Professional organizations
Why join professional organizations?
Depending on your level of involvement, professional organization membership may allow you to:
- Demonstrate professional maturity and a serious commitment to the field of elementary education.
- Stay up-to-date on current industry trends and developments within the profession which will improve your ability to communicate with others in the field
- Stay aware of organizations and individuals in the field and participate in organizational administration, committees, research projects and/or policy decisions
- Develop networking opportunities
- Attend national, regional, or local conferences and symposiums as another means of information accumulation and networking
- Nominate yourself or others for local and national awards
- Set yourself apart from other qualified applicants
- Have one or more professional associations on your resume
- Receive discounts from publications from the organization
Professional organizations related to elementary education
Many of these organizations have student membership rates.
- Education Minnesota http://www.educationminnesota.org/
- International Reading Association www.reading.org
- National Council of Teachers of English http://www.ncte.org/
- National Council of Teachers of Mathematics http://www.nctm.org/
- National Council for the Social Studies http://www.socialstudies.org/
- National Science Teachers Association http://www.nsta.org/
- National Association for the Education of Young Children http://www.naeyc.org/
Revised August 2011
