Educational Leadership

Founded as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, ASCD has spent more than 75 years embracing a unique and compelling set of core principles. It has focused not just on the academic goals of curriculum, but also on education's broader social dimensions, including the development of students' moral and creative capacities and an understanding of their diverse needs. It called for greater collaboration and cross-pollination between district leaders, school principals, and teachers (a priority soon reflected in its membership). And it sought to provide a trustworthy and independent forum for educator voice, support, and idea sharing, including on controversial and challenging issues. During its first 75 years, ASCD has carried out and built on those principles in ways that even its forward-thinking founders might not have imagined. Through its publications, books, conferences, advocacy work, digital resources, professional development services, and—perhaps most of all—its membership, the organization has fostered a robust and ceaselessly questioning community of professional learners.