NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children
Selection Committee

Function: To recommend on a regular basis every three years beginning in 1985 a living American poet to the NCTE Executive Committee for the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children in recognition of his or her aggregate work; to sustain the collection of poetry books of award winners, past and future, in the University of Minnesota, Kerlan Collection; to recognize and foster excellence in children's poetry by encouraging its publi­cation; and to explore ways to acquaint teachers and children with poetry through such means as publications, programs, and displays.

What major actions or projects have been completed by your group since July 1, 2006?

On November 19, 2006, this committee awarded the NCTE Award in Excellence in Poetry to Nikki Grimes at the NCTE national conference in Nashville, TN.

What projects, initiatives, or studies are “in progress” at this time?

Our main charge is to select the person who will win the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry. To that aim, we are planning to meet at the NCTE convention on Sunday, November 18, 2007. At this meeting we will winnow down the list of possible winners to five or six.
 
We have solicited dozens of US publishers to send us poetry books that have been published in the current year. We plan to review the best ones, and write an article which will appear in the July 2008 issue of Language Arts. This review was solicited by L.A. editor Barbara Kiefer, and will become a yearly feature of Language Arts.
 
Strategic Governance: Over the past three years, the NCTE Executive Committee has established outcomes and priorities relating to these key topics in our field: Teacher Quality, Adolescent Literacy, Assessment, Writing, Multimodal Literacy and Technology, Research and Teaching , English Language Learners, and Professional Development . Currently, they are investigating how to expand access to reading research, how NCTE can help close the “achievement gap” in English language arts, and other audiences that NCTE could be serving. Does your group have research findings or suggestions to contribute that are relevant to on-going work on these strategic governance topics?

Not really applicable, though we are looking for ways to expand traditional language arts instruction so that it includes more poetry.

Ralph Fletcher, Chair