What Students Need to Learn

The pressure to raise test scores and the looming possibility of national standards has educators asking difficult questions about what students need to learn. How do state and national assessments and standards play into curricular decisions? How do schools decide which subjects are essential? And how do they ensure that nontested subjects, such as the arts, foreign languages, and social studies, have a place? This issue will address the standards movement, interdisciplinary learning, the question of curricular breadth or depth, the teaching of essential knowledge and skills, and the need for a well-rounded curriculum.

ASCD Express is looking for short, 600 to 1,000-word essays on the theme "What Students Need to Learn." Guidelines for submissions are here. Please send us your submissions by December 10, 2010.

We welcome international contributions and real-life stories about how schools and districts have reinvigorated their curriculums.