NNER Executive Board Meeting Minutes
Seattle, Washington
Silver Cloud Hotel
December 3-5,2004

Attending: John Anderson, Deb Shanley, Greg Bernhardt, Ada Beth Cutler, Vern Henshaw, Nick Michelli, Carol Wilson and Ann Foster.

Friday was a work session where teams met to formulate plans and propose activities for the strategic priorities for the NNER as identified by the tripartite council. Team tasks and members follow:
Budget: John Anderson, Greg Bernhardt
Policy: Ada Beth Cutler, Carol Wilson
Research: Nick Michelli, Ann Foster
Governing Council meeting structure: Carol Wilson, Ann Foster

Meeting minutes:

The tripartite chairs reviewed information from their role-alike sessions at the meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, in October. School members noted a disconnect from colleges of education and arts and sciences. They indicated that one yearly formal opportunity to meet is not enough to provide the connections needed. Teachers noted that they need more involvement and better definition to their roles in regard to the NNER.

COE members discussed sustainability and the need to get people together to continue strengthening the work locally. They expressed interest in leadership associates’ work and the difficulties with doing this locally. Questions regarding the use of the annual report were raised. They addressed the need to be involved in policy, and to work with others and especially those who have differing thoughts to become advocates for our work.

Arts and science participants raised concerns regarding their roles in the NNER. They noted that their participation in the tripartite session was lower than the other two groups. They suggested sponsoring sessions for new NNER members at arts and science conferences such as AAHE.

The executive board discussed a long-view vision for the NNER in light of John Goodlad’s reestablishing the research agenda for the IEI. The importance of strong local settings was emphasized as the strength of a network and as the differentiating factor between a network and a membership organization.

Areas for further work include:

Strategic planning for the network;
Our role in policy at the national and local levels;
The role of think tank work for the NNER as compared to the IEI;
The relationship between the NNER and the IEI as the IEI is a 501(C)3 that hosts the NNER and the NNER does not have 501(C)3 status;
Building capacity to increase the executive director position over time from half time to full time;
Planning and conducting sessions for leadership development similar to the summer symposium from last year for NNER members.

Actions:

Diversity of member settings and diverse participation in leadership roles throughout the NNER were listed as high priorities. Individuals will be contacted to explore possible interest in the NNER to increase the diversity of the Network and build leadership capacity in younger and newer members to the work. Responsible: Deb Shanley, Nick Michelli, and Ann Foster

Budget process will continue to be studied and more detailed information will be made available to the governing board members prior to the meetings. Responsible: Greg Bernhardt and John Anderson

Orientation for new NNER members. There are many people who attend the NNER conference with little or no background on the Network. The conference planners will be contacted to see if a session can be provided at the annual conference as an orientation to the conference and the NNER. Responsible: Ann Foster

Examine possibilities for a summer symposium and other leadership sessions. Responsible: Ann Foster

Continue to explore the 501(c)3 relationship between the IEI and NNER. The executive board would like to explore the feasibility of a session with John Goodlad to engage in conversation about the NNER’s future in light of the intimate fiscal intertwining and work of the two entities. It was suggested that this might occur prior to the governing council’s meeting at AACTE in February.

Research Committee. Two goals were identified: Look at the value-added work on teacher quality being done through CUNY and the state of Ohio so that NNER settings can use the work in their local settings and compile abstracts of research being done locally with contact information so that NNER members interested in similar work have contacts. Cindy Onore will explore the logistics of setting up a video conference in early February for all members of the research committee who can participate to discuss these two areas. A follow-up video conference is proposed with the researchers from CUNY and Ohio to provide more background and information on their work. A meeting will be set for research committee members attending AACTE as well. Responsible: Cindy Onore and Ann Foster

Policy. Carol Wilson shared a paper that explains the difference between advocacy and lobbying for not-for-profit organizations. Proposals for furthering this work included holding regional meetings and developing a toolkit for policy-related work. Les Sternberg is the chair of the AACTE Governmental Relations Committee and will be contacted to promote further connections.
Responsible: Carol Wilson to look into forming a task force to begin this work.

Individual Memberships. There has been interest expressed from people who have been leadership associates and are now in non-NNER sites about ways to maintain their connections with the Network. In addition, people who have read about the work or had university experiences in a NNER setting are interested in further exploring the work and possible connections with their current institutions. The notion of individual memberships will be explored. Responsible: John Anderson

Communications. Local trickle down communication is not working. The major challenge to communication is electronic communication; email and the web page. A communication consultant will be contacted to help us explore ways for a network that is large and geographically diverse to keep communication flowing and encouraging more local dissemination of information. Responsible: Ann Foster

Annual Reports Equity Work. The annual reports will be reviewed by the executive council for progress toward equity. The group will each read half of the reports and a matrix will be developed to provide a summary of the progress toward equity being made in the settings. Responsible: Ann Foster—disseminate reports and rubric, and develop a matrix. Nick Michelli, John Anderson, Carol Wilson, Deb Shanley, Ada Beth Cutler, Vern Henshaw, Greg Bernhardt, and Ann Foster will review the reports.

Future Annual Conference Sites: Hawai’i, Wright State and Miami of Ohio, and West Virginia have volunteered to host a conference. More information is being sought on the possible sites. Responsible: Ann Foster

Terms of Office. Length of terms for the governing council members-at-large and tripartite council chairs need to be addressed for two reasons: there are no time lengths identified for the at-large members, and there is the need for continuity within the executive board. A motion for discussion and action for the term lengths and how to stagger them for continuity will be presented to the governing council. Responsible: John Anderson

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