The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development doing business as ASCD is a membership-based non-profit organization founded in 1943. It has more than 125,000 members from more than 128 countries, including superintendents, principals, teachers, professors of education, and other educators. [1] The ASCD Community also includes 52 affiliate organizations, self-organized Connected Communities, and ASCD Student Chapters. [2]
While ASCD was initially founded with a focus on curriculum and supervision, the association now provides its members with professional development, educational leadership, and capacity building. [3] ASCD is a global community advancing student achievement by supporting the whole child, and seeks to develop programs, products, and services essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead. [4]
ASCD formed when the National Education Association's Society for Curriculum Study and Department of Supervisors and Directors of Instruction merged in 1943. ASCD became totally independent of the NEA in 1972. [5]
On July 1, 2015, Deborah Delisle became ASCD’s executive director and CEO. Delisle was Ohio's 35th state superintendent of public instruction, and a former Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education who was nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 27, 2012. [6]
ASCD is governed by a 10-member Board of Directors, which includes the association's executive director and is chaired by the association's president. A Leadership Council of elected and appointed ASCD members also provides guidance. [7] Benjamin Shuldiner, the distinguished lecturer of education leadership at Hunter College, City University of New York, took office as ASCD’s current president in July, 2016. [8]
Educational Leadership (EL) magazine is ASCD's flagship publication, with a circulation of 135,000. EL provides information about teaching and learning, new ideas and practices relevant to practicing educators, and the latest trends and issues affecting prekindergarten through higher education. EL is published eight times each year, September through May, with a combined issue in December/January. [9] EL also publishes a digital Summer issue that is free to the public.
In March 2007, ASCD launched its Whole Child Initiative to ensure all children are healthy, safe, engaged in learning, supported by caring adults, and academically challenged. [10] The public-engagement and advocacy campaign encourages schools and communities to work together so that each student has access to a challenging curriculum in a healthy and supportive environment. [11] ASCD contends that "current educational practice and policy focus overwhelmingly on academic achievement. This achievement, however, is but one element of student learning and development and only a part of any complete system of educational accountability." [12]
Some experts like David Magnani, an education policy consultant, believe it could take significant effort to convince lawmakers of the need for the broader definition of achievement and accountability that the Whole Child Initiative promotes. [11] Despite such concerns, the initiative has gained momentum and thousands of parents, educators, community leaders, and policymakers have sought more information from the initiative's website. [13] In addition, dozens of partner organizations, such as the American School Health Association, Developmental Studies Center, and the National School Boards Association, have signed on in support of the initiative. [14]
ASCD has worked with a number of education experts to develop professional development programs, online courses, and publications to help educators learn, teach, and lead. Differentiated instruction, Understanding by Design, and What Works in Schools are the focus of much of its professional development offerings. [15]
Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or online teacher, many homeschool families use less formal, more personalized and individualized methods of learning that are not always found in schools. The actual practice of homeschooling varies considerably. The spectrum ranges from highly structured forms based on traditional school lessons to more open, free forms such as unschooling, which is a lesson- and curriculum-free implementation of homeschooling. Some families who initially attended a school go through a deschool phase to break away from school habits and prepare for homeschooling. While "homeschooling" is the term commonly used in North America, "home education" is primarily used in Europe and many Commonwealth countries. Homeschooling should not be confused with distance education, which generally refers to the arrangement where the student is educated by and conforms to the requirements of an online school, rather than being educated independently and unrestrictedly by their parents or by themselves.
Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original research on ways of teaching and learning music. Music education scholars publish their findings in peer-reviewed journals, and teach undergraduate and graduate education students at university education or music schools, who are training to become music teachers.
Understanding by Design, or UbD, is an educational theory for curriculum design of a school subject, where planners look at the desired outcomes at the end of the study in order to design curriculum units, performance assessments, and classroom instruction. UbD is an example of backward design, the practice of looking at the outcomes first, and focuses on teaching to achieve understanding. It is advocated by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins (1950-2015) in their Understanding by Design (1998), published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Understanding by Design and UbD are registered trademarks of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
Inclusion in education refers to all students being able to access and gain equal opportunities to education and learning. It arose in the context of special education with an individualized education program or 504 plan, and is built on the notion that it is more effective for students with special needs to have the said mixed experience for them to be more successful in social interactions leading to further success in life. The philosophy behind the implementation of the inclusion model does not prioritize, but still provides for the utilization of special classrooms and special schools for the education of students with disabilities. Inclusive education models are brought into force by educational administrators with the intention of moving away from seclusion models of special education to the fullest extent practical, the idea being that it is to the social benefit of general education students and special education students alike, with the more able students serving as peer models and those less able serving as motivation for general education students to learn empathy.
Curriculum mapping is a procedure for reviewing the operational curriculum as it is entered into an electronic database at any education setting. It is based largely on the work of Heidi Hayes Jacobs in Mapping the Big Picture: Integrating Curriculum and Assessment K-12 and Getting Results with Curriculum Mapping. Schools are using curriculum templates that display key components of the curriculum: content, skills, assessments, and essential questions.
The College of Education is the undergraduate and graduate education school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. It was founded in 1905 and took on its current name in 1918 after previously being known as the School of Education. The college offers undergraduate, graduate, and online programs in areas including elementary education, early childhood education, special education, and Educational Organization and Leadership. It began with six departments; three of them merged and formed the largest department in the college. All departments offer masters and doctoral degrees. However, only two departments offer undergraduate degree programs: Special Education and Curriculum & Instruction. The college also offers 16 online programs. Students seeking an undergraduate degree in the college must meet the minimum graduation requirement set forth by the university. To obtain a certification, students must also meet the requirements of the Council on Teacher Education, a professional educational administration at the University of Illinois. The total enrollment is 1,361 students as of 2015.
Educational leadership is the process of enlisting and guiding the talents and energies of teachers, students, and parents toward achieving common educational aims. This term is often used synonymously with school leadership in the United States and has supplanted educational management in the United Kingdom. Several universities in the United States offer graduate degrees in educational leadership.
Youth and Educators Succeeding, formerly known as Generation YES, was a U.S. based non-profit organization that works with schools around the world to empower underserved students and ensure that technology investments in education are both cost effective and meaningful. Dr. Dennis Harper was the founder and CEO from 1996 to 2020; upon his retirement, Adam F.C. Fletcher succeeded him. YES programs focused on student centered, project-based learning "experiences that impact student's lives and increase student involvement in school and community through the use of technology." In addition, research showed "all YES programs improved the use of technology in the school as a whole."
Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs is an author and internationally recognized education leader known for her work in curriculum mapping, curriculum integration, and developing 21st century approaches to teaching and learning.
Janet Hale is an American educational consultant / trainer and national staff development specialist in Curriculum Mapping, Standards Literacy, and Documenting Learning who provides consulting, coaching, and professional learning opportunities.
Susan Neuman is an educator, researcher, and education policy-maker in early childhood and literacy development. In 2013, she became Professor of Early Childhood and Literacy Education, and Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
Donna Wilson is an educational and school psychologist, teacher educator, and author of 20 books applying mind, brain, and education science. Wilson is the head of academic affairs of the Center for Innovative Education and Prevention (CIEP) and BrainSMART. She presents at educational conferences in the United States and internationally and blogs regularly on Edutopia. She serves as advisor to New York City's Portfolio School and on the foundation of Carl Albert State College.
Differentiated instruction and assessment, also known as differentiated learning or, in education, simply, differentiation, is a framework or philosophy for effective teaching that involves providing all students within their diverse classroom community of learners a range of different avenues for understanding new information in terms of: acquiring content; processing, constructing, or making sense of ideas; and developing teaching materials and assessment measures so that all students within a classroom can learn effectively, regardless of differences in their ability. Differentiated instruction means using different tools, content, and due process in order to successfully reach all individuals. Differentiated instruction, according to Carol Ann Tomlinson, is the process of "ensuring that what a student learns, how he or she learns it, and how the student demonstrates what he or she has learned is a match for that student's readiness level, interests, and preferred mode of learning." According to Boelens et al. (2018), differentiation can be on two different levels: the administration level and the classroom level. The administration level takes the socioeconomic status and gender of students into consideration. At the classroom level, differentiation revolves around content, processing, product, and effects. On the content level, teachers adapt what they are teaching to meet the needs of students. This can mean making content more challenging or simplified for students based on their levels. The process of learning can be differentiated as well. Teachers may choose to teach individually at a time, assign problems to small groups, partners or the whole group depending on the needs of the students. By differentiating product, teachers decide how students will present what they have learned. This may take the form of videos, graphic organizers, photo presentations, writing, and oral presentations. All these take place in a safe classroom environment where students feel respected and valued—effects.
Good Shepherd Cathedral School (GSCS) is a Filipino Catholic school located at the corner of Omega Avenue and Rado Street in West Fairview, Quezon City, Philippines. It is a private sectarian school situated at the back of the Cathedral Shrine and Parish of the Good Shepherd, the seat of the Bishop of Novaliches. GSCS is a member-school of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Novaliches Educational System (RCBN-ES), the Manila Ecclesiastical Province School Systems Association (MaPSA), the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), and of the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU).
Global education is a mental development program that seeks to improve global human development based on the understanding of global dynamics, through the various sectors of human development delivery. In formal education, as a mode of human development delivery, it is integrated into formal educational programs, as an advanced program where global dimensions to local problems are appreciated through interconnectivity. Its first phase began as an undertaking to restructure education and society in the 1960s and 1970s, through the initiatives of educationalists, NGOs and intergovernmental organizations. The program evolves with the internet, and is in its virtual interconnectivity phase, through social media and other global public spheres. This global approach to mental development, seeks to fix the failing curriculum-based global education program that is: stuck in limited subject knowledge, based on theories that have failed the world ;hinged on memorization without visual exposure to knowledge development resources and global culture, limited by access to human development resources. Instead, the program seeks to improve the global mental resources pool through the appreciation of global dynamics and local perspectives on issues. This is through alternative motivations for global human development, and alternative global futures hinged on interconnectivity.
In education, affect is broadly defined as the attitudes, emotions, and values present in an educational environment. The two main types of affect are professional affect and student affect. Professional affect refers to the emotions and values presented by the teacher which are picked up by the student, while student affect refers to the attitudes, interests, and values acquired in the educational environment. While there is the possibility of overlap between student and professional affect, the terms are rarely used interchangeably by educational professionals, with student affect being reserved primarily for use to describe developmental activities present in a school which are not presented by the teacher.
Robert J. Garmston is an educator, author, and cognitive theorist. He is Professor Emeritus, School of Education, at California State University, Sacramento. In 2014 he is the director of Facilitation Associates, an educational consulting firm specializing in leadership, learning, and organizational development.
Jon (Jonathan) Bergmann is a chemistry teacher and one of the developers of the "flipped classroom" model of teaching along with fellow chemistry teacher Aaron Sams. Although already noted for his teaching, Bergmann decided to "flip" what students did in his classes, watching video lectures at home and doing exercises (homework) in class under supervision. He and Sams not only found that grades went up, they also found time for other types of activities, which Bergmann states is more important than the videos. Bergmann has since become the lead technology facilitator for a school in Illinois, and has worked to promote the models speaking at schools, universities and more both in the United States and abroad. He currently teaches science at a high school in suburban Houston Texas.
Data-driven instruction is an educational approach that relies on information to inform teaching and learning. The idea refers to a method teachers use to improve instruction by looking at the information they have about their students. It takes place within the classroom, compared to data-driven decision making. Data-driven instruction works on two levels. One, it provides teachers the ability to be more responsive to students’ needs, and two, it allows students to be in charge of their own learning. Data-driven instruction can be understood through examination of its history, how it is used in the classroom, its attributes, and examples from teachers using this process.
Educational management refers to the administration of the education system in which a group combines human and material resources to supervise, plan, strategise, and implement structures to execute an education system. Education is the equipping of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, habits, and attitudes with learning experiences. The education system is an ecosystem of professionals in educational institutions, such as government ministries, unions, statutory boards, agencies, and schools. The education system consists of political heads, principals, teaching staff, non-teaching staff, administrative personnel and other educational professionals working together to enrich and enhance. At all levels of the educational ecosystem, management is required; management involves the planning, organising, implementation, review, evaluation, and integration of an institution.