Name changes generally mean something and tell observers something about an organization's sense of direction.

In 1997 the Council for Education Development and Research (CEDAR) changed its name to the National Education and Knowledge Industry Association (NEKIA).  This signaled that the members aspired to become something more than the beneficiaries of line items in the federal education budget, understood that public education was moving from an exclusively government enterprise to more of a market, and had a vision of making education research useful by embedding it in knowledge available to all.  Since then the organization has expanded well beyond the original federal education labs, and includes for-profit school improvement providers

On April 10 the organization announced a decision to call itself the Knowledge Alliance.

We are so very pleased and excited to announce that on April 10 our Board of Directors agreed to change the name of our trade association to Knowledge Alliance.  As part of the continuing evolution of our work, we believe that our new moniker better reflects the dynamic directions of our collective advocacy work. We are using  a “phased’ rollout of the name change over the next several months and  will hold an official celebration at our annual meeting in October.  We are very excited about this new brand and what it stands for as we usher in a new knowledge era in education policy and practice!    

The signal here?  An understanding that acronyms convey bureacracy - while a name can convey a world view. A view that knowledge is the organization's central mission. And an announcement to the public education marketplace that the organization seeks to represent all organizations that share its vision of public education as a knowledge-driven enterprise.

What your editor likes most about the new name is best conveyed by comparing "Knowledge Alliance" with the "Education Industry Association" or the "Software and Information Industry Association."  Aside from being known by their acronyms - "EIA" and "SIIA," these names merely describe their membership - firms providing educational services, software or other forms of digital information.  The names themselves convey the idea of "self-interest." The name "Knowledge Alliance" aligns that organization and its members with an important social value and a particular vision of society. It positions the organization as an advocate of ideas rather than organizations.

Any school improvement provider with a corporate culture committed to ongoing research as part of product development should be giving the Knowledge Alliance a careful look. Especially as research and evaluation issues come to the fore of federal education policy, this is the trade group with the strongest "knowledge" base - and the strongest commitment to advancing the state of the art.

Bravo to President  Jim Kohlmoos and the Knowledge Alliance Board!