The NCTE Convention is a powerful representation of the voices of English and literacy educators from across the country and around the world. It is truly a convention put together by the people it aims to serve, and your voices, ideas, and experiences are what make the learning there so rich.

Getting a spot on the program is competitive and prestigious. We regularly receive around 1,500 proposals and can only accept about a third of those submitted. This means each session you attend was chosen through a careful review process involving several volunteers. This selectiveness is what makes the convention so high quality.

The Process

Each November, the call for proposals is announced and the online submission system goes live. It stays open through the second week of January. Submitters work with peers or alone, to put together session proposals representing a broad range of topics, levels, and formats.

When the system closes in January, all submissions are checked for completion and scheduled for review by representatives from NCTE’s College, Middle Level, Secondary, and Elementary Sections as well as several constituent groups. Each proposal receives two independent online reviews. Scores from this first round review are tallied and then the scored proposals are accepted or declined by two more people at a program planning meeting in February.

Accepted proposals are then scheduled into the overall program. Notifications of acceptance or denial are sent to all proposal submitters in late April.

The call for proposals for 2018 will be announced and the submission system will go live during the 2017 Annual Convention. Check back then and we’ll be sure to provide you with plenty of resources to aid in preparing and submitting your proposal.