(Download a PDF of this policy.)

In order to promote an ethical election process and level playing field for all candidates and to encourage members to read the ballot materials and make an educated vote, NCTE provides a central source of information about candidates for NCTE office. While it’s natural for individuals and groups to discuss the merits of candidates, NCTE, in the name of fairness, prohibits any activity that can be construed as campaigning by or on behalf of an individual candidate. Campaigning is considered to be any activity intended to influence the election.

• Subsequent to nomination, campaigning for NCTE office shall be limited to candidate information distributed with the NCTE ballots.
• During the election process, promoting a particular candidate or candidates through advertising, endorsement, or distribution of promotional materials, including but not limited to, buttons, stickers, posters, cards, email messages, videos, social media posts, or recommendation letters, is prohibited.
• While NCTE members and constituent organizations, such as affiliates and Conferences, can inform members of a candidate’s successful nomination, suggestions that members vote for a particular candidate or candidates are prohibited.
• Promoting a candidate or candidates during NCTE functions and convention sessions is also prohibited.

This policy was approved by the Executive Committee in July 2018.

(Download a PDF of this policy.)

NCTE is composed of many talented individuals from every educational level and every phase of English language arts. NCTE recognizes the value to members of engaging in the organization. Doing so provides opportunities to grow leadership skills, expand literacy educator voices to new contexts, and influence the trajectory of our organization and field. However, when members serve more than one role, NCTE and the members often find challenging situations. Recent examples of members having the best intentions to serve multiple roles have shown that things can play out differently. Committees have been left without a full complement of members participating in the work as well as seats vacated mid-term due to the demands of holding two or more simultaneous roles. 

For these reasons, NCTE places emphasis on sharing opportunities for the involvement of many members through a one-role guideline. It is in NCTE’s as well as members’ best interests to involve as many members in the organization as possible.   

The Executive Committee, wishing to encourage wide participation by members in NCTE activities, has established the following guidelines. Nominating committees and those responsible for recommending roles for Council members (e.g., committee chairs and members) should consult these guidelines in their deliberations. 

Elected Positions:
Persons elected to leadership within NCTE are to only serve that role. This applies to any elected position within NCTE, including elected leadership for conferences, the one association, Research Foundation, and any other position that requires an election. It is the ongoing responsibility of nominating committees to inform potential candidates, prior to determining the final ballot slate for elected office, that filling the elected position would require resignation from responsibilities of other roles in the Council (e.g., committee roles) should they be elected. The candidate should be fully aware of this and have the opportunity to choose the leadership role that they value most. Similarly, it is the responsibility of NCTE constituent groups such as sections, conferences, etc. to inform candidates, through their nominating committees prior to the election time period, that election would involve resignation from other positions prior to starting their elected term.  

Appointments:
Appointments for ongoing and longer-term roles (generally defined as one year or more) should be limited to one role at a time. This means, for example, a member may only serve on only one NCTE committee at a time.  

Temporary Roles:
There are temporary roles in NCTE, such as short-term task forces and position statement groups, which depend on specialized knowledge and experiences to be successful. It is understood that the principles of a range of members being involved should be upheld and that it is sometimes necessary to ask a member with particular expertise to also serve on a short term appointed role. Such decisions are left to the judgment of the NCTE Presidential Team and Executive Committee, when necessary, to make a final determination.  

Project, Grant, Contract, and Publishing Roles:
NCTE engages with an increasing number of partners, grants, and contracts, and also operates a publishing division. It is understood that certain roles within these contexts call for ongoing involvement. While we generally discourage more than one role at a time, it is also understood that the continuity of expertise on projects and publishing endeavors can be essential. In the rare instances where a person may fill an elected or appointed role plus a role in this category, the Executive Director is advised to have a conversation with the member to ensure they are aware of the load. Should additional conversation be warranted, such as in the case of potential conflicts of interest, the matter should be referred to the Presidential Team for consideration and resolution.  

I. Executive Committee 

Some Executive Committee members (Vice President, Representatives-at-Large) are initially nominated for their posts by nominating committees. Potential candidates for these offices should be informed at the time of nomination that they would be expected to resign from conflicting positions if they are elected.  

Other Executive Committee members represent NCTE constituent groups (sections and conferences). It will be the responsibility of those groups, through their nominating committees, to inform candidates for top leadership positions that election would involve resignation from responsibilities that conflict with their Executive Committee roles. 

II. Other Council Positions 

A. Situations involving conflicts 

No individual or group within the Council should appoint or nominate a member for a Council position without notifying the potential candidates of existing conflicts and of the necessity of resigning from the conflicting Council posts upon being elected or accepting appointment to the new position. 

