Write for ASCD Express
Published every two weeks, ASCD Express, launched in fall 2005, seeks to give a new generation of educators in the United States and around the world the practical information they need to be the best-informed in the field.
Because of the nature of the web and the demands made on typical educators—too much information and too little time to read it—ASCD Express seeks short, practical articles (about 600 words).
We welcome research-based articles as well as your own examples from the classroom and advice about how to adapt successful strategies or overcome challenges, whether as a teacher, administrator, or specialist.
Read our list of upcoming themes, and consider submitting your article to ASCD Express.
2011–12 Themes
denotes a theme that corresponds to that month's issue of Educational Leadership.
October 13: Coaching: The New Leadership Skill
Education policymakers today are focusing on teachers and administrators as the key to improving schools. Raising effectiveness, however, requires a new kind of professional development that is personalized, job-embedded, context-specific, and collaborative. This issue will explore how educators can develop core coaching skills. How can principals learn to conduct difficult conversations with teachers that change the school culture? How can they combine the roles of evaluator and coach—or should they? We welcome stories from schools that have developed effective instructional-coaching or peer-coaching programs and those that have integrated coaching into their overall mentoring programs or professional development plans.
Submissions Closed
October 27: Structuring Lessons with Learning Goals in Mind
Structuring your classroom lessons lays the groundwork for effective teaching. So when it comes to lesson planning, what’s the difference between standards and objectives? How can teachers make the purpose of each lesson clear to their students? How tightly should lessons be structured to ensure students reach targeted learning goals? And when a lesson plan, although promising on paper, fails to work in practice, what strategies can teachers use to salvage the lesson? This issue welcomes articles that show how teachers help students grasp the purpose behind a lesson, make lesson content relevant to students, and develop classroom activities that allow students to show both content mastery and understanding of the lesson’s goals.
Submissions Closed
November 10: Effective Grading Practices
Grading today is not as simple as A, B, C. Schools are adopting grading systems that go beyond the traditional letter grades or that use those letters in nontraditional ways. Some schools are abandoning letter grades in favor of standards-based report cards. Others have eliminated the zero and the F. Still others are rethinking exactly what should be graded. How, for example, should student effort and participation factor into final grades? This issue will explore the myriad grading practices schools have adopted. Articles may address report cards, homework grades, rubrics, and tests. We’re also interested in how schools and teachers have transformed their grading systems. How did you educate students and parents about the change? What was the response, and how has the change affected teaching and learning?
Submissions Closed
November 24: How Preschool Helps Kids Grow
A generation ago, formal early childhood education basically meant kindergarten—and not every child necessarily enrolled. More recently, there have been calls for making prekindergarten universal in U.S. public schools, as it is in many European nations. But what are the benefits and drawbacks to formalized early childhood schooling? In the modern context of two parents working or single parenthood, and especially for poor children in urban areas, how does preschool provide significant advantages that can set up a child for successful adulthood? In the debate over playtime versus school time, what should developmentally appropriate early childhood learning look like, and does the reality of current preschools match that vision? We’re looking for articles from urban, suburban, and rural settings that can demonstrate best practices in early childhood teaching and learning, emphasizing the social, physical, intellectual, creative, and emotional aspects of the child.
Submissions Closed
December 8: The Resourceful School
Many schools are experiencing shrinking resources, hiring freezes, and continued accountability pressures and are responding by using time, material resources, and educators’ skills in innovative ways. We are looking for lessons from schools that have successfully redirected their efforts to improve and excel. What lessons can educators whose schools have struggled to make adequate yearly progress share with colleagues? How are schools not only raising basic proficiency rates, but also providing a rigorous, well-rounded, 21st century education for an increasingly diverse student population? What kinds of efficiencies and enrichment can technology provide? We welcome articles from innovative schools that are doing more with less—or doing better through ingenuity.
Submissions Closed
December 22: What Makes a Good Leader?
Capable and talented school leadership is needed in many areas for a school to be successful, but how can administrators find potential leaders or continue their own leadership development? What qualities should today’s leaders cultivate to effectively support the needs of a learning community? Are there new sources for school leadership that go untapped, such as students, parents, and community leaders? What benefits accrue to a district or school through the consistent development of distributed leadership, and what’s the best way of sustaining ongoing leadership development? Articles can feature comprehensive programs or proven practices for finding and developing successful school leaders.
Submissions Closed
January 5: Learning with Disabilities
Schools have made great strides in mainstreaming and accommodating students with a variety of learning disabilities, but is it enough? Schools are referring more children to special education, but it’s unclear whether that’s due to an increase of children with real issues; schools getting better at diagnosing them; or, in some cases, educators or parents making mistaken assessments. We’re looking for stories about how schools are successfully working with students who have disabilities, whether they involve autism spectrum disorders, dyslexia, dyscalculia, or deficits in social and emotional areas. We hope to feature programs and schools that have succeeded in putting the needs of the child first, which includes successfully integrating students into the life of the school and meeting such students’ needs as learners.
Submissions Closed
January 19: Countering the Negative Spin on Education
If you follow the media reports, it seems that nearly everyone loves their kids’ local school, but think that K–12 education and the teaching profession needs some kind of major shoring up. Why is that? Can we blame the media’s endless hunger for controversy, or do real problems arise from within the profession itself (e.g., defensive teachers unions, outdated teacher education programs, poor pay or lack of prestige compared to more lucrative professions)? We want to find out what school districts, states, schools, or schools of education are doing to fight the constant downspin of K–12 education. How did you confront a real problem and make lasting changes? How do you work with the local community and news media to highlight your school successes? What kind of professional development do you do with other educators or organizations to increase the professionalism of individuals or your education institution?
Submissions Closed
February 2: For Each to Excel
High standards and personalization: are these two education trends really in opposition? Because of today's expectation that schools bring all students to high levels of achievement, many educators believe that it is more important than ever to get to know students as individuals, identify their needs, and target instruction to each student’s strengths and interests. This issue will explore how schools are personalizing learning to help all students reach common curriculum standards. We are looking for articles on new ways teachers are differentiating instruction and providing student choice and challenge at all grade levels. What does neuroscience tell us about the power of personalized learning? What are the benefits of the common core curriculum, and how can standards and personalization mesh? And what new possibilities for customized education are being created by technology, online courses, and virtual schools?
Submissions Closed
February 16: Supporting Preservice Teachers
The learning trajectory from college education student to classroom teacher—and “master of her own universe”—is pretty compressed. Inevitably, much about education must be learned on the job. But can universities better prepare future teachers? If so, how? Are education schools so worried about the K–12 accountability landscape that teaching to the test is overemphasized in their programs? Should on-site mentoring partnerships, both preservice and inservice, be restricted? And what strategies can preservice education students (or beginning teachers) use to help them cope with the stress of their first assignments? Tell us about your experiences as a college student, preservice teacher, or beginning educator that helped you best prepare for your highest and lowest moments in the classroom or school.
Submissions Closed
March 1: Reading: The Core Skill
The ability to read skillfully and with comprehension is the foundation of student achievement across the curriculum. Yet many students still come to the upper elementary grades without basic reading proficiency. This issue will look at what students at every grade level need to become strong readers. Articles will deal with preschool experiences that help build essential reading readiness skills, primary grades approaches that get early readers off to a solid start, and interventions that are most effective for students who struggle with literacy in both the elementary and secondary grades. We welcome articles on how teachers can connect reading to the content areas, identify struggling adolescent readers and provide effective remediation, develop students’ vocabulary, use both fiction and nonfiction texts, help English language learners, use technology to support deep reading, and work with literacy coaches and reading specialists.
Submissions Closed
March 15: Avoiding Teacher Burnout
How do seasoned teachers surmount the perennial difficulties of their jobs—difficult students, an irritating colleague or parent, less-than-ideal environments, the difficult balance of work and home—and recapture the spark that ignited their passion for teaching long ago? What’s the role of the following in renewing teachers in their careers, especially when they’re on the point of chucking education: reflection; supportive colleagues and administrators; professional development; and not least of all, innovation and creativity? We’re looking for practical articles with specific strategies for confronting and overcoming teacher burnout.
Submissions Closed
March 29: What Does a Whole Child Education Look Like?
A whole child education is something that everyone agrees about in principle but few can articulate in detail. What exactly does it mean to say students should be “healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged?” We welcome articles that illustrate the elements of a whole child education and show how the interplay of different areas in a child’s schooling can be addressed through thoughtful planning for classroom and school activities.
Submissions Closed
April 12: College, Careers, Citizenship
“College and career ready” has become a catchphrase for public schools. But what does it actually mean? It makes sense for schools to hold themselves accountable not just for student proficiency scores and graduation rates but also for students’ success after graduation. But many educators are concerned that high schools are now treating college as the only desirable option and neglecting career and citizenship goals. We are looking for articles describing how high schools are helping all students set and achieve high college, career, and citizenship goals; providing challenging career-readiness courses, apprenticeships, career academies, and partnerships; and furthering 21st century learning skills.
Submissions Due: January 9, 2012
April 26: Evaluating Teacher Accountability
Is teaching art, inspiration, an inborn talent, or a combination of several factors? What are the expectations for teachers at different stages of their careers—beginning, journeyman, and master? How can administrators use accountability to promote a culture of high aspirations and a positive teaching environment where teachers are treated as professionals who act independently, collaborate for the common good, and have the freedom to innovate when needed? And if teachers are not fulfilling their potential, according to their own or the principal’s estimation, how should they be challenged and supported so that they can improve? We welcome articles about effective evaluation practices from both the perspective of administrators or teachers.
Submissions Due: January 23, 2012
May 10: Supporting Beginning Teachers
Beginning teachers, both recent college graduates and second-career teachers, face a host of challenges. Often placed in a classroom to sink or swim, they must take responsibility for their students’ learning even as they are learning to manage the basics of their new role. This issue will examine common characteristics and needs of new teachers. What training should prospective teachers receive before they enter the classroom? Do alternative certification programs provide adequate preparation? What are the most effective ways schools can support new teachers, whatever path they took into the profession? When so many teachers stay in the profession for fewer than five years, how can schools retain the beginning teachers with the most potential? Articles by teachers in their first five years of teaching are especially welcome. What do you wish you had known when you began your career?
Submissions Due: February 6, 2012
May 24: Best Practices for Teaching ELLs
The student population of English language learners (ELLs) has been steadily rising in U.S. schools due to immigration. Many districts, which formerly had homogenous and predictable student enrollment and issues, are now scrambling to find the resources to teach ELLs well. What should schools do to bring English learners up to speed academically to ready them for college or careers in a new land? What steps are schools taking to understand the variety of issues—not only academic but also social, emotional, and economic—that these comparatively new students and their families face? Articles should address how schools and classroom practices address the needs of the whole child while keeping the focus on student mastery of essential knowledge and skills to make a rewarding future.
Submissions Due: February 20, 2012
June 7: Anchoring the Academically Adrift—Before They Get to College
Research shows that today’s college students spend less time studying than they did 40 years ago. And it's not because they're smarter. Despite colleges' apparently decreasing intellectual demands on their students, the number of college students in remediation for English, math, and writing has risen along with enrollment over the last decade. So what should secondary schools be doing to ensure that their students graduate ready to fully take on and flourish in college academics? How can the elements of the intellectual life be nurtured in high school so that students don’t later gravitate to the college gut courses—reading- or writing-free classes with easy graders? We welcome articles that show how schools can routinely promote academic rigor through reading, writing, and discussion.
Submissions Due: March 2
June 21: A Collaborative Approach to Education Reform
Whether educators are personalizing learning and teaching (for both students and teachers), increasing student engagement, or advocating for the reforms that will improve education, success is more likely if they share ideas and take action together. This issue seeks stories of innovative collaborations among education stakeholders, whether within a school, between a school and community, across districts and other schools, or even across countries and cultures. What changes and successes has your collaborative effort achieved? How has the collective brain power and action benefited students, educators, or the wider community?
Submissions Due: March 16, 2012
July 5: New Paradigms for Schooling
Personalized learning, technology infusion and online learning, more challenging content, school-university collaboration, flexible scheduling, a global curriculum, greater cognitive demands on students, career education and internships—what needs to change in education to ensure that students in the 21st century are learning to the best of their abilities? Will the information technology revolution ultimately change teaching and learning in radical ways? If you have parts of the “future of learning” already working in your school, we invite you to send us your story.
Submissions Due: March 29, 2012
July 19: On the Road of Common Core State Standards
So what does the hubbub about Common Core State Standards mean for school administrators and teachers in the classroom? When will the standards, which more than 40 states have signed on to, take effect and how? At least one study has pointed out the common core standards have little in common with current state standards, Massachusetts’s exemplary standards, or the standards of high-achieving nations like Finland, Japan, and Singapore. Is this departure a good thing, or should we worry? This issue seeks articles from districts and schools that are well along in the process of making sense of and planning for the use of the Common Core State Standards. What resources and practical advice comes to the fore as districts and schools figure out how to cope with the standards?
Submissions Due: April 13, 2012
August 2: Who's Afraid of Student Advisory?
Parents are the first and primary educators of their children, but families rely—sometimes too heavily—on schools to provide academic and social guidance for their students. What’s the best way to cultivate the relationships between families and schools to ensure that parents or guardians have priority but that kids are still properly cared for, especially in school? What role should student advisors, be they guidance counselors or more systematic student advisory programs, play to help ensure students are healthy, learn all they can, and grow socially and emotionally? We’re looking for articles about various forms of student advisories, at primary and secondary levels, that show a positive effect on students and school culture. What are the minimum requirements of an effective student advisory system? How do such programs personalize and enrich the school experience? What are the limits of advisories?
Submissions Due: April 27, 2012
August 16: Civics in Action
The run up to the 2012 U.S. presidential and congressional elections, in an atmosphere of increasing polarization of partisan politics, provides classrooms any number of teachable moments for understanding civics and its importance in the life of a nation. What is your school doing to help students understand politics, society, and their key role as future or current voters? While avoiding partisan bias, how can teachers help students observe, question, and explore the political beliefs underlying the political platforms of various candidates? How can students learn to see the political parallels between U.S. politics and those of other countries and the interplay of political systems within the global economic network? This issue seeks articles that show how schools encourage students to explore in depth the current U.S. or international political scene and apply their learning in meaningful ways.
Submissions Due: May 14, 2012
August 30: Child Development and Learning
A thorough understanding of child and adolescent development can help educators create appropriate levels of differentiation for their students’ learning. Is there new information about child development that teachers would benefit in knowing? How can that research be translated to best practices about how children learn through increased motivation, attention, memory, thinking, and action? How can understanding child development inform schoolwork, homework, and assessment? We welcome articles that can show how and explain why developmentally appropriate practices make a difference in student learning in a variety of subject areas.
Submissions Due: May 28, 2012
September 27: Creating, Cultivating, and Sustaining a Culture of Achievement
A school’s culture makes a difference in the lives of its educators and especially its students. The culture of a school can also be a major factor that helps cultivate student achievement. A good school culture has high expectations for student behavior and achievement that focuses on building on students’ strengths but also zealously giving students (and teachers) the support they need to learn and grow. This issue seeks examples of school cultures that support and sustain student achievement. How does the school convey high academic expectations and support students in that regard? What efforts are made to support staff stability? How are positive behavior and strong relationships between students and staff, among staff, and between school and families cultivated and maintained? What influence has a good school culture had on student achievement and growth?
Submissions Due: June 22, 2012