NEA Grows More Strategic About Membership

When the nation’s largest teachers’ union convenes in Los Angeles in a week and a half for its annual meeting, the membership news will ring happier than in 2004.

Then, the National Education Association’s count of active-teacher members was down for the first time in 18 years, according to union officials. But over the past year, that number has grown by about 20,000, according to Carmen Quesada, who guides membership strategy for the 2.8 million-member union.

The upturn is no accident. After relying heavily on the growth produced by more teachers coming into the profession, the national organization has hatched new plans in the past few...