Summer Leadership

The school year is winding down and communities nationwide are planning a “return to normal” next fall. After 14 months (and counting) of a global pandemic, and with the very structure of school continually evolving through technology, the “normal” of education leadership has likely been permanently redefined. Your role as a social studies leader is both more complex and challenging, yet full of new possibilities we did not conceive of merely a year ago. Your role may be scrutinized in the public eye, as social studies is the increasing focus of state and federal legislation, op-ed columns, and both public support and criticism. Your leadership is urgently needed perhaps more than ever before.

In this edition of The Leader, we want to share a few highlights to prepare you for the upcoming year. NCSS has an active summer ahead to support you, as we gear up for a new school year that may return us to “normal” in-person learning, but in a very different world from the pre-pandemic learning environments we knew. Here’s a summary of what’s happening at NCSS to support you:

Call for 2021 Resolutions

As I shared in my recent TSSP message, NCSS just launched its 2021 Call for Resolutions, to be discussed and voted on at our 65^th House of Delegates (HOD) Assembly at the next NCSS Annual Conference. Affiliated Councils, Associated Groups, and Special Interest Communities actively sponsor and co-sponsor resolutions each year, and we hope your groups and organizations consider submitting proposed resolutions this year to shape the values and priorities of NCSS and the social studies profession at this critical time for our subject areas. 

Next Step: Proposed resolutions are due on Tuesday, August 31. All HOD groups will have a chance to review and co-sponsor proposed resolutions later in Fall 2021. Please see the 2021 resolutions timeline for complete information.

Summer Leadership Institute

Registration is now open for our 2021 Summer Leadership Institute: Think Global – Act Local. Once again, we are pleased to present a program specifically designed to build your capacity in social studies leadership, provide ample networking opportunities, and learn how to increase social studies support in your community. We are presenting this program virtually for a second year so you can access the best leadership development around from the comfort and convenience of your summer location. This leadership program is free for all members. I highly encourage you to bring a team from your group or organization so you can learn together.

Next Step: Register for SLI 2021 and be prepared for two days of powerful learning on July 12-13!

Summer Professional Learning

Registration is also open for our five other summer programs, all happening virtually. Again, I highly encourage you to consider inviting a team to participate in the programs that address your leadership focus this year. We have a diverse array of offerings, which include:

• 2021 NCSS Inquiry and Teaching with Primary Sources Online Summer Institute – Monday-Tuesday, June 7-8. This institute is free for all and especially relevant for methods professors and those who support teacher candidates. This program is supported through generous funding by the Library of Congress’ Teaching with Primary Sources program.
• NCSS Summer Pop-UP! Event – Monday, June 28. This program features 24 webinars over 6 hours. This program is inspired by the overwhelming number of professional learning sessions we received through our open calls for submissions this year!
• 2021 IDM Summer Institute – Monday-Tuesday, July 19-20. Back by popular demand for its 5^th year with NCSS is a program led by C3 Teachers to help you work with the Inquiry Design Model in implementing the C3 Framework in your school, district, or state. 
• Elementary Inquiry Summer Institute – Thursday-Friday, July 29-30. This special new program is led by InquirED and is designed to bring the power of social studies inquiry to our youngest learners.
• SPA Report Preparer Training – Friday, August 20. This special webinar is designed for faculty or program coordinators charged with preparing NCSS/CAEP Reports for national recognition and program approval of social studies education programs – and is especially helpful to anyone responsible for teaching social studies methods courses, supervising social studies interns in the field, developing and administering assessments, and analyzing and interpreting data for social studies programs.

Next Step: Learn more and register for all our NCSS Professional Learning Programs!

Orientations

With a new school year comes new opportunities and volunteers to grow your group within the wider NCSS network. We will schedule special, separate orientation meetings for Affiliated Council Presidents and Executive Directors, Operations Committees (both chairs and members), and Special Interest Community Chairs throughout Summer 2021. These meetings will be opportunities for you to meet with NCSS Board and staff senior leadership, discuss strategies and goals for the new school year, and network to build support for your group or organization’s work.

Next Step: Look for special e-mail invitations from me coming soon for a summer orientation session tailored to your group or organization.

Looking Ahead to Next Year

Leadership programming and networking support will continue throughout the new school year. We anticipate a fifth season of our popular NCSS Leadership Forum webinar series beginning in October 2021 for all leadership groups, and will continue our tradition of inviting special guests and soliciting for special topics by request. We are exploring separate webinar programs for your respective groups to address relevant topics of interest and emerging issues. We welcome your suggestions for topic and speaker ideas at any time – just drop me a note at lpaska@ncss.org. In addition, we plan to host the following programs at our Annual Conference again this year:

• Affiliated Council Presidents’ Meeting 
• Committee & Community Chairs’ Roundtable 

Next Step: Please note any changes to your leadership rosters by contacting Joy Lindsey, Director of Marketing, Communications and Membership, at jlindsey@ncss.org. Council affiliation forms are coming in June.

We will be in touch soon with updates on planning for both our 101^st Annual Conference and our 100^th Anniversary Celebration. All conference updates are posted on our website. Our second century of social studies is shaping up to be a time of growth in professional learning, advocacy, and networking. Thank you as always for your dedication and leadership – let’s get ready for an active summer and a safe school year ahead!

Sincerely,

NCSS Executive Director

Lawrence M. Paska, Ph.D