Minutes of the
NCTE Annual Business Meeting
for the Board of Directors and Other Members of the Council

Friday, November 18, 2005
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Annual Business Meeting for the Board of Directors and other Members of the Council of the National Council of Teachers of English was called to order by President Randy Bomer at 5:30 p.m., November 18, 2005.

Platform guests included Erika Lindemann, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Parliamentarian; Patricia Lambert Stock, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, NCTE Past President; Kent Williamson, NCTE Executive Director; Kyoko Sato, University of California, Northridge, CA, NCTE President-Elect; Joanne Yatvin, Portland State University, OR, NCTE Vice President; Mitzi Lewison, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Resolutions Committee Associate Chair; Kathleen Blake Yancey, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, NCTE Incoming Vice President; Carol Jago, Santa Monica High School, CA, Resolutions Committee; Carol Gilles, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, Resolutions Committee; Joyce Stallworth, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, Resolutions Committee; and Gail Hawisher, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL, Resolutions Committee.

Jesse Perry, CA, moved to adopt the rules for the Annual Business Meeting of the Board of Directors and Other Members of the Council; seconded by Doug Hesse, IL.  The motion CARRIED.
 
Judith (Jay) Wootten, OH, moved to adopt the agenda; seconded by Stan Evans, IN. The motion CARRIED.

Without objection, the roll call of directors was dispensed with.

Gloria Horton, AL, moved to dispense with a formal reading of the 2004 Minutes of the NCTE Annual Business Meeting; seconded by Lynn Masterson, TX.  The motion CARRIED.

Maggie Warner, ND, moved to accept the posted Annual Reports; seconded by Mike Guevara, TX.  The motion CARRIED.

President Bomer called on Leila Christenbury, Chair of the 2004 James R. Squire Award Selection Committee to present the 2004 recipient, Courtney B. Cazden, who was out of the country and unable to accept the award at last year’s meeting.

The Executive Committee presents the Squire Award to a person who has had a transforming and lasting influence on professional thought and practice in the English language arts.  The selection committee consists of the outgoing Past President and a committee of Past Presidents.

Christenbury thanked the 2004 committee members: Carol Avery, PA; Jesse Perry, CA; and Shirley Haley-James, NM.

President Bomer called on David Bloome, Chair of the 2005 James R. Squire Award Selection Committee to announce this year’s recipient.

Bloome thanked the 2005 committee members: Sheridan Blau, CA; Yetta Goodman, AZ; and Shelia Fitzgerald, MN. Bloome announced Geneva Smitherman as the 2005 James R. Squire Award winner.

President Bomer introduced President-Elect, Kyoko Sato, Chair of the Distinguished Service Award Committee. Sato introduced this year’s committee members: Shari Frost, National-Louis University, Evanston, IL; Sandy Hayes, Becker Middle School, MN; and Richard Selfe, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI.

The Distinguished Service Award recognizes a person or persons, either volunteer or staff, who have exhibited valuable professional service within and outside the Council, including scholarly or academic distinction at any level; who have demonstrated distinguished use of language; and who have exhibited excellence in teaching. Sato announced Ben F. Nelms as the 2005 Distinguished Service Award recipient.

Nelms has been an English teacher for forty-six years. He has worked with eighth graders, high school students, undergraduates, graduates, and classroom teachers in Tennessee, Texas, Iowa, Missouri, and Florida.  His service to NCTE through the years has included editing English Education (1972-78), the NCTE yearbook series (1984-87), especially Literature in the Classroom: Readers, Texts, and Contexts (1988), and the English Journal (1987-94).  He was a charter member of the Advisory Board of the National Writing Project, President of the Missouri Association of Teachers of English (MATE), and an NCTE Board member for thirty years.  His writings have addressed, among other topics, reader-response criticism, the writing process, adolescent literature, and teacher education.  His awards include the Byler Distinguished Professor Award and the Faculty-Alumni Award at the University of Missouri, a TIP Teaching Award at the University of Florida, the Distinguished Service Award from MATE, and the Presidential Award from the Florida Council of Teachers of English.  Upon the urging of his students, March 19, 1987, was proclaimed a day in his honor by the Governor of Missouri.  Prior to his retirement in December 2004 from the University of Florida, he had recently acted as Director of the School of Teaching and Learning, then as Dean of the College of Education and Director of the UF Alliance.  The Alliance, a program that began under his leadership as Dean, is a partnership between the university and high schools labeled as “struggling” in urban areas in Florida.  Asked about the highlight of his career, Nelms always points to the success of his former students.  From among his graduate students have come a dean, associate deans, department chairs, writing project directors, English language arts supervisors at local, regional, and state levels, authors, editors, and award-winning professors and teachers.  But he is most pleased with the continuing dedication and achievement of classroom teachers across the country with whom he has worked and especially the influence they have had within the profession and among young people.

