Educational Organizations

The first educational organization that is known nationally and at the state level is Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).  The Council for Exceptional Children has chapters at the national, state, and collegiate levels.  I am currently a member at the state and collegiate level through Grand Valley.  Being a part of the Grand Valley chapter of Council for Exceptional Children means that I am a part of the largest college chapter in the United States.  Since I became a member of Council for Exceptional Children state of Michigan chapter through Grand Valley the Membership fee was ten dollars for the basic package, where as the fee is normally sixty-five dollars. There are three different types of membership packages that one can sign up for.  The premier package is the most expensive with a fee of two hundred dollars.  The premier package includes free attendance to two webinars, a book from the website library, current news letters, and more.  The second most expensive package is the full package with a membership fee of one hundred and fifteen dollars.  The full package includes the benefits of the basic package, along with access to a recorded webinar, as well as access to online versions of research articles through Council for Exceptional Children.  The final package that is offered is the basic package which carries a membership fee of sixty-five dollars.  With the basic package you have access to news letters and emails to keep educators updated.  Council for Exceptional Children have many conferences through out the year.  There is a state conference at the end of March, that is full of keynote speakers, and pull out conferences that inform educators on the latest trends in Special Education.  The Council for Exceptional Children is an organization that keeps special education teachers informed on the latest information in the special education world.  For further information on the Council for Exceptional Children please click here to visit their website https://www.cec.sped.org/.  You can also find more information about Council for Exceptional Children by clicking on their Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/MnsuCEC.

The second educational organization is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  Similar to Council for Exceptional Children, NAEYC has three levels of membership.  There are two levels that offer the same similar benefits, student membership level and regular membership level that allows access to discounts on educational videos and merchandise, five publications of NAEYC's magazines, online access to members only area of their website, access to online publications of their membership magazines, and more.  The Comprehensive package includes all the benefits of the regular and student packages along with the added benefit of receiving six books via the mail through NAEYC's organization. The fees for each package vary depending on the state in which you live.  The fees for Michigan are one hundred and ten dollars for the comprehensive package, sixty-six dollars for the regular package, and forty-five dollars for the student package.  One question I have about this organization is upon further research the regular and student packages offer the same benefits, yet are set at different membership fees.  The national conference for NAEYC is a five day conference that takes place in Louisiana during June.  For further information on the National Association for the Education of Young Children please visit their website at http://www.naeyc.org/institute/  or their Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Association-for-the-Education-of-Young-Children/115525295125240?fref=ts.