ASCD, The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

Resource Clearinghouse

Healthy | Safe | Engaged | Supported | Challenged

Challenged

Learn more about what it means to be challenged.

For a guide to the Resource Clearinghouse, please click here.

Major Reports and Books

  • Learning, Arts, and the Brain. Dana Foundation, 2008. (PDF, 126 pgs.) A multi-university report on arts and cognition reveals new insights into the arts-thinking skills connection.
  • Reassessing the Achievement Gap: Fully Measuring What Students Should Be Taught in School. Campaign for Educational Equity, Teachers College, Columbia University, 2008. (PDF, 29 pgs.) A new report from The Campaign for Educational Equity argues for broader measures of assessment in NAEP.
  • Choices, Changes, and Challenges: Curriculum and Instruction in the NCLB Era. Center on Education Policy, 2007. (PDF, 20 pgs.) This report examines the amount of time spent during the school week on core academic subjects and how that allocation of time across subjects has changed since school year 2001-02 when NCLB was enacted.
  • Beyond the Basics: Achieving a Liberal Education for All Children. Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, 2007. (PDF, 192 pgs.) In the era of NCLB, liberal learning is on the defensive. This report develops the rationale for liberal education in the primary and secondary grades, explores what policymakers and educators at all levels can to do sustain liberal learning, and sketches an unlovely future if we fail.
  • The Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2007. (web report) A major national report that presents statistics on 48 different educational indicators.
  • Are They Really Ready to Work? The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, The Society for Human Resource Management, 2006 (web report, available for purchase) An in-depth study of the corporate perspective on the readiness of new entrants into the U.S. workforce by level of educational attainment, including results from both a survey conducted during April and May 2006 and interviews with a sampling of a dozen human resources and other senior executives.
  • Ready for Tomorrow: Helping All Students Achieve Secondary and Postsecondary Success. A Guide for Governors. National Governors Association, 2003. (PDF, 43 pgs.) This guide offers advice to states on how to improve schools from kindergarten through college to prepare students to become productive citizens.

Articles and Briefs

  • Democracy for Some: The Civic Opportunity Gap in High School. Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), 2008. (PDF, 30 pgs.) This paper documents the "civic opportunity gap" that often denies lower-income students a quality civic education.
  • Analysis Finds Time Stolen From Other Subjects for Math, Reading. Education Week, 2008. (web article) A new report from the Center for Education Policy finds that NCLB is decreasing instruction time in a number of subjects that compose a challenging curriculum.
  • Teaching Students to Think. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2008. (web publication) This issue is a great resource for educators who know how important it is to challenge students. You'll find articles that touch on the teaching, curriculum, and research aspects of thinking skills.
  • Making the Grade in a Global Economy. Is It Good For the Kids, ASCD, 2008. (web column) It is crunch time for scaling up school reform in the United States. At stake is whether an entire generation of learners will fail to make the grade in a global economy. This editorial calls for systems, schools and communities to prepare whole children for the whole world.
  • Critical Evidence: How the Arts Benefit Student Achievement. National Assembly of State Arts Agencies in collaboration with the Arts Education Partnership, 2007. (PDF, 24 pgs.) An online booklet that makes the case keeping arts education strong in all schools.
  • Making Every Moment Count: Maximizing Quality Instructional Time. Multiple associations, 2007. (PDF, 31 pgs.) A collaborative project that includes short papers by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the International Reading Association, the National Council for the Social Studies, and many other educational groups on their recommendations to promote effective use of class time.
  • Dangerous Intersection Ahead. American Association of School Administrators (AASA), 2007. (web article) Interviews with Daniel Pink, Stephen Covey, and Michael Gelb discuss preparing students for the world beyond high school.
  • Social Studies Jockeys for Position in a Narrowing Curriculum: NCLB a "Thief of Time." Education Update, ASCD, 2006. (web article, available for purchase) Social studies faces competition from other subjects, but educators can ensure its inclusion by teaching across the curriculum.
  • Foreign Language Learning Gap Concerns U.S. Leaders. Education Update, ASCD, 2006. (web article, available for purchase) The U.S. lags behind other nations in foreign language learning, and various educators and policymakers have ideas on how to close the gap.
  • The Arts Make a Difference. Educational Leadership, ASCD, 2006. (web article, available for purchase) Evidence shows that the arts can have a powerful impact on student achievement, particularly among at-risk students.
  • Safeguarding First Amendment Freedoms. Is It Good For the Kids?, ASCD, 2005. (web column) This column argues that providing students with knowledge of their freedoms and experience in civic activities is vital, both for students and for our democracy.
  • Immigrant Students and Secondary School Reform: Compendium of Best Practices. Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), 2004. (PDF, 86 pgs.) A broad review of literature about immigrant students and recommendations of best practices collected through surveys, interviews, and conversations with school district leaders.

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