Dr. Nelms expressed his deep gratitude in being named the 2005 recipient. He mentioned that he reviewed the list of previous winners and was overwhelmed. “I don’t belong on that list but I’m awfully glad to be there. The one that has been on my mind for the last month, was 16 years ago, one of my predecessors, Jim Gray. People like Jim Gray, I’m glad to be on the list. NCTE gave me its best gift years ago when they entrusted me with the editorship of English Education and then The English Journal. I still count editing The English Journal as the highlight of my career and my greatest privilege of the 46 years I have been in the profession.”

President Bomer next called on Leila Christenbury, NCTE Historian, to provide a moment of NCTE history. Christenbury shared the passing of NCTE members, an event that is commemorated every year on our Web site, in our publications, in our own teaching communities, and most recently, for the third year, at the Board of Directors meeting. In 2005, we lost stellar individuals including Editor of English Journal, Richard Alm; Presidents Stephen Dunning and Charlotte Huck; Nick Hook, Executive Director, then called Executive Secretary; Chairs Ted Hipple, John Lovas and Maxine Hairston; Founders, Jim Gray; Scholars, Louise Rosenblatt, Wayne C. Booth, Roger Applebee, Hobart Jarrett, and Margaret Dixon; Teachers, Nancy Larrick Crosby and Gwendolyn Henry.

President Bomer called on Past President Patricia Lambert Stock. Stock introduced NCTE Past Presidents in attendance: Yetta Goodman, Nancy McHugh, Julie Jensen, Janet Emig, Ruth Cline, Shirley Haley-James, Jesse Perry, Beverly Chin, Carol Avery, Sheridan Blau, Jerome Harste, Anne Ruggles Gere, Leila Christenbury, and David Bloome. Acknowledged but not present were  former Executive Directors, Faith Schullstrom and Miles Myers.

President Bomer mentioned that President-Elect Kyoko Sato had put together an “In Memoriam” slide show but due to technical difficulties was unable to present it. Instead, there was a moment of silence in memory of those passing in 2005.

President Bomer introduced Wendy Glenn, Chair of the NCTE Nominating Committee. She extended a thank you to her fellow committee members: Heather Bruce, Dick Koblitz Jr., Nancy Patterson, and Jane Townsend. She also extended an invitation to members to raise their voice and be heard by submitting nominations for the Council’s 2006 elected positions.

Randy Bomer presented the President’s Annual Report. He mentioned that some of the Executive Committee's work this year involved setting definite directions for the Council in the years to come.  Committee members  developed a statement that names the ways NCTE will serve the public interest over the next three years, and also developed a fifteen-year goal for the Council.

President Bomer described some of the work with the following statements:

How NCTE Serves the Public Interest
(2005-2008)

NCTE develops and advances sound teacher practices that enrich student learning. We advocate for polices that draw on the collective knowledge and wisdom of accomplished educators in English language arts and English studies. We do this by:

• Providing professional development tailored to various career stages and to all levels of education from preschool through graduate school.
• Developing a national knowledge base on policy in literacy education and its impact on students in English language arts classrooms from early childhood through college.
• Broadening assessment practices so that students’ ongoing learning inside and outside of classrooms is visible to teachers, schools, and the public.
• Preparing teachers and students to think, express themselves, and communicate through a mixture of text, images, video, sound, and digital media.
• Conducting and making accessible to educators research on innovative teaching practices that improve student learning and on changes in the demands for reading and writing in today’s world.
• Advancing the teaching of English language learners by building upon their cultural and linguistic strengths to foster their success in reading and writing.
• Leading efforts to improve adolescent literacy at the classroom level and to reform policy at the national level.
• Forming alliances and partnerships to strengthen our impact on literacy education policies and practices, preschool through university.

