MASA regrets to announce that there will be no 2017 CLM/TLM Conference this November.
Since 2004, MASA has convened education leaders the week preceding Thanksgiving for a conference focused on instruction. The Curriculum Leaders of Minnesota (CLM) Conference offered participants a chance to explore themes and topics of interest to instructional leaders, such as curriculum, instruction, grading, assessment, and standards, as well as leadership topics such as leading change and building equitable learning systems. In 2014, MASA welcomed a new cadre of members, the Technology Leaders Component Group, and the CLM Conference was reframed to include the important perspective of technology leadership in instruction. This has been, and continues to be, an excellent focus for professional learning for our members, and MASA continues to be committed to providing instructional leadership support.
However, attendance for this conference has diminished to a point where it isn’t feasible to hold the event. We believe there are several reasons for this, none of them pertaining to a lack of interest in the subject. First, the audience for this event has become much less specific. That is a wonderful thing! Instructional leadership has become a focus for a much larger and diverse group of district leaders. That is good for learning, but it also makes it harder to identify not only a potential audience for the conference, but also leaders who might be active in planning the event. Also, we are excited to have technology leaders as an integral component of this conversation, but this conference has traditionally been offered very near on the calendar to the large state technology conference. In addition, another state association conference has chosen to offer their fall event the same week. And so, this perfect storm has affected the CLM/TLM attendance to a point where we can’t economically support the preparation and execution of the event.
Meeting the professional learning needs of our members is an important part of MASA’s mission, and as our Executive Development Committee moves into the next year, they will have an opportunity to address those needs. •
