1. COLLECTIVE ACTION FOR COLLECTIVE EXCELLENCE NSAII November, 2015 BUILDING A UNION FOR GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR ALL

2. Our Path to the Future Must… Appeal to a new generation of 2 million teachers entering the profession by helping them become better educators Find new ways to engage all of our members more deeply around their professional practice and strengthen their relationship with the union Invest in the infrastructure and capacity needed at the national, state and local levels to grow and engage membership, to advance our work for students, and safeguard the organization’s future

3. Theory of Success… Educator Empowerment to Shape Learning for Students

4. One Priority… Many Strategies Empowered Educators Membership Organizing Communications NEA360 Leadership Development Fiscal Health Advocacy Affiliate Capacity Building Partnerships 4

5. THE BACKDROP… THE CHANGING SHAPE AND DEMANDS ON PUBLIC EDUCATION

6. We Must Prepare our Members to Meet the Needs of a Changing Student Population 2014 Marked the First Time that the Majority of Public School Students Were Minority Source: Pewresearch.org

7. We Must Empower Our Members to Help Students Overcome Barriers to Learning Low Income Students are Now a Majority in the Nation’s Public Schools

8. We Must Engage the More than 2 Million New Teachers with Different Expectations of the Union Source: National Center of Education Information – Table 16

9. We Must Help Fill the Gap Where Support for Educators and Students has Fallen The Majority of States are Still Funding Schools at Pre-Recession Levels At least 30 states provided less funding per student for the 2014-15 school year than they did before the recession At least 20 states cut per-student funding in 2014 State funding sources like state income and sales tax revenues have not grown strongly enough to keep up with needs Inflation, changing demographics and greater school needs have raised the costs of state- funded education services 1. Alabama 50. Alaska Source: www.cbpp.org

10. THE ORGANIZED ATTACKS ON LABOR AND GROWING THREATS TO DEMOCRACY

11. Fair Share Under Attack

12. Our Political Process is Increasingly Controlled by the Top 1% of the 1% Source: OpenSecrets.org

13. Absent Major Innovations … and Risk … Labor Will Continue to Manage its Decline

14. THE NEED FOR CHANGE & INNOVATION THROUGH COLLECTIVE ACTION & COLLECTIVE EXCELLENCE

15. NEA’s Road to Collective Excellence… 2005 Adopted New NEA Mission Statement and Core Values 2006 Adopted a Vision of Great Public Schools for Every Student 2011-12 Engaged Members to Define Quality Teaching and Learning – Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching, Joint Committee on Leading the Professions, GPS Indicators 2012 Adopted Goal 1: Strong Affiliates for Educator Voice and Empowerment & Goal 2: Empowered Educators for Successful Students 2013 NEA Establishes Major Partnerships around Teacher Quality – BetterLesson, TeachPlus, Student Achievement Partners, Teaching Channel, National Teachers of the Year NEA Develops Member Leadership Competencies

16. Why do Educators Go Into Education? To Make a Difference in the Lives of Their Students and Help Them Learn!

17. EDUCATORS: What Do They Need to Make A Difference? Greater Involvement in Decision-Making for Teaching & Learning Greater Collaboration With Each Other & Education Stakeholders (Administrators, Parents, Community)

18. NEA Strategic Statement Adopted by the Executive Committee February 2015 The NEA Executive Committee affirms its commitment to empowering educators and supporting their career development and highest professional aspirations. We seek to enhance NEA and affiliate efforts to engage educators and aspiring educators at the earliest possible point along their professional continuum. To this end, we will embark on an Association-wide dialogue and bring appropriate goals and strategies forward for consideration for the 2016 – 2018 NEA Strategic Plan and Budget.

19. Eduator Empowerment is… …the process by which educators individually and collectively activate their power to achieve their goals.

20. Empowerment: Two Key Elements

21. NEA will partner with state and local affiliates to strengthen their organizational capacity to: secure opportunities for empowered educators to transform the conditions of teaching and learning through supportive policies, practices and structures; engage and continually deepen relationships with and relevance to members; and grow association membership and strength while thwarting attacks on member rights and union strength. Goal 1: Strong Affiliates For Educator Voice and Empowerment

22. In partnership with state and local Affiliates and parents and communities, NEA will enhance the quality of education professions by supporting the development of educators across their professional continuum for empowerment roles that elevate the quality of professional practice, shape the future of teaching and learning, achieve educational opportunity and equity, advance national, state and district level policies, and create solutions designed to improve student outcomes. Goal 2: Empowered Educators for Successful Students

23. Listening to Our Members Strong Majorities of Our Members Want NEA to: All MembersMillennials … Help members improve as educators 85%87% … Help facilitate mentoring and support 81%85% … Provide professional development to strengthen their professional practice 79%84% … Make it a priority to facilitate access to relevant training and professional development for ESPs 84% (ESPs)85% (ESPs) Source: NEA Bi-annual Member Survey, August 2015

24. Listening to Our Members … To me it’s the intrusion of politics at national, state, and local level by people who are really, not dumb, but uninformed about a functioning of school, coming in with agendas unwilling to listen to experienced teachers and staff. (K-12 teacher) I think [professional development] needs more teacher input, at least in my district and in my area. [Policymakers] come up with what they think we need, where they should ask us what we need and we might actually pay attention. (K-12 teacher) It’s that on-the-job training that’s the most valuable, and it’s really missing. (K-12 teacher) 24 Source: NEA RA Delegate Focus Groups, 2015

25. New Millennials’ Top Priorities for Their Association 25 Source: NEA Bi-annual Member Survey, August 2015

26. THE PATH TOWARD COLLECTIVE EXCELLENCE

27. A Focus on Collective Excellence: Mentor and support new teachers Support professional excellence of all educators Enhance capacity at the national, state and local levels 27

28. The Partnership between NEA, State Affiliates and Our Locals Resources Research Support, scale and spread efforts Convene Member trust and relationships Understanding of local context and needs Point of contact Bridge between Locals and NEA Partnerships Capacity Advocacy Program support and delivery NEA States Locals

29. Enhance Capacity at the National, State and Local Levels Continue to invest in state affiliate organizational foundation – fiscal health, communications, technology systems (NEA360), data Re-envision the focus and alignment of existing leadership development efforts Association-wide Develop and implement Local Leadership training program in targeted locals in partnership with state affiliates 29

30. Support Professional Excellence of all Educators Scale what works - Accelerate the shift toward professional issues in cost-effective ways by scaling existing programs and testing new ways to engage members and strengthen their ties to the Association Meet members’ professional needs - Scan and evaluate existing programs and determine affiliate and local interest and build and scale those programs that allow members to connect with and learn from each other Focus on the professional practice and development - Start with targeted locals and expand as resources allow 30

31. Mentor and Support New Teachers What? High quality mentoring and induction systems delivered “by teachers for teachers” Why? Empowers our members by accelerating teacher preparedness and effectiveness and providing educators a greater voice Enhances student achievement Improves teacher retention Helps address educational inequities How? Look to existing affiliate and local programs as well as external groups like the New Teacher Center for best practices and lessons learned Who? NEA members supported by their locals, state affiliates and NEA 31

32. Much to think about … much to do.