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Professional Organizations

AFT Tools for Teachers

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has pulled together a variety of information on topics such as classroom management, working with special populations, getting advice from other teachers, tips for developing classroom assessments, finding resources for monthly celebrations, building positive relationships with parents and colleagues, and much more.

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education is a national voluntary organization of colleges and universities that prepare the nation's teachers and other educational personnel. Located in Washington, D.C., AACTE is the leader for innovation in teacher education.

American Association of School Administrators

AASA, founded in 1865, is the professional organization for over 14,000 educational leaders across America and in many other countries. AASA's mission is to support and develop effective school system leaders who are dedicated to the highest quality public education for all children.

American Association of School Librarians

AASL works to ensure that all members of the school library media field collaborate to provide leadership in the total education program, participate as active partners in the teaching/learning process, connect learners with ideas and information, and prepare students for life-long learning, informed decision-making, a love of reading, and the use of information technologies.

American Council on Education

ACE maintains both a domestic and an international agenda and seeks to advance the interests and goals of higher and adult education in a changing environment by providing leadership and advocacy on important issues, representing the views of the higher and adult education community to policy makers, and offering services to its members.

American Federation of Teachers

A group of teachers founded AFT to protect their professional interests, benefit the people they served, and create strong local unions affiliated with the labor movement. The AFT has grown into a trade union representing workers in education, health care, and public service.

American Library Association

The American Library Association provides leadership for the development, promotion, and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.

American Speech-Language Hearing Association

The American Speech-Language Hearing Association is the professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 99,000 audiologists; speech-language pathologists; and speech, language, and hearing scientists. ASHA's mission is to ensure that all people with speech, language, and hearing disorders have access to quality services to help them communicate more effectively.

Association for Library Service to Children

The Association for Library Service to Children develops and supports the profession of children's librarianship by enabling and encouraging its practitioners to provide the best library service to our nation's children.

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

ASCD, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development is an international, nonprofit, nonpartisan education association committed to the mission of forging covenants in teaching and learning for the success of all learners. Founded in 1943, ASCD provides professional development in curriculum and supervision; initiates and supports activities to provide educational equity for all students; and serves as a world-class leader in education information services.

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)

ASCD is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership association provides expert and innovative solutions in professional development, capacity building, and educational leadership essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead.

Association of Mexican American Educators (AMAE)

AMAE's mission is to insure equal access to a quality education at all levels for the Mexican American/Latino students where cultural and linguistic diversity is recognized and respected. The organization advises state/local boards and legislators, administrators and faculty and works in partnership with the community and parents for the benefit of students.

California Teachers Association

The California Teachers Association (CTA) is California's largest professional employee organization, representing more than 340,000 public school teachers, counselors, psychologists, librarians, other non-supervisory certificated personnel, and Education Support Professionals (ESPs). CTA is affiliated with the 2.8 million-member National Education Association (NEA).

Minnesota Humanities Center

The Minnesota Humanities Center conducts professional development opportunities; creates and disseminates educational resources; partners with other organizations to offer humanities programs statewide; and operates a full-service meeting and event center.

National Association for Bilingual Education

The National Association for Bilingual Education is the only professional organization at the national level wholly devoted to representing both English language learners and bilingual education professionals. Along with affiliate organizations in 23 states, NABE represents a combined membership of more than 20,000 bilingual and English-as-a-second-language teachers, administrators, paraprofessionals, university professors and students, researchers, advocates, policymakers, and parents.

National Association for Multicultural Education

Contains links to a variety of resources, as well as research and policy information regarding multicultural education.

National Association for the Education of Young Children

NAEYC is the nation's largest and most influential organization of early childhood educators and others dedicated to improving the quality of programs for children from birth through third grade.

National Association of Elementary School Principals

The mission of NAESP is to lead in the advocacy and support of elementary and middle level principals and other education leaders in their commitment to all children.

National Association of School Psychologists

The mission of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) is to promote educationally and psychologically healthy environments for all children and youth by implementing research-based, effective programs that prevent problems, enhancing independence, and promoting optimal learning. This is further accomplished through state-of-the-art research and training, advocacy, ongoing program evaluation, and caring professional service.

National Association of Secondary School Principals

NASSP, a professional organization that assists middle level high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring principals with programs on supervision, curriculum, and staff development and advances middle level and high school education through advocacy for and promotion of secondary education.

National Capital Language Resource Center

The National Capital Language Resource Center offers online lesson plans and publications for language teaching and assessment.

National Council for Teachers of English

The National Council of Teachers of English is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. Since 1911, NCTE has provided a forum for the profession, an array of opportunities for teachers to continue their professional growth throughout their careers, and a framework for cooperation to deal with issues that affect the teaching of English.

National Education Association

Founded in 1857 in Philadelphia and now headquartered in Washington, D.C., NEA proudly claims more than 2.5 million members who work at every level of education, from pre-school to university graduate programs. At the national level, NEA's work ranges from coordinating innovative projects to restructuring how learning takes place to fighting congressional attempts to privatize public education.

Public Library Association

PLA's purpose is to advance the development and effectiveness of public library service and public librarians. The association exists to provide a diverse program of communication, publication, advocacy, continuing education, and programming for its members and others interested in the advancement of public library service.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages

TESOL is a professional organization with a goal of ensuring quality education for English language learners.