Executive Director's Note

Betty Edwards

NMSA to Consider Name Change

"The blaze of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the socket; a very few names may be considered as perpetual lamps that shine unconsumed." –Samuel Johnson, English poet, critic, and writer, 1709–1784

I know that quote sounds a little stuffy and foreboding, but it certainly presents an image. As times change, it sometimes becomes important to transform the name we call something to better reflect its purpose, audience, and work—and so that we provide the avenue for increased growth and movement into the future.

To provide that avenue for National Middle School Association, the NMSA Board of Trustees suggested that it may be time to consider a name change to better reflect the association's work and its members—now and in the future.

National Middle School Association and its name evolved from a group of United States university professors and researchers. Their goal was to promote an understanding of the developmental changes taking place in young adolescents and to reform the schools in which those students were being educated.

However, that was nearly 40 years ago, and much has changed since then. While the name, National Middle School Association, has served us well for 35 years, is it the right name to move us into the next 35 years? Just look at the topics of the articles in this issue of Middle Ground and you'll see how far we've come. Who would have imagined 35 years ago that we would one day be discussing a digital revolution? And, it is hard to imagine where education and the association's work will take us in the coming years.

This is not the first time the topic of a name change has been raised. In 2006, the NMSA Board of Trustees appointed a Visioning Task Force to look at many issues that could affect the work and growth of NMSA. One of that group's recommendations to the Board of Trustees in January 2007 was to initiate a process to change the name of the association.

The group cited several reasons for the recommendation, but two were considered crucial:

• To clarify that NMSA provides support and resources to all who are working with young adolescents, no matter what the grade configuration. Because "middle school" is in our name, some assume that our interest is only in middle schools, and that is far from the truth. Our overriding interest is the education of all young adolescents, period.
• To recognize that while NMSA started in the heartland of the United States, we are no longer "national" in scope. We have members in 45 countries and strong affiliates in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, so we are in fact an "international" organization.

The name of National Middle School Association belongs to our members, and members will make the ultimate decision about whether we change our name. Therefore, Task Force 2010 was appointed this year to establish a process to gain input from a vast audience about 1) whether we should change our name, 2) what that new name should be, and 3) how we should move from one name to the other. It's anticipated that such a transition would happen in the year 2010—thus the name of the task force. Ultimately, members would decide through a vote during our annual election.

This column is one of the first steps in notifying our members about this discussion. We will be offering our members many opportunities to provide input into this decision, including surveys, focus groups, conversations, and an open invitation to provide your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions. We invite you to join the conversation and engage others in the discussion.

I recently saw the following quote by an unknown author: "Words have meaning and names have power." Does the name, National Middle School Association, evoke the power necessary to positively influence the education of young adolescents wherever they live, wherever the go to school, to ensure that they can be whoever they want to be?

This is a "once in a lifetime" opportunity for most of us to affect an organization on a foundational level. We must decide who we are, what we are about, and how we will influence the future—and decide if the name that was chosen 35 years ago still burns as brightly as it did then.