Catalysts for Change!

I want to thank Adam Ortiz and the other leaders from MRN and CMA who took time to talk with me, Kathy Obear, Chris Moody, and Eleanor Mower earlier this week about their concerns (http://multiracialnetwork.wordpress.com/).  ACPA is an organization that truly values social justice and strives to be inclusive in all ways, and it is incredibly helpful to have members and leaders willing to share with us and problem solve with us when we can do better. How we ask our members about themselves via surveys and assessment instruments is one area where we can do better.  I appreciate that the leadership of MRN and CMA are catalysts for change.  This change will result in our Association being stronger, and our policies and practices being more aligned with our espoused values.

The activity of revising how we ask member demographic questions has been underway since June of 2011, but is still not complete. Identifying a standard set of questions is incredibly challenging as we do not believe one “best” practice exists.  We have and continue to review standards from other Associations, campuses, and even federal and state guidelines.  That being said, the ACPA Governing Board is committed to completing this work in the coming months, so that going forward we are in agreement about how to best ask these questions of our diverse membership.

Specifically, here are the “next steps” we will take:

·         The subcommittee working on the standard questions document will continue to collect input from Association leaders and entity groups (May-June)

·         A final document will be brought before the Governing Board for review and approval

·         Once approved:

o   A senior staff member in the ACPA International Office will be identified to review all centrally distributed surveys and assessment instruments to make sure that they consistently adhere to the approved standards.

o   Other Association leaders, International Office staff members, and Convention Planning Team members will be made aware of the adopted standards and expectations for their use.

o   ACPA membership will be informed of the adopted standard questions, including the importance, value, and context of this work via an article in Developments.

o   Entity groups that distribute surveys independent of the International Office will be provided with the standard questions, applicable contexts, and their rationale.

 

Again thanks to the leaders of the MRN for helping us move forward with this very important work!

 

-Kathleen

kkerr@udel.edu