Kappa Delta Pi - Educational Honor Society

From the President Karen Nicholson on KDP From the Executive Director Faye Snodgress shares . . .	Question of the Quarter KDP asks the question—you get to answer! What is your classroom concern?
New 4 You Your KDP benefit update. Card that benefits KDP and you; medical insurance benefit	Chapters 2 Watch Read about KDP chapters and their successful initiatives. *Just what is e-Chapter?*
In the Know Be in the know about KDP happenings that affect you. Partner TeachersCount and DisCount!	Educational Foundation Learn about giving and receiving the KDP Educational Foundation way. Meet the new director.
News from You See what other members are doing. Send your activities. Retired Counselor Gwaltney inducted in EMU Hall of Fame	Who’s Who Get to know HQ staff members. Learn about who helps you when you call.
We Get Mail See what members are saying. KDP—a lifeline and network.	FAQs You ask, KDP answers. What does KDP offer after college?

The time has come for my final column as President of Kappa Delta Pi. I would like to thank the membership for allowing me to serve this wonderful organization in this capacity for the past two years. Because I will remain on the board during the next biennium as past-president, I won't get too nostalgic at this time. I would like to share with you the challenges that KDP faces, as well as the opportunities arising from these challenges.

This is a challenging time to be a member-based organization or a non-profit with a mission to serve members while keeping membership costs as low as possible. Research shows that individuals are not joining and staying connected to organizations for the reasons they did in the past. In addition, technology is changing how people interact and form communities. Declining membership in various organizations, including KDP, reflects these trends; over the last 17 years, KDP has consistently experienced a decreasing number of renewing members, especially following the initiate year. This reality has forced the elected leadership and Headquarters staff members to ask why and how we, given the staff and resources available, can most effectively serve the membership and chapters. We have had to stop expanding services, such as regional conferences, and have opted to outsource the KDP Store.

At the same time, KDP must stay true to its mission and continue to look for opportunities to do what it does best. Historically, what KDP does best is honor and recognize excellence in teaching as well as support the best and brightest in their quest to be the most effective educators possible. In keeping with the mission, KDP plans to ensure consistency in the chapter experience with a renewed emphasis on leadership, adding leadership opportunities and increasing the recognition that is available to members. This process has already begun through initiatives such as the Teacher of Honor and Counselor of Distinction. Another exciting program under development is KDP Connect, the primary goal of which is teacher retention through support of teachers during their first five years. Additionally, KDP is reaching out to new and continuing members to encourage them to make connections through KDP and their local professional organizations. Opportunities are limitless when networking with the best and the brightest!

Results are In!
Summary of Membership Assessment Study

Thank you to all of the KDP members who participated in a recent membership survey. Feedback is vital to KDP’s ability to serve its community of outstanding educators and provide the information and products members want and need to remain outstanding in the field of education.

A total of 1,750 members representing a cross-section of KDP’s diverse membership participated in the survey, which assessed satisfaction with membership in the Society and with the services and products delivered by KDP Headquarters. Overall, the satisfaction level of membership in KDP is relatively high. On a 7-point scale, respondents gave an average rating of 5.41. Satisfaction ratings are high in the first year of membership, but decrease following the first full year before trending up again after five years. Also after five years, members are more likely to recommend KDP to a friend, colleague, or associate and to renew their membership.

Of the products and services offered, members rated the KDP Record, the KDP Web site, Resource Roundup, and Ideas to Go as their top four benefits. The most important source of satisfaction is local involvement or opportunities for networking. Respondents joined KDP with the expectation that the Society would provide an opportunity to meet, network, and interact with other leaders in the profession.

Members in their first four years of membership are much more likely to have the expectation that KDP will make a difference in their professional lives, offer learning opportunities to keep them up-to-date in the profession, and provide products and services that help them in their careers. However, meeting the expectations of members with a tenure of less than five years represents an area where KDP and its chapters have the most opportunities to improve services as well as help new members understand what resources and benefits are available to them.

The personal recognition associated with becoming a KDP member and being a part of the Society is important to all members. Reinforcing KDP’s overall role in the education community, the highest-rated reason for continued membership after those early years, is the belief that KDP makes a worthwhile contribution to the education profession.

Once more I want to thank those of you who completed the survey. KDP staff members will incorporate your feedback into creation of new services and products to enhance your membership. If you didn’t have an opportunity to participate in the survey, please send your comments to membership@kdp.org. Your feedback is always welcome!

Your KDP benefit update

Special Offer
Show your KDP pride, and support Society scholarships and grants with a KDP credit card. The special no-annual-fee platinum plus Visa® with WorldPoints® credit card is now conveniently available to members. Learn more or apply securely online for the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society credit card today.

Short-Term Medical Insurance
It is tough to be without health insurance, but if you’re a member of KDP, you don’t have to be. Through Forest T. Jones insurance administrators and Assurant Health, you have access to a comprehensive health plan. Learn more about the temporary and permanent health plans available to you.

Be in the know about KDP happenings that affect you.

Another Online Presence
KDP has joined the Facebook community! Please visit the KDP Facebook page, and sign up to be a fan.

To offer a wide array of opportunities and services for members, KDP partners with other organizations. If you access Education in the News from the KDP home page, then you already are benefiting from one of those partners, TeachersCount. TeachersCount, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to raising the status of the teaching profession and providing resources to the education community, is probably best known for its Posters-in-Schools Program and TeachersDisCount.

TeachersCount created the “Behind Every Famous Person Is a Fabulous Teacher” Campaign, and donated more than 200,000 free posters to schools across the country. The first round of posters featured rapper Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault, actress America Ferrera, and actor Tony Shalhoub. KDP members may request a free poster from TeachersCount by emailing info@teacherscount.org.

See what other members are doing; send your activities.

Kudos
Congratulations to Thomas Gwaltney, retired professor and Pi Chapter Counselor at Eastern Michigan University, for his induction into EMU’s College of Education Hall of Fame. “I have gained so much more than I have contributed over the 50-plus years I have been in education,” he said. Gwaltney, who grew up in a sharecropper house outside of Sikeston, Missouri, was the first person on either side of his family to go to college and one of few who could read and write. He credits his Sikeston teachers for opening up “unimaginable dreams” for him, one of which was to become a teacher. Having found his career choice to be fulfilling throughout the years, Gwaltney would choose teaching all over again. He also has valued his KDP connection.

“Membership in KDP has been rewarding and instrumental in my life as an educator! I met and married a fine woman who was already a member. When our three daughters grew up, they all became members.” Gwaltney, who currently reviews for The Educational Forum, went on to say: ”The initiation ceremony of Kappa Delta Pi states so to teach, so to serve, so to live. I have lived it, and that is one reason that Kappa Delta Pi fits me. It also fits our whole family.

See what members are saying.

“KDP is the most awesome honor society. The links [as in Resource Roundup] are so useful.
I like being able to access a network with more experienced educators!”
Dana Behr
High school teacher, Elizabeth, NJ

“I am in a very small school with limited resources for ongoing training, so KDP is my lifeline right now!”
Kathie V. Transki
Elementary teacher, Lakeland, FL

KDP asks the question—you get to answer!

What is your biggest concern when teaching in your classroom?
Send your answer to membership@kdp.org. Staff members read your feedback and use it to help KDP provide the resources you want and need!

Read about various types of KDP chapters and their successful initiatives.

Non-university Chapters Might Be for You
Most KDP chapter members may be on summer break, but activity continues, because chapters aren’t just at universities! Members are beginning local Chalk Talk Cafés to continue the KDP connection and support from other dedicated educators. Kim Hovey’s Lakeland, Florida, Chalk Talk debuts with a picnic on June 28. You too can set up a Chalk Talk Café—and KDP will help get you started.

If you seek a more formal KDP connection that also can tie in with your teaching, why not support and unify your school or district’s educators by inviting them into membership through a school chapter? This chapter concept is still rather new, but it offers so many possibilities. Educators in the Baldwin County School District near Mobile, Alabama, believe their Gulf Coast Professional Educators Chapter gives them a unique opportunity to support and empower one another. Read about this chapter.

What Is the KDP e-Chapter?
You’ve seen the e-mail announcements for e-Chapter events, but do you know what e-Chapter is? It’s a virtual community that has been evolving over the past year. The e-Chapter events—Webinars—offer topical presentations that any current member educator may attend—either online, over the phone, or both. Events are free. Once someone has participated in one of these events, he or she is considered a member of the e-Chapter community and is encouraged to continue participating, but it isn’t mandatory. No other meetings are required and there are no chapter dues. Each event offers an opportunity for you to connect with educators across the country. A Virginia kindergarten teacher who tuned into one of the Children’s Literature series e-Chapter events not only learned about some great books for her classroom, but also made a great find. In conversation with an Indiana professor, she discovered a museum housing a collection of book-cover art by children’s literature illustrators—right in her own state!

e-Chapter is just one more way for you and your colleagues to learn something new to take into your classrooms and encourage your personal and professional development. You even can earn a certificate of participation that may count toward your continuing education credits. If you have particular knowledge to share or suggestions, please tell us!

Learn about giving and receiving the KDP Educational Foundation way.

New Director of Development
After a careful search for the perfect Director of Development, the KDP Educational Foundation finally found its match. Mike Pirnat joined the KDP team last month. He brings with him 12 years of development and fund-raising experience, as well as 20 years in financial planning. He feels education is of the utmost importance, especially when retaining the best educators possible, so that America’s educational system remains competitive with other nations. He is looking forward to performing a variety of responsibilities for the Foundation that will involve individual giving, grant writing, planned giving, and scholarships. Mike plans to continue growing the Foundation so that it will offer more scholarships, grants, and other opportunities for KDP members.

He and his wife, Caryl, have been married for 38 years. Their daughter, Jacquelyn, teaches 7th and 8th grade English at St. Simon the Apostle school in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is working toward her Masters at Butler University, also in Indianapolis. When he’s not in the office, you can find him walking the Monon Trail, tidying up his yard, reading a book, or watching films.

Scholarships
In an effort to increase global awareness among our nation’s next generation of teachers, EF Educational Tours offered 20 KDP members all-inclusive tours to countries such as Australia, Japan, Italy, Egypt, and Costa Rica. Recipient Michelle Caffrey of the Iota Iota Chapter at Westfield State College embarked on the Egyptian Kingdom Tour. Here is a glimpse into her amazing experience:

“I just got back from my trip to Egypt, and I wanted to say an enormous THANK YOU to everyone who was involved in sending me there. I have traveled abroad before, but I have never learned so much in such a short amount of time. My tour guide was a professional Egyptologist who previously worked in the uncovering of tombs and archeological digs there. I listened in on other tour guides talking to their groups while we were visiting some of the temples, and it was clear to me how far superior my guide was in giving us information and history about everything we were seeing. It was an incredible experience, and I cannot say thank you enough.”
Michelle Caffrey
2008 EF Tour Trip Award Recipient

Get to know HQ staff members.

Rachel Thompson
Development Associate
Publications Assistant

“I love coming up with new ideas, creating programs, and streamlining processes—basically I’m a little idea generator!”

Is this a familiar name? If you have ever applied for a scholarship or a classroom teacher grant, contributed to the KDP emergency fund, or reviewed for a KDP publication, chances are you’ve already met Rachel. Though only now making her KDP News debut, Rachel is hardly a new face at KDP. Rachel joined KDP as an intern two years ago, writing grant proposals for the KDP Educational Foundation. Since then her role has grown to encompass various Foundation programs. Now as Development Associate and Publications Assistant, Rachel often is at the center of initiatives that bring people together for a good cause.

In May 2008, Rachel graduated from the University of Indianapolis with an M.A. in English and has recently completed her first book of poetry, called Tricks of Light. Originally from Salem, Indiana, Rachel now lives in Beech Grove with her 21-year-old cat, Bashful, and enjoys being aunt to her younger sister’s daughter, Audrianna (8).

Lori Anne Ikerd
Accounts Receivable

“Education is important in a child’s life, and teachers are very important in our world. Working for KDP is a great opportunity for me to work for an organization that gives back to our teachers.”

When you renew your membership or subscription over the phone, the friendly voice and helpful person you hear most likely will be Lori Anne Ikerd. She joined the administration staff in February—just in time to help with spring initiate packets. (Thank you Lori!) Lori came to KDP after a six-year tenure at NCAA Headquarters in Indianapolis, where she worked as an accounting assistant. In addition to working with accounts receivables and renewals for KDP, Lori also handles many customer service calls, a job she enjoys.

At home, Lori is the proud mom of two boys, Logan (8 months) and Rayden (7-½) and a member of Active 20-30 USA & Canada, an organization that provides young adults with opportunities for personal growth, friendships, and leadership development while improving the quality of life for special needs children in their community. She also belongs to the Multiple Sclerosis Society and annually participates in the Indianapolis MS Walk with her team “Cousins for a Cure.” An avid sports fan, Lori cheers on her favorite teams: the Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Redwings, Chicago Cubs, and Notre Dame Irish.

Tanisha Bibbs
Chapter Services Assistant

Kappa Delta Pi welcomed its new chapter services assistant in March. Tanisha comes to KDP with a heart for education and recent work experience of five years as an event planner. With that experience, of course she already has been asked to participate in Convo 2009 planning sessions! As the support person for chapter services, Tanisha works closely with chapter consultants, communicates with chapter officers about processes, (including financial reports), and helps answer general questions about membership. When KDP installs a new chapter, Tanisha walks the Counselor through procedures prior to installation.

At home, Tanisha is mom to many. She has three children—Jaimie (14), Devyn (12), and Justin (10 months)—as well as three stepchildren—Shawn, Jr. (14), Jayla (12), and Makayla (8)—and one dog, Prince. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, and music. She and Shawn, Sr. like to travel.

You ask, KDP answers.

Q. What does KDP offer members after college?

A. KDP after college looks different than the collegiate chapter experience, but it is an important avenue for furthering your knowledge, expertise, and professional connection. KDP offers multiple online resources, publications to keep you informed on the world of education, professional chapter opportunities, and a virtual connection to more than 45,000 educators across the continent. Don’t underestimate what belonging to a professional organization can mean. It is an honor and one in which you should be proud. Yes, membership in an honor society still looks good on a résumé and curriculum vitae, but it’s more. Belonging to KDP is being a part of a community of dedicated and dynamic educational leaders. Involvement is more open-ended than collegiate experiences and, therefore, full of opportunities to tap into what you need. Write an article, submit a recommended resource, apply for the Teacher of Honor recognition, become a reviewer for a KDP publication, serve on the Centennial Committee, or start a professional chapter in your region. Your KDP experience is what you make it!