NASSP Bulletin

To meet the curriculum challenge of the future, we must generate new horizons and new visions that reach across group interests. We must put aside racial, ethnic, and gender issues to achieve a more unified set of interests and collective direction.

This writer looks at the role of the classroom teacher as curriculum leader in the two realms that cannot be taken away by textbook publishers, textmakers, or administrators: i.e., what is taught and what is learned.

The responsibilities of principals as leaders of their schools and as lead ers of curriculum are inseparable. Both functions are subsets of the broader responsibility to be an educa tional leader.

Decision making, if it is to lead to school improvement, should be based on objective and quantifiable criteria. At present, these writers say, most curriculum decisions are made in a variety of ways with a variety of people.

The move to an integrative curriculum must start with interested teachers and administrative support. In addi tion, we must stop thinking about such arrangements as "experimental," this writer warns.

Science/Technology/Society (STS) is the latest effort to provide a real- world, interdisciplinary context for the study of science. Here's how a num ber of districts in one midwestern state are using the approach.

Research tells us that school climate makes a difference. But shaping a winning school climate demands more than awareness, warns this writer.

Is your school a good place to work? Is it a good place to be a student? A teacher? A principal? It may be time to evaluate the climate of your school.

The 10 "commandments" this writer offers are designed to help principals survive the transition to site-based management.

Can the assistant principalship be defined in such a way that it is seen as a valued and desirable position? Are there policies and structures that would enable people who feel no pres sure, obligation, or desire to move into a higher position to find fulfillment and continuous challenge as "career assis tant principals"? This is a concern for educators and policymakers.

We must encourage students to become active, self-aware learners who develop a repertoire of learning skills that fit their needs and learning style. That's the position of this writer, and the conclusion of a significant recent report.