Benefits of TSA membership: As a recognized student organization, TSA offers you and your students the opportunity to be involved in local, state, and national completions; to participate in leadership training; and to network with students and teachers from other schools.
To the Students: Perhaps the most important benefit of TSA membership is the inspiration and enthusiasm that students gain from receiving recognition for applying their knowledge. Demonstrating skills in a forum beyond school walls motivates students, especially when there is a large, like-minded audience of peers who support them. Other benefits include these opportunities:
to work with guidance on complex projects from start to finish
to work closely as part of a team
to compete on state and national levels
to develop leadership skills by participating at the local, state, or national levels
to meet and work with business and industry leaders to travel to organized meetings
to meet other students with similar interests from all over the United States
to contribute time and effort to a national service project
to receive all national membership services, including the TSA newsletter, School Scene
to receive recognition through TSA's honor society, scholarships, and achievement programs
to have a voice in a national organization that is helping shape the future of technology education in America's classrooms
Competitive Events: Chapters may choose to work on TSA competitions only within your school or you can take TSA beyond the school building to compete with others around the state and/or country in technology competitions.
Leadership Opportunities: Leadership training is offered at the state and national level. Officers are elected at the local (chapter) level, the state level, and the national level.
Conferences: State and national conferences are an excellent way to expand your TSA experience. They provide a venue for exciting competitions, as well as an opportunity to meet students and advisors from other schools with similar interests.
To the Teacher: Involvement gives you an avenue to help build your program and gain student buy in to what you do in the classroom. Further, TSA allows teachers the opportunity to network, share ideas, and learn from other teachers and industry professionals.
The competitive events used in TSA also make good additions your curriculum. These standards based activities can be easily adapted for classroom use and include scoring rubrics for easy assessment. TSA activities are presented in the state frameworks as a preferred assessment method.
Program approval & State Standards: The new Washington State Standards for Technology Education have recently been released. These standards and the accompanying frameworks outline content in a variety of Technology Education courses. All of the TSA competitive events are based on these standards and are linked to the Washington State Essential Academic Learning Requirements (EALR’s) and Grade Level Expectations (GLE’s).
The new Career and Technical Education Program Standards require that CTE programs have a leadership component. TSA is the preferred venue for schools to meet this standard in their Tech Ed, Industrial Technology, Pre-Engineering, Material Science, Principles of Technology, and Applied Math programs.
In the next few years, all CTE programs will go through the re-approval process. Having a TSA chapter will help to streamline this process, by helping your school meet the Leadership requirements while at the same time offering assessment tools for your courses.
TSA has developed a new, extremely useful tool for its chapters.When chapters affiliate, they will receive a free copy of Total TSA.This unique tool includes a CD of Membership Materials, the Competitive Events, and 100 Leadership Lessons.TSA is the first CTSO to provide such a tool, that not only presents the information chapters need to be successful, but also correlates the competitive events to the STEM standards and to leadership skills.
Chapters will no longer be able to purchase the competitive events guide and the guide will no longer be available in a book form.Washington TSA is recommending that chapters affiliate early in order to receive the materials they need to succeed.The middle school competitive events guide has been completely revised with rule changes, revised events, and new competitions.Along with this, some of the high school events have been edited to correct misprints in last years book.At both levels, members should refer to the new Total TSA for the most up to date information.
Bringing Leadership, Competition, and Curriculum together with the Total TSA
Leadership:
Leadership is the foundation of the organization.TSA offers a variety of leadership opportunities to help its members develop their skills so they can become productive members of society.By learning and absorbing the core leadership skills, young people are empowered to succeed not only in school, but in their careers and in life.TSA’s leadership opportunities include chapter/state/national officer teams, leadership training seminars, leadership curriculum for use in the classroom, state and national conferences, the TSA achievement program, and our competitive events.
TSA has identified which leadership skills are taught/ reinforced by each competitive event.In order to better teachthese important leadership skills, TSA has created a set of “leadership lessons” based on the core leadership skills as they relate to TSA competitions. These lessons can be used during the school day or when chapter meetings occur.
Competitive Events:
TSA offers over 60 different Middle and High School level competitive events.These events vary in content and task, so there is sure to be something for everyone.Each of these competitions is offered at the state and national level, to allow students to demonstrate their technical and leadership skills outside the classroom walls.
Imagine an activity so captivating that students spend hours working on it after school for weeks at a time.That’s what happens when TSA members engage in TSA’s competitions.Only TSA members have the opportunity to compete at exciting state conferences and then at the National Conference.Expert judging by industry professionals inspires the best from participants.
Curricular Integration:
Possibly TSA’s most positive aspect is it’s ability to be integrated into the curriculum.From the use of competitive events as an assessment or instructional tool in the classroom to the use of leadership materials to enhance student learning, TSA offers classroom teachers a fresh approach to education.TSA’s completive event include scoring criteria to make grading simple,while the leadership lessons provide the instructor with everything they need to be successful with the lesson.All of TSA’s activities are based on the national STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) standards, and have been correlated to the state EALR’s.When chapters affiliate, they will receive a free copy of the Total TSA CD. This unique tool includes Membership Materials, Competitive Events and the standards correlation, and 100 Leadership Lessons.
(As determined by the TSA, Inc. Board of Directors)
Contact: Sandy Honour Membership Manager
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Affiliation Process
Membership is only processed through the National TSA on-line affiliation system. Faxed or mailed affiliation forms will be returned with instructions to affiliate on-line.
A chapter may upgrade its membership from individual to CAP membership by paying the monetary difference to equal the CAP membership fee. A Chapter may not change from CAP to individual.
A chapter that has paid individual membership fees in excess of the CAP fee may change to CAP status.
Any chapter reporting National TSA membership that does not have a state TSA delegation is placed in the chapter-at-large category. All chapters in the chapter-at-large category have rights and privileges of any other National TSA chapter, with the exception of state delegation officer representation.
Members of chapters in the chapter-at-large category are considered members in good standing when all applicable chapter and National TSA dues are paid in full.
A school may affiliate more than one chapter provided that the chapters represent different levels, i.e., a middle school level and a high school level may physically exist at one school, but not two middle school levels; separate membership affiliations must be submitted to the National TSA office; separate registrations for the national conference must be submitted to National TSA.
Any chapter affiliation submitted to National TSA must be personally completed by the chapter advisor (or an appointed officer).
Unpaid invoices must be paid in full to National TSA prior to any chapter member participating in a state or national conference.
Chapter Management
There is a required minimum of ten (10) members per chapter. Chapters must have student members to affiliate with TSA. Read the Ten Member Minimum Policy.
Chapter membership type (individual or CAP) must be the same at both the state and national levels.
A student may belong to only one local chapter and to only one state TSA delegation.
TSA membership must be affiliated through a local state-registered education district. "Home-schooled" students may become members through an agreement with an affiliated chapter.
Advisors of TSA chapters must be registered state-certified educators working in existing school facilities. It is recommended that a technology education teacher serve as a TSA chapter advisor. However, in cases where there is no such interested teacher, a state-certified educator may be appointed by the school’s principal. The appointed advisor has the same rights and privileges of any advisor as long as s/he maintains the chapter in good standing.
The chapter level (middle school or high school) is designated by the chapter advisor when affiliating each year.
Two schools may not combine to form one chapter at the same level or different levels. Each school must have a separate affiliated chapter.
A member may only belong to a TSA chapter where he or she attends school, unless they are home-schooled.
Membership Dues
Membership is not processed until all dues (national and state) are paid in full. State dues received at the National TSA office will not be remitted until all dues are paid in full.
All membership dues must be paid at the time of affiliation. Affiliations without dues will not be processed and neither the chapter nor its members will be in good standing until all dues are paid. TSA membership dues are non-refundable and non-transferable.
TSA operates under a unified dues policy, whereby all members must affiliate and pay applicable dues at the local, state, and national level. Individual dues at all levels (high school and middle school) consist of local chapter dues (determined by the chapter), state dues (determined by the state delegation), and national dues (determined by TSA, Inc.).
A written notification of transfer must be sent to the National TSA office if a student has paid individual membership dues and transfers to another chapter/school.
Any advisor affiliated with a chapter must pay the annual advisor dues.
Washington TSA is the lowest cost CTSO in the state. This begins with our dues system which has 2 options.
Before an individual or chapter is eligible to compete in the State Competition, they must first affiliate and pay their state and national dues.Once again Washington TSA will be taking advantage of National TSA’s online affiliation system.Instructions and the log in for this system can be found by visiting the national website at www.tsaweb.org.
Both State and National dues will be paid directly to the National TSA office, and can be done using Purchase Order, Check, or Credit Card.If you have questions or need more information, please contact Ross Short at
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For the 2010-11 school year, TSA has developed a new format for chapter affiliations.Each advisor can choose the format that is best for them:
Red Chapter Affiliation Program (Red CAP)
A chapter affiliates up to ten members by paying a flat fee (additional members may be added during the year for a fee). The membership fee for Red CAP is $150. To add additional members the cost will be $15 each.
White Chapter Affiliation Program (White CAP)
A chapter affiliates eleven or more members by paying a per member White CAP fee for state and national dues.The membership fee for White CAP is $15 per member.
Blue Chapter Affiliation Program (Blue CAP)
A chapter affiliates an unlimited number of members in a school for a flat fee (typically effective when there are more than 25 members). This option is popular in chapters where students rotate through a STEM class for a portion of the year to enable all students to be members.The membership fee for Blue CAP is $550.If you choose this program, please be sure to add all of your member throughout the year to the National Database.
MEMBERSHIP FEES:
Red Chapter Membership:(10 or less Students)
Chapter Fee: $90 National + $60 State = $150 Total Dues
Additional Students: $9 National + $6 State = $15 Total per Student
Advisor:$10 National Dues per Advisor
White Chapter Membership: (11 or more Students)
Student Dues: $9 National + $6 State = $15 Total per Student
Advisor: $10 National Dues per Advisor
Blue Chapter Membership: (Unlimited number of Students)
Student Flat Rate—$350 National +$200 State = $550 Total Dues
Advisor—$10 National Dues per Advisor
**Note each registered advisor will receive a copy of the Total TSA CD, which includes competitive event rules, leadership activities, and membership materials.
All dues are paid directly to National TSA (including state dues), so you will only need 1 PO or Check. However you can split this amongst a 2 PO’s or Checks or Credit Cards if needed.
Once you have affiliated and paid your dues, your chapter will recieve a FREE copy of the Total TSA CD. This 3-CD set includes Membership Materials, Competitive Event Guidlines, and Leadership Activities.
Beyond this, our state conference is offered as an all inclusive cost. The registration fee includes their registration, hotel, and meals. This is an extremely reasonable rate, and will be released in January with the conference registration packet.
