N.J., spent the summer helping organize Kean College ASCD's first workshop. Held in September, the workshop featured a presentation on classroom management form the president of the New Jersey ASCD affiliate. Through these kinds of workshops, says Bertram, "we hope students will see how our student chapter can help them learn more about the field." Kean College ASCD plans to hold three such workshops each year.
Pacific Union College ASCD also holds workshops that feature practicing teachers and those who make decisions about curriculum and instruction. "Students welcome these opportunities to learn about educational issues that may not be covered in their methods courses," asserts Plummer, adding that it's important students have this exposure. Parents, he notes, won't want to send their children to teachers who don't keep up with innovations in education. "I always ask," says Plummer, "would you go to a doctor who doesn't keep up with advancements in medicine?"
The Benefits
The Benefits
Along with a special group membership rate, ASCD student chapters receive
A reproducible student chapter logo
A start-up library of ASCD publications
Access to special activities at the ASCD Annual Conference
Registration discounts on ASCD professional development offerings
Faculty advisors receive
Free registration to the ASCD Annual Conference
Free renewal of an ASCD comprehensive membership
A discount on ASCD products
Special communications from ASCD
Interested? Request a Student Chapter Start-Up Kit. Call 1-800-933-2723 or send an e-mail message to chapters@ascd.org