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Fifty-six years ago, a group of educational leaders from several area school
districts and the New York State College for Teachers began a series of
informal meetings with a single purpose in mind. The school representatives
saw a growing need for the development of professional services for their
districts, which were about to undergo a dramatic post-war expansion.
The college officials, meanwhile, were finding an increasing need for
contacts with the schools as they carried out research and field service.
The result was the establishment, in the fall of 1949, of the Capital
Area School Development Association (CASDA), and its purpose was to serve
as a link between the rapidly expanding Teachers College and the school
districts of the area. There have been shifts of emphasis in programming
over the years, but the general structure and service function of CASDA
have remained as envisioned by the founding fathers.
CASDA has been a huge success. The nation’s third such organization
(the two earlier ones were affiliated with Columbia University and Harvard
University), CASDA grew to embrace 72 school districts and BOCES organizations
during its first quarter-century. Today, as one of about 40 study councils
across the country, it serves 125 districts with a year-round series of
seminars, programs and conferences geared not only for superintendents
and principals, but also for teachers, business officials, librarians,
secretaries, school lunch supervisors, custodians, transportation coordinators,
and teaching assistants. In fact, CASDA is the only
study council in the country which continuously provides programming for
support staff. Without a doubt, CASDA is the single most important link
between the University at Albany and its affiliated school districts.
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CASDA:
56 Years of Partnership
in Education
