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Professional Organizations

Candidates are encouraged to utilize professional organizations in their content fields as resources.

Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI)
ACEI is a global community of educators and advocates who unite knowledge, experience, and perspectives in order to exchange information, explore innovation and advocate for children.

Our mission is to promote and support in the global community the optimal education and development of children, from birth through early adolescence, and to influence the professional growth of educators and the efforts of others who are committed to the needs of children in a changing society.

National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
The National Council of Teachers of English is one of eight subject specific organizations with membership in the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the professional accrediting agency for teacher preparation. Institutions seeking NCATE accreditation must meet carefully developed specific conditions. One of those conditions is program approval.

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) has adopted the NCTE program standards for undergraduate programs for Initial Preparation of Teachers of Secondary English Language Arts. Institutions seeking NCATE accreditation submit their English education programs for review to NCTE.

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language Teachers (ACTFL)
The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the only national organization dedicated to the improvement and expansion of the teaching and learning of all languages at all levels of instruction throughout the U.S. ACTFL and its affiliated organizations represent the educators who are committed to building language proficiency from kindergarten students through adult learners. We provide advocacy, professional development opportunities, resources and opportunities for members to interact and share ideas and experiences.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NTCM)
NCTM is a public voice of mathematics education, providing vision, leadership and professional development to support teachers in ensuring equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality for all students.

National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
NSTA’s mission is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. It is essential that teachers are prepared to teach science. NSTA has established high-quality science teacher preparation standards. Meeting the NSTA 2003 Standards is demonstrated through program recognition by NSTA. The Standards embody a process of data collection, reflection and improvement of programs based on data.

National Art Education Association (NAEA)
This dynamic community of practice is where visual arts teachers, scholars, researchers and professors, students, administrators, art museum educators, and artists come together around a shared belief in the power of the arts in developing human potential.

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
Social studies educators teach students the content knowledge, intellectual skills, and civic values necessary for fulfilling the duties of citizenship in a participatory democracy. The mission of National Council for the Social Studies is to provide leadership, service, and support for all social studies educators.

Founded in 1921, National Council for the Social Studies has grown to be the largest association in the country devoted solely to social studies education. NCSS engages and supports educators in strengthening and advocating social studies. With members in all the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 69 foreign countries, NCSS serves as an umbrella organization for elementary, secondary, and college teachers of history, geography, economics, political science, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and law-related education. Organized into a network of more than 110 affiliated state, local, and regional councils and associated groups, the NCSS membership represents K-12 classroom teachers, college and university faculty members, curriculum designers and specialists, social studies supervisors, and leaders in the various disciplines that constitute the social studies.

Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)
The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) works to improve the educational success of individuals with disabilities and/or gifts and talents.

Mission: CEC is an international community of educators who are the voice and vision of special and gifted education. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for individuals with exceptionalities and their families through professional excellence and advocacy.

American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) supports school counselors' efforts to help students focus on academic, personal/social and career development so they achieve success in school and are prepared to lead fulfilling lives as responsible members of society. ASCA provides professional development, publications and other resources, research and advocacy to more than 25,000 professional school counselors around the globe.

American Counseling Association (ACA)
As a professional counselor or counselor educator, you are the linchpin to helping clients and students with the challenges that they face each and every day. For more than fifty years, the American Counseling Association has dedicated itself to helping you with the resources, services, products and information you need to be successful.

American Psychological Association (APA)
Based in Washington, DC, the American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. With 150,000 members, APA is the largest association of psychologists worldwide.

APA Mission Statement: The mission of the APA is to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives.

Center for Civic Education
We the People: The Citizen and the Constiution is a curricular program for middle, secondary, and post-secondary students, youth organizations, and adult groups that promotes competent and responsible participation in local and state government. The program helps participants learn how to monitor and influence public policy. In the process, they develop support for democratic values and principles, tolerance, and feelings of political efficacy.

The Project Citizen program is administered with the assistance of a national network of state and congressional district coordinators in every state and is conducted with the assistance of the National Conference of State Legislatures. It is funded by the U.S. Department of Education by act of Congress. Additional funding at the state level is also provided by an increasing number of state legislatures.

National History Day (NHD)
History education is the cornerstone of a quality education. National History Day, Inc. is an education organization that is transforming the way history is taught and learned. National History Day, Inc. helps teachers meet educational standards; disseminates high quality curriculum materials; and sponsors challenging contests that teach students the critical skills they need to be effective citizens in the 21st century. National History Day, Inc. improves education EVERY day.

Kids Voting
Our Mission: Kids Voting USA® (KVUSA) is working to secure the future of democracy by preparing young people to be educated, engaged voters.