President Bomer introduced NCTE’s fifteen-year goal, called NCTE’s 2020 Vision.  “We needed a goal that would allow the organization to learn how best to articulate the importance of professional development to the educational enterprise, since that is the essence of NCTE's mission in the world. We needed also to challenge ourselves as an organization to learn to marshal evidence for quality in teacher learning. And we need to make sure we are really providing quality professional development and that we know how to tell the difference.  We need to be able to lead, to challenge the quality of other entities' professional development through our example.  And we need to be able to say to the public and to politicians and to teachers who may be curious about us: ‘Here is the evidence for what we do.’  As a result of providing that evidence, we expect to be called upon to participate in the formation of public policy with regard to education.”

NCTE’s 2020 Vision

NCTE will have transformed the public understanding of the connection between teacher knowledge and student learning.  To accomplish this, NCTE will develop a system that provides rich opportunities for career-long teacher learning and that documents the growth of both literacy teachers and their students. Teachers who choose to participate in this system will be celebrated for their achievements by community leaders and the media. Policymakers also will rely upon these teachers for their expertise in literacy teaching and learning.

NCTE Executive Director, Kent Williamson, presented his Executive Director’s Report.

Williamson presented a slide show and a brief summary of our progress in FY05, the year that ended in June. In FY05, NCTE managed to earn a healthy $321,476 surplus on Council operations. We enjoyed growth in returns on our conservatively structured investment portfolio of financial reserves. These grew by $1,025,367 in FY05. This was the fourth consecutive year of operations surpluses and we fully recouped the deep loss we suffered in FY01 and FY02. Thus, we are about as strong as the Council has ever been. The number of dues-paying members grew for the first time in 11 years, and student membership is up 14%. The Executive Committee a few years ago set a goal of holding in reserve 150% of the prior year’s operating expenses. Anything over that amount goes into a contingency fund to be invested in programs that will grow the Council for the long term. In July 2005, that contingency fund amounted to over $5 million. The DC Office will cost money, but we have built resources to make that investment as well as undertake other projects that affect public opinion, support English teachers, and establish a local presence where teachers need NCTE most. We have built resources to make that investment. We can afford to do that because we have carefully managed our finances. Some highlights follow:

FY05 Milestones: Establishment of the NCTE Consulting Network helped the Council provide service in more than 20 different schools last year, and already we have exceeded that in the first three months of this year.

Programs in Process: We put aside seed money to fund local meeting proposals from affiliates or other related groups. We want to have more meetings around the country. We know that NCTE can’t afford to be everywhere but we should be able to fund some truly innovative programs around the country.

Squire Policy Research Office: We have developed, with the capable leadership of Anne Ruggles Gere, a national knowledge base on policy in literacy education and its impact on students in English language arts classrooms from early childhood through college. Materials are available free on the NCTE Web site.

We have developed a free Teacher Resources Collection on Classroom-based Assessment, also available on the NCTE Web site. It has been accessed more than 35,000 times.

To prepare teachers and students to think and express themselves in a multi-modal fashion, we have created the ReadWriteThink site that set a record for over 700,000 visits in the month of October alone.

Our research efforts are just beginning. However, two years ago we negotiated a partnership with Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, and the first two books are being released at this meeting. Visit the ELA or NCTE booth. Research in the Teaching of English and other NCTE journals have published exceptional articles this year.

To advance the teaching of English language learners, NCTE is building a rich professional development COLEARN program. A joint project with TESOL, this project represents one of our most valuable partnerships.

In partnership with IRA, we are establishing a National Literacy Coaching Clearinghouse to collect research from and to develop useful resources for literacy coaching programs across the country. The Clearinghouse should be launched in the next few months.

NCTE has established a Washington, DC office in Alexandria, Virginia. Truly an historical event, four  capable staff members in the new office are building alliances and investigating grants for us. There will be much more to report next year about the work from the Washington office.

President Bomer asked Joanne Yatvin, Vice President, to announcement upcoming NCTE meetings. She reported that the 96th Annual Convention will be in Nashville, TN, November 15-21; the theme is “The Compleat English Teacher: Bringing Together Knowledge, Experience, and Research.”  “Compleat” is not a typographical error. She continued: New York, NY, November 15-20, 2007; San Antonio, TX, November 20-25, 2008; Philadelphia, PA, November 19-24, 2009; Orlando, FL, November 18-23, 2010; and the 100th anniversary in Chicago, IL, November 17-22, 2011. The CCCC Annual Convention will be held March 22-25, 2006, in Chicago, IL; the theme is “Composition in the Center Spaces: Building Community, Culture, Coalitions. Future CCCC Conventions will take place March 21-24, 2007, in New York City; and April 2-5, 2008, in New Orleans. The Whole Language Umbrella Conference will be meeting July 13-16, 2006, in Charlotte, NC. The NCTE Assembly for Research Mid-Winter Conference will be held February 24-26, 2006, in Chicago, IL; the theme is “Literacy as a Civil Right: Reclaiming Social Justice in Literacy Research and Teaching.”

President Bomer announced that the meeting may go past the 7:00 p.m. time limit for adjournment. He offered the following options:

• extend the meeting until 7:30 p.m.;
• reconvene in the Pittsburgh Convention Center, Room 316, at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday;
• adjourn at 7:00 p.m. as scheduled. A motion would be required to extend or reconvene.

Doug Hesse, IL, moved to extend the meeting until 7:30 p.m.; seconded by Leila Christenbury, VA. The motion CARRIED.

President Bomer moved on to New Business and announced changes to the NCTE Constitution, Articles VI.B.3 and VI.B.4a:

Rationale: During its February 2005 meeting, the NCTE Executive Committee reviewed NCTE Nominating Committee procedures and discussed measures to enrich and diversify NCTE’s leadership pool. The suggestion was made to allow the Executive Committee to appoint two members to join the elected members of the NCTE Nominating Committee. The two appointed members would be familiar with the work of the Executive Committee and could assist the Nominating Committee in finding candidates for the ballot.

NCTE Constitution Article VI.B.3 

Current language:

Nominating Committee. Candidates for election shall be proposed by a Nominating Committee of five members, elected by mail ballot of the membership during April and May preceding the deadline for the Nominating Committee’s deadline for the Nominating Committee’s report. Candidates for the Nominating Committee shall be grouped by geographical region and by level (elementary, middle, secondary, college), with the levels of representation rotating annually among the regions. The candidate receiving the greatest number of votes shall chair the Nominating Committee.

Proposed language:

Nominating Committee: A Nominating Committee of SEVEN members, FIVE elected by mail ballot and TWO APPOINTED BY THE OFFICERS, shall propose candidates for an election conducted during April and May. Candidates for ELECTION TO the Nominating Committee shall be grouped by geographical region and by VOTING SECTION (elementary, middle, secondary, college), with the VOTING SECTIONS rotating annually among the regions. The ELECTED candidate receiving the greatest number of votes shall chair the Nominating Committee.

NCTE Constitution Article VI.B.4a

Current language:

The Nominating Committee shall serve from September 1 following its election through August 31 of the next year.

Proposed language:

The Nominating Committee shall serve from September 1 following its FORMATION through August 31 of the next year.

Judith (Jay) Wootten, OH, moved to adopt the constitutional amendment; seconded by Duku Anokye, AZ. The motion CARRIED.

Before taking up resolutions, President Bomer noted that according to the procedural rules adopted at the beginning of the meeting, only the resolved sections, not the background statements and information, would be read aloud and voted on.

President Bomer called on Gail Hawisher, member of the Resolutions Committee, to present the first resolution.

Resolution 1

Gail Hawisher, IL, on behalf of the Resolutions Committee, moved the adoption of the Resolution Supporting School and Community Libraries:

Resolved, given the decrease in school library funding since 1985 and the need for strong literacy and library programs that lead to students’ overall academic success, be it resolved that the National Council of Teachers of English

• strengthen its support of the American Library Association and the American Association of School Librarians by urging legislators and school officials to provide funding for full-time, credentialed librarians in every elementary and secondary school;
• urge governors, chief state school officers, state legislators, and local governments to increase funding for books, online resources, and multimodal materials;
• promote policies that ensure access to library resources for all learners;
• support professional development opportunities for school librarians and classroom teaches consistent with local, state, and national standards; and
• encourage collaboration between classroom teachers and school librarians to enrich student learning.

President Bomer called the question. The resolution Supporting School and Community Libraries CARRIED.

Resolution 2

Carol Jago, CA, on behalf of the Resolutions Committee, moved the adoption of the Resolution On El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day):

Resolved, in light of research demonstrating that students who participate in culturally and linguistically diverse literacy activities at home, in school, and in the community are more successful readers, be it resolved that the National Council of Teachers of English

• help raise public awareness of El día de los niños/El día de los libros, observed on April 30, to promote literacy for children of all ages, cultures, and linguistic backgrounds;
• collaborate with the American Library Association to support multilingual family literacy programs;
• reaffirm family literacy and the value of home languages as part of the English language arts curriculum; and
• promote multilingual programs that offer young people and their families a voice through positive representation of diverse cultures.

President Bomer called the question. The resolution On El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Children’s Day/Book Day) CARRIED.

Resolution 3

Mitzi Lewison, IN, on behalf of the Resolutions Committee, moved the adoption of the Resolution On Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act:

Resolved, in preparation for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), be it resolved that the National Council of Teachers of English urge Congress and the U.S. Department of Education to

• include the respected voices of English language arts teachers and teacher educators as advisors at every stage of the reauthorization process;
• support policies that reward rather than punish teachers who choose work in the nation’s most challenging schools;
• abandon impoverished assessment systems and support the development of multiple tools that measure the complexity of student literacy learning; and
• shift the focus from packaged reading programs to initiatives that respect teachers’ expertise in educating all children to read and write.

Yetta Goodman, AZ, supported the essence of the resolution but thought that the language was weak and  needed more teeth. She also observed that the resolution had four very different focuses—programs, policies, testing, and voices.

President Bomer called the question. The resolution On Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Act CARRIED.

Declarations:

Sharon Chaney, TN, invited everyone to the 2006 NCTE Annual Convention to be held in Nashville, November 16-21, and to stop by the booth in the Exhibit Hall for more information.

Sharon Mitchler, WA, invited everyone to a gathering to share stories about John Lovas. The group will meet in the Convention Center, Room 302, 6:00-7:00 p.m. or until the talk stops.

Maureen Ruby, CA, on behalf of the California Association of Teachers of English, invited everyone to Anaheim, February 3-5, 2006, for the annual CATE convention.

Pat Enciso, OH, Chair of the Research Foundation, recognized Maria Franquiz’s (TX) exemplary leadership as a scholar, mentor and Director of the Cultivating New Voices Program (CNV).

The CNV Trustees approved the following declaration authored by Jose-Manuel Navarro, PA, to be placed in the minutes to recognize the importance of the Cultivating New Voices Program and to acknowledge the Director of CNV.

A Declaration of Excellence

Whereas:

1. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has as its object “to encourage research, experimentation, and investigation in the teaching of English,” among other purposes stated in Article III of the Constitution of the National Council of Teachers of English, as amended in July 2004; and
2. The National Council of Teachers of English has established the Research Foundation of the National Council of Teachers of English and mandated as its purpose “the financial support of research studies in English teaching,” as stated in Article IV of the Constitution; and
3. The Research Foundation has established the Cultivating New Voices Program (CNV) to provide support, mentoring, and networking opportunities for early career scholars of color to cultivate their ability to draw from their own central/linguistic perspectives as they conceptualize, plan, conduct, and write their research; and
4. Dr. Peter Smagorinsky, of the University of Georgia at Athens, Georgia, directed the CNV from 2000-2002; and Dr. Maria L. Franquiz, Trustee of the Research Foundation and member of the senior faculty of the University of Texas at San Antonio, has directed the CNV since 2002; and Mr. Dale Allender, as NCTE Staff Liaison to the Research Foundation and the CNV, has exhibited exemplary commitment to his labors; and
5. The Fellows of the Cultivating New Voices Program have contributed to the research, experimentation, investigation, and improvement of instruction in the teaching of English at all educational levels;

Therefore,

The Trustees of the Research Foundation of the National Council of Teachers of English at their Spring Meeting, held in New York City from Friday, March 4 through Sunday, March 6, 2005, resolve to make known that they:

1. Take pleasure in recognizing and publicizing the achievements of the previous Fellows of the Cultivating New Voices Program;
2. Look forward to additional qualitative achievements from future cycles of Fellows;
3. Commend Dr. Maria L. Franquiz for her distinguished leadership of the CNV Program, selfless efforts on the Program’s behalf, and the joie-de-vivre she brings to the position of Director of the Cultivating New Voices Program;
4. Appreciate and laud all of the efforts, energy, and commitment that mentors in the CNV Program bring to their collaborative labors with Fellows in the Program; and, finally, 
5. Agree to send a copy of this Declaration of Excellence to the Executive Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English and the President of the University of Texas at San Antonio for their information and review.

Approved unanimously by the Trustees of the Research Foundation of the National Council of Teachers of English on Sunday, March 6, 2005, in New York City.

Stan Evans, IN, thanked the Pennsylvania affiliates and the local committee for their work on the Pittsburgh Annual Convention.

President Bomer entertained a motion to adjourn. Bill Cook, NH, moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:10 p.m.; seconded by Kylene Beers, TX. The motion CARRIED.