International Alliance for Invitational EducationA Brief History of the International Alliance for Invitational Education
Beyond our Galaxy, in some forgotten time (circa 1968), two young professors at the University of Florida, Betty Faye Siegel and William Watson Purkey, applied for and received a small grant from the Noyes Foundation of New York to train educators. The grant provided modest fellowships for teams of teachers, principals, and school board members to attend a three-week residential summer program on humanizing the educative process. Although the funding was to be for a single summer, the program was so successful that the Noyes Foundation continued its support for the next eight years.
During the eight summer workshops at the University of Florida the concept of Invitational Education began to emerge. More than 300 educators attended the residential workshops, worked with Drs. Siegel and Purkey, wrested with invitational theory, and contributed greatly to the emergence of what became known as Invitational Education. Many present leaders of the Alliance, including Judy Lehr, John Novak, Sandra Damico, Gurney Chambers, Bruce Voelkel, and others began their association with the Alliance by being involved in these early workshops.
After eight years of funding, the Noyes Foundation ended its support. This was a major turning point, for Drs. Siegel and Purkey decided that the summer workshops would continue without funding other than registration fees. Summer workshops and programs were successfully conducted at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Guilford College, and most memorably, at Western Carolina University, affectionately recalled as "Camelot" by those who attended, where it was necessary to keep waiting lists of those eager to participate.
From 1968 until 1978 there was no Alliance, no organization, do dues, no structure ... just an idea ... and people who believed in it. In 1978, Drs. Siegel and Purkey met in the mountains of North Carolina and "officially" formed the Alliance for Invitational Education to encourage and bring together the proponents of Invitational Education.
Even after the Alliance was formed it had none of the trappings of a real organization. It had no membership list, officers, or a dues structure. Yet, the Alliance continued to grow.
A second major event in the history of the Alliance occurred in the summer of 1982 during an Invitational Education Workshop held at Lehigh University and directed by William Stafford. At the conclusion of this one-week workshop, twelve leaders in the Alliance met and created a formal structure for the Alliance. Membership dues were set, and officers (Co-directors, Treasurer, Secretary, Membership Chair, Newsletter Editor, and Member-at-Large) were appointed in order to have the Alliance Chartered by the State of North Carolina as a tax- exempt, not-for-profit educational organization. This was accomplished thanks to the hard work of Robert Turner of Averett College, Virginia.
It was during the 1982-86 period that Canadian Invitational Education began to establish itself as a major voice in invitational theory and practice. Dean Fink, John Novak, Peter Hudson, and many others offered highly successful Canadian conferences and workshops and wrote numerous position papers dealing with the theory and practice of Invitational Education. During this time, John Novak organized a SIC (Special Interest Group) in the American Educational Research Association. This SIG continues to be highly active in AERA and has been of tremendous value in addressing substantive issues in invitational theory and practice before the most rigorous and demanding audiences.
From 1982 through 1986 the Alliance continued to flourish. Workshops and conferences were held at Kennesaw College, UNC-Greensboro, and Graylyn Conference Center at Wake Forest University. In 1986, the Alliance membership dues were increased to $20.00. This allowed the Alliance to hire its first paid part-time Executive Secretary, Marilyn Mueller. Conrad Austin was asked to be the Alliance Membership Chair.
The years from 1986 on, have been great ones for the Alliance. Paula Helen Stanley became Executive Secretary and added tremendously to the strength of the organization. The Canadians organized a most productive Niagara-on-the Lake Conference. New books by David Strahan, Jack Schmidt, John Wilson, and others explored various facets of invitational theory and practice. Two major foundation grants were received; one from Z. Smith Reynolds and another from R.J.R. Nabisco. These grants were to explore the efficacy of invitational theory in combating such problems as school drop-outs and classroom discipline,
* Among the many successful conferences presented by the Alliance are the Toronto Conference headed by Dean Fink; the Orlando Conference directed by Bettie Palmer Spratt; the Baltimore Conference led by Don McBrien; the Charleston Conference, directed by Jennifer Benson-Rogers; and most recently, the 1998 Lexington Conference, presented under the able leadership of Sue Bowen. These ventures have been highly success, both professionally and financially, for the Alliance. They produced sufficient income to allow the Alliance to invest in new opportunities, including the Inviting School Award Program, the publication of The Journal of Invitational Theory and Practice, new membership brochures. and efforts to form special interest groups in professional organizations, including the American Counseling Association, the National Middle Schools Association, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Hopefully, these efforts will create groups that match our very successful Special Interest Group in the American Educational Research Association, organized by John Novak, which has been active for over a decade.