Alaska’s Educational Resource Center (SERRC)
Alaska’s Educational Resource Center (SERRC) and the Center for Civic Education provides professional development for teachers and facilitates student use of the School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program (SVPDP) in schools throughout Alaska. Since 2001, about 3,500 students have participated in this program in the Anchorage School District, which is Alaska’s largest school district.

The Alaska State Writing Consortium (ASWC)
The Alaska State Writing Consortium began as a group of enthusiastic teachers and administrators who prompted their school districts to embark upon a cooperative effort to improve the teaching of writing in schools throughout Alaska. Out of those beginnings grew the Alaska State Writing Consortium, a dynamic, ongoing effort providing Alaskan educators with an essential resource for professional development, teacher leadership, and classroom research, focused upon the teaching of writing and increasing student achievement.

The Alaska State Literacy Association (ASLA) is a professional education association in Alaska, affiliated with the International Reading Association. We provide professional education, leadership training, grants and awards and offer a network of support to our members. This organization advocates for public policy to enhance and support the quality of reading education in our state and nation. The mission of the Alaska State Literacy Association is to promote lifelong literacy for all Alaskans by advancing the quality of literacy instruction.

International Reading Association
Since 1956, IRA has been a nonprofit, global network of individuals and institutions committed to worldwide literacy.  More than 85,000 members strong, the Association supports literacy professionals through a wide range of resources, advocacy efforts, volunteerism, and professional development activities.  Our members promote high levels of literacy for all by:

Alaskans For Language Acquisition (AFLA)
AFLA is a statewide professional association of world language educators. They are committed to offering and improving opportunities for learning world languages in Alaska through the continued support and promotion of the world languages teaching profession. AFLA represents Alaskan educators through the Pacific Northwest Council for Languages (PNCFL), and ACTFL, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

Each year Alaskans For Language Acquisition holds a statewide conference providing an opportunity for world language teachers to expand their horizons without traveling out of state and to have access to local and national experts. We also use the occasion to meet our in-state colleagues. Success of the conference is dependent not only on the speakers we can bring to Alaska, but on the expertise we have to offer each other.

We also want to be a resource for world language teachers across the state by providing links of interest and resources that can be used in the area of professional development and with students.

Alaska Native Knowledge Network (ANKN)
ANKN is a resource for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing. We are pleased to create and distribute a variety of publications that assist Native people, government agencies, educators and the general public in gaining access to the knowledge base that Alaska Natives have acquired through cumulative experience over millennia. Below are publications we offer.

Alaska Staff Development Network (ASDN)
The is a statewide partnership initiated in 1983 that includes Alaska's 53 school districts, four colleges and universities, the Department of Education and Early Development, NEA-Alaska, the Alaska Council of School Administrators, as well as a number of professional education associations. We believe that the unique professional growth needs of Alaska's teachers and administrators can be best met by strengthening collaborative relationships among these groups. Our mission is to improve student achievement by providing research-based distance learning and face-to-face professional development programs for Alaska’s teachers and school administrators.

EED - Information Exchange Newsletter
Information Exchange is published weekly while school is in session, except at Christmas and Thanksgiving, by the Alaska Department of Education.

American Library Association (ALA)
The ALA Constitution states the purpose of ALA as, “The object of the American Library Association shall be to promote library service and librarianship.” The stated mission is, “To provide 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.”

Educational Research Institute Center (ERIC)
ERIC provides unlimited access to more than 1.3 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials, with hundreds of new records added twice weekly. If available, links to full text are included.
Within the ERIC Collection, you will find records for:

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)
ISTE is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in improving teaching and learning by advancing the effective use of technology in PK-12 and higher education. ISTE provides widely accepted standards for teachers and students with regard to effective use of technology for teaching and learning.

Council on Anthropology and Education
The mission of the Council on Anthropology and Education is to advance anti-oppressive, socially equitable, and racially just solutions to educational problems through research using anthropological perspectives, theories, methods, and findings.

American Anthropology Association
Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) is the world's largest organization of individuals interested in anthropology. Although there were several other American anthropological societies in existence at the turn of the 20th century, this new, national organization was formed "to promote the science of anthropology, to stimulate and coordinate the efforts of American anthropologists, to foster local and other societies devoted to anthropology, to serve as a bond among American anthropologists and anthropologic[al] organizations present and prospective, and to publish and encourage the publication of matter pertaining to anthropology" (AAA Articles of Incorporation). At its incorporation, the Association also assumed responsibility for the American Anthropologist, which was originally begun in 1888 by the Anthropological Society of Washington (ASW). By 1905, the journal also served the American Ethnological Society, in addition to the AAA and ASW.