B. Non-conflict situations 

Even when conflicts do not exist, individuals and groups with responsibility for nominations or appointments should make a special attempt to use the talents of capable NCTE members not currently involved in Council activities. New talent should be sought out and nurtured, especially in roles that provide an opportunity for initial involvement in Council work (e.g., membership on committees). Long-standing Council members whose terms in strong leadership positions have ended should also be considered so the benefit of their experience is not lost to the Council. In short, wide participation means that present Council leaders are responsible for developing new leadership and making continuing use of the talents of those who have served the Council well in the past. 

III. Dual Candidacy for Elected Offices 

No one may stand for election to more than one major Council post in the same year (e.g., the College Section Committee and the CCCC Executive Committee; the Secondary Section Committee and the ELATE Executive Committee). We cannot rank level of service; even if we could, potential candidates might rank positions differently. Since nominating committees work on different calendars (with the NCTE Nominating Committee first), and since elections and assumptions of office work on different calendars, the principle is that anyone who accepts candidacy for one major role will be barred from consideration by subsequent nominating committees.

IV. Reservation and Refinements 

It is clear that certain Council positions do not call for “new faces.” Executive Committee posts, committee chairs, and similar roles require proven leaders who might or might not currently hold Council positions. In such cases, service in multiple non-conflicting roles might be warranted. 

Furthermore, nominating and appointing bodies should not exclude an individual from consideration for a position of greater responsibility when the individual is presently in a conflicting post of lesser responsibility. For example, a committee chair or member should not automatically be excluded from consideration as a nominee for representative-at-large or for the directorship of a newly created task force. In such cases, the guidelines for “situations involving conflicts” (above) should be followed, thus permitting the individual to accept or decline the new nomination or appointment, with full knowledge of the implications for resigning from his or her present role. 

None of the reservations above apply to multiple roles that are based on liaison responsibilities. For example, a task force member might be chair of a committee whose work is within the purview of the task force. 

Liaison responsibilities inherently involve multiple roles, their purpose being to coordinate the flow of information among groups whose goals are related. 

Finally, none of the guidelines should be interpreted as a negation of existing NCTE policies and practices regarding adequate representation of people of color, women, classroom teachers, etc., in Council activities.

Revised April 26, 2023 and approved by the NCTE Executive Committee 

(Download a PDF of this policy.)

It is the policy of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) that it embrace diversity and demonstrate sensitivity to the concerns of people of color and they be represented on Council sponsored programs, and that a similar policy be encouraged among its conferences and association as well as affiliated groups (assemblies and affiliates). People of color refers to historically underrepresented groups. To this end, NCTE expresses a desire and commitment to embrace diversity and:

• to include people of color on appointed boards, committees, task forces, and other official
  groups;
• to include people of color among the leadership of the above groups;
• to include people of color among the nominees presented by each nominating committee;
• to include in NCTE conventions and workshop sessions dealing with interests of people of color and using as leaders or consultants practicing teachers of color from the levels of instruction concerned;
• to include people of color in written and visual materials intended to represent or describe NCTE; and
• to include people of color in any membership recruiting efforts.

In order to monitor the effecting of this policy, the Committee on Diversity and Inclusivity will be maintained until such time as deemed unnecessary by the NCTE Executive Committee.

The intent of this policy should not be construed to impose any particular requirements on NCTE or to every subcommittee within a board, committee, task force, or other official group.

This policy was first approved by the NCTE Board of Directors in 1980. In February 1994, the policy was updated to reflect the action of the NCTE Executive Committee (November 1991) to use the term “people of color” or to use the exact term of ethnicity when referring to historically underrepresented groups. Additional revisions were made in 1996, 2001, and 2016. While the most current draft of any policy supersedes the prior versions, this reflection of history communicates the importance of it, and of prior leaders who worked tirelessly to advance opportunities to diversify teaching and scholarship, to NCTE.

April 22, 2025

(Download a PDF of this policy.)

NCTE is an equal opportunity employer, and diversity is one of its core values.

In the statement of Core Values and Benefits, NCTE acknowledges that “[m]embers benefit from opportunities to work with and hear from colleagues with varying backgrounds and experiences; to study, question, and critique dominant and often assumed societal stances; to learn how to ceate classrooms where students develop voices that make them effective participants in academic and public discourses; and, from opportunities to learn how to make their classrooms more relevant, more inclusive, and more critical to the lives of the learners they teach and the society in which they teach.”

This policy hereby affirms NCTE’s commitment to cultivating and maintaining diversity as a core value of the organization, and its desire to embrace diversity with respect to the nomination and election of individuals to serve in leadership positions at the organization.

This policy was approved by the NCTE Executive Committee on August 18, 2016, and supersedes the prior policy, approved September 2001.