Publish in 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 brief, practical content (articles of about 600 words; multimedia no longer than 10 minutes).

We welcome research-based submissions 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 publishing in ASCD Express. When submitting articles, please write the issue theme in the subject line of your e-mail.

2013–14 Themes

 denotes a theme that corresponds to an issue of Educational Leadership.

October 10: Leveraging Teacher Leadership 

Teachers are increasingly being held responsible for student outcomes, but they're often shut out of the debate about how to improve teaching and learning. This issue will examine the many ways that schools are empowering excellent teachers to become change agents. What skills and competencies do teacher leaders need? What formal and informal roles do they play? What does research say about the benefits and challenges of distributed school leadership? Articles will discuss collaborative leadership efforts, such as professional learning communities and data analysis teams; the role of teacher leaders in mentoring and coaching their peers; and what principals can do to create a school culture in which collegiality around school improvement flourishes.

Submissions Closed

October 24: Assessment and Differentiation

How to assess individuals fairly can be a challenge for even the most thoughtful teacher. Has the push for "secure" assessment data distracted us from the real purpose of assessments—to generate feedback that fuels learning and informs how to better teach to individual needs? This issue will look at how teachers and schools have rethought and adapted pre-assessment, formative assessment, summative assessment, and grading with differentiation in mind. Find ways to make assessment fair and meaningful for each student, and how to generate assessment data that informs how you will tailor instruction to meet individual student needs.

Submissions Closed

November 7: Tackling Informational Text 

The Common Core State Standards emphasize student interaction with increasingly complex informational text and the need for deep comprehension across all content areas. What are the characteristics of informational text, and what skills does it demand of the reader? Articles will discuss how teachers can best support students as they move through increasing levels of text complexity and how they can build students' domain knowledge and academic vocabulary in science, math, social studies, and language arts. We welcome articles that discuss how administrators can support teachers in this work; how teachers can best address the needs of all their students, including English language learners; and the role technology can play in strengthening students' comprehension.

Submissions Closed

November 21: Struggling Students Back on Track

When students start to slip from goals, what individual and schoolwide supports help most? How do you or your school identify students in need of intervention? What diagnostic tools help you calibrate responses to students' particular needs? How do you motivate students to persist, despite setbacks? What are the common features of successful alternative routes, like early college high schools or second chance high schools? This issue will feature classroom-level examples of the ongoing supports that have helped struggling students reach success, as well as research on and descriptions of programs that target students and uplift them to their potential.

Submissions Closed

December 5: Family-School Relationships

A recent New York Times column opines, "The teacher-parent relationship is a lot like an arranged marriage. Neither side gets a lot of say in the match. Both parties, however, share great responsibility for a child, which can lead to a deeply rewarding partnership or the kind of conflict found in some joint-custody arrangements" (Sara Mosle, "The Dicey Parent-Teacher Duet"). Families are the prime point of influence on students, so how can both sides of this relationship form a bridge that best serves student achievement and well-being? How are teachers using digital tools to maximize communication between home and school? What innovative approaches or programs are flipping traditional school-to-home connections to make schools more accessible to the full diversity of family contexts—including immigrant families, families coping with poverty, LGBT families, and students in foster care or being raised by grandparents or other adults in their lives? What missteps can be avoided in making first contact? How do you build relational trust with families? How does your school engage families as partners in student learning? What are the keystones of a mutually beneficial family-to-school partnership?

Submissions Closed

December 19: Getting Students to Mastery 

How does classroom practice change when the overarching goal for students becomes mastery of the Common Core State Standards? This issue will rethink the goal of mastery in light of such developments as adaptive testing, standards-based grading, formative assessment, and Response to Intervention (RTI). How might schools teach for proficiency and mastery in an age of accountability, and what role can technology play? How are teachers handling homework, and how are they fitting in reteaching and opportunities for test retakes? Articles will discuss strategies for working with students who have mastered the basic objectives as well as helping struggling students who risk falling behind.

Submissions due: October 30, 2013

January 2: Managing Your Work Load

As demands on educators increase, many wonder how they can add one more task to their already full plate. This issue will offer tips for staying organized and managing time. How can technology help—or hinder—educators as they attempt to juggle multiple responsibilities? How do educators set priorities and manage conflicting demands on their time? Articles will consider what kinds of schedules and staffing structures make the most of educators’ limited time, managing stress, juggling multiple responsibilities, workspace organization, and setting priorities to maximize effort where it will have the most impact.

Submissions due: November 1, 2013

January 16: Closing the Engagement Gap

Many students don’t find school engaging; boredom is the top reason students give for dropping out of high school. In this issue, we’ll consider what makes for engaging instruction, including what teaching approaches most foster engagement, how to target instruction to each student’s needs, how to connect new learning to students’ interests and life goals, and ensure that students have opportunities to do meaningful work. What role do rewards and social interaction play in making instruction interesting? How can teachers know what level of work is challenging enough for each learner? How are teachers using technology to increase student engagement? What traditional practices might teachers de-emphasize to make school more engaging to all?

Submissions due: November 15, 2013

January 30: STEM

How can schools enhance the traditional ways of teaching STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math)? This issue will consider how schools are grounding math and science instruction in real-world scenarios, varying the traditional sequence of science courses, and creating new courses in developing fields. How are schools connecting STEM courses to workplace readiness? What effect do the Common Core State Standards have on the STEM curriculum? How are Next Generation Science Standards reshaping STEM? How are schools tapping into cutting-edge digital technologies to teach STEM skills? How can we attract more students—particularly girls and minorities—into STEM-related classes and fields?

Submissions due: November 30, 2013

February 13: Building School Morale 

How do we build schoolwide cultures in which administrators, teachers, students, and parents are energized and positive about learning? This issue will explore how both principals and teachers can achieve balance, reduce stress, and become confident advocates for public education in the face of outside criticisms. What practices build educator morale; protect educators from negative pressures and initiative fatigue; empower them to be problem solvers; and promote trust, mutual respect, collegiality, and celebration? How can the demands of accountability and high expectations be realized in a positive culture? How can school leaders create a culture of community by forging alliances and involving families?

Submissions due: December 15, 2013

February 27: Inside the Hot Topics at ASCD's 2014 Annual Conference

Be the smartest attendee in the room (or on the hashtag), with this primer on some of the hot topics that will be presented at ASCD's 2014 Annual Conference in Los Angeles. Build background knowledge before you go to AC 2014, so that you'll get the most out of your Conference experience. This issue will include bites from the influential work of some of the big names presenting at AC 2014, as well as exclusive, original content especially for AC 2014 attendees (or those attending in spirit).

Submissions Closed

March 13: Using Assessments Thoughtfully 

With the new assessments connected to the Common Core State Standards to be implemented in the 2014–15 school year, high-stakes tests will continue to be a force shaping schooling. This issue will look at current questions and challenges associated with both high- and low-stakes tests. How different will the new assessments created for the Common Core be? What must schools do now to prepare for the new tests, including providing professional development and getting the infrastructure needed for computerized testing? How can schools fairly assess English language learners and students with learning differences? What about "exit exams" for high school students? How do such gatekeeper tests affect at-risk youth and the dropout rate? We welcome new perspectives on how to align standardized and classroom-based tests and how to teach for meaning in an age of testing.

Submissions due: January 1, 2014

March 27: Revisiting Informational Texts

We received so many quality submissions for the theme of the November 7 issue, "Tackling Informational Texts," that we're repeating the theme. This issue will include all new, original, practitioner-submitted strategies and advice for meeting and exceeding the Common Core State Standards' emphasis on increasingly complex informational text and the need for deep comprehension across all content areas.

Submissions Closed

April 10: Writing: A Core Skill 

The Common Core State Standards call for schools to emphasize not only creative and narrative writing, but also argumentative and informative writing. How can writing instruction across the content areas best respond to these new standards? How important is it to explicitly teach language mechanics, such as spelling, vocabulary, and sentence construction? How can schools give writing instruction more time in the day and more focus in all subjects? This issue will examine the writing skills that students need to develop to become college and career ready, as well as promising approaches for teaching writing.

Submissions due: January 15, 2014

April 24: The Effort Effect

How do you get students to see intelligence and achievement as outcomes they can grow with effort? Experts like Carol Dweck argue that activities that encourage, acknowledge, and support sustained effort help students develop a growth mind-set, which leads to not just short-term achievement but also long-term success. Working within students' zone of proximal development, teachers can design tasks that challenge yet don't overwhelm, that communicate the value of hard work, and frame feedback as a tool for improvement. How do you help students set goals and chart their progress toward these targets with regular, informative feedback and self-assessments? What helps students internalize the habit of practice and Dweck's axiom that "even geniuses work hard"?

Submissions due: February 1, 2014

May 8: The New Face of Professional Development 

Professional learning is no longer only something that schools do for educators; it's also something educators do for themselves. Educators are not only building professional communities online and in their schools and districts, but they are also personalizing their own learning. Data teams, lesson study groups, and virtual communities provide opportunities to learn with and from peers. Teacher-led "unconferences" and edcamps provide new models for professional conferences. And blogs, wikis, and Twitter chats are enabling educators to learn and share anytime and anywhere. How can school leaders customize and evaluate professional development opportunities? What types of learning communities are most effective, and what are some of the barriers to creating such communities?

Submissions due: February 15, 2014

May 22: Building Academic Vocabulary

Academic vocabulary is one of the strongest indicators of how well students will learn subject-area content. Unfortunately, time constraints can make vocabulary development an afterthought, especially in content-area classrooms. How do you include vocabulary instruction in daily lesson plans? Which tech tools are most effective in supporting vocabulary development? How do you help language learners simultaneously develop content knowledge and language skills? What strategies are most effective in coordinating a whole-school focus on vocabulary? This issue will build on research that recognizes learning as fundamentally dependent on vocabulary knowledge and offer practical advice for all educators seeking strategies to shore up this essential learner resource.

Submissions due: March 1, 2014

June 5: Technology and Differentiated Instruction

This issue calls for examples of how to use tech tools to deliver differentiated instruction. Through skills practice and navigating a menu of leveled options on individual devices, for example, technology has the potential to make differentiated instruction more seamless and viable in busy classrooms. Which tools and methodologies hold the greatest potential? How can schools make best use of free applications available on hardware already in the schools or on students' personal devices? What are some of the pitfalls of relying on technology as part of a differentiation strategy?

Submissions due: March 15, 2014

June 19: What Innovative School Leaders Do

Education innovation is often narrowly cast through the lens of the reform movement or technology, but groundbreaking school and classroom leadership comes in many shades. What are your sources for the best ideas in education? How do you translate ideas into action? What are your strategies for adapting innovations to your school context and strategically listening to and involving your constituents in changes? What can the United States learn from successful international schools? Why do some reforms take hold while others fall flat? What sacred cows in education are due for an overhaul? Which classic education ideals deserve renewed attention in the 21st century?

Submissions due: April 1, 2014

July 3: Game-Based Learning

In games, tasks become increasingly more difficult as players compete against other participants, themselves, or the game itself. Particularly with digital games, players receive ongoing feedback and just the right amount of challenge to persist in attempting to clear the next level. From low to high tech, what are some ways educators are incorporating the elements of gaming into instruction? How have you designed tasks that create the sort of "productive frustration" that intrinsically motivates students to keep trying? How can teachers reduce the time between students' effort and feedback on that effort without sacrificing the quality of feedback? How do you help students learn from their mistakes? What processes can be automated or streamlined so that students can independently seek additional levels of challenge or support in what they're learning? What are the limitations of game-based learning? Can it be used to teach higher-order thinking and complex tasks?

Submissions due: April 15, 2014

July 17: The End of Homework

Nobody likes homework: It gives an unfair advantage to students who have the time and conditions to do school work outside of school hours; when it's graded, it distorts the overall picture of student learning; and it's a burden for teachers to keep after students who perpetually don't do it. Instead of these traditional conceptions of homework, experts like Cathy Vatterott suggest revamping homework into something more meaningful—individualized practice. Have you or your school changed policies toward homework? What affected your decisions to stop giving, grading, or otherwise altering your approach to homework? Can there be rigor without reams of homework? How do you build in equitable opportunities for students to practice with skills or content? How do you ensure that practice is purposeful? What are the political snafus inherent in not grading homework or differentiating practice assignments, and how have you dealt with them?

Submissions due: May 1, 2014

July 31: What New Principals Need

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23,200 new principal positions will be added between 2010 and 2020. And as a profession, the current field of 236,100 K–12 principals averages about 1–5 years of experience in a related field. That is a pretty green crop of leaders charged with everything from maintaining school budgets, staffing, and making decisions about student data. Most principals say their learning happens on the job, and for new principals that can be a steep learning curve. This issue will tap both veteran and newly minted school leaders for guidance on how to avoid common missteps, develop a leader identity, set and enact priorities, stay positive, and find and sustain support networks. What do you wish you had known as a new principal?

Submissions due: May 15, 2014

August 14: Managing Messy Learning

Project-based learning is a paradox. It can be the platform for deep immersion in interesting problems or topics, but it can also be wildly unwieldy to conduct. Sometimes