The Elementary Section Steering Committee (ESSC) is responsible for the governance of NCTE's Elementary Section membership. The ESSC members are elected each year to a four-year term. The Chair and Assistant Chair are elected from the ESSC and also serve on the NCTE Executive Committee representing the interests of the elementary section membership.
Chair (2006-08)
Franki Sibberson
Albert Chapman
Elementary School
Powell, OH
Assistant Chair (2006-08)
Susi Long
University of South CarolinaColumbia, SC
Elementary Rep-at-Large (2007-09)
Rebecca McCraw
Mary Bramlett Elementary
Gaffney, SC
Frank Chiki (2007-11)
Double Eagle Elementary
Albuquerque, NM
Linda Crafton (2004-08)
University of
Wisconsin-Parkside
Kenosha, WI
Debra Goodman (2005-09)
Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY
Nancy Johnson (2005-09)
Western Washington University
Bellingham, WA
Barbara Lehman (2006-10)
Ohio State University
Mansfield, OH
Katie Wood Ray (2006-10)
Waynesville, NC
Language Arts Editors
Patricia Enciso
Laurie Katz
Barbara Kiefer
Detra Price-Dennis
Melissa Wilson
Ohio State University
Columbus, OH
NCTE Administrative Liaison
Debbie Zagorski
The Elementary Section Steering Committee of NCTE is committed to the pursuit of justice and equality. We believe that in an open democratic society we cannot argue for democracy and humanity unless we create for our children a more just and caring world. To this end we are dedicated to the support and development of emancipatory pedagogies that counter official policies and mandates that narrow the possibilities for the teaching of the language arts in public schools. We believe that it is essential that we resist any attempt that is made to separate school based language arts programs from the socio-cultural realities of children’s everyday lives. Our task is to support the work of teachers as they work closely with their students and their families to build classrooms where everyone has an opportunity to participate in the conversation with a renewed consciousness of worth and possibility of their own language use and the literacies that they share. ---ESSC, Spring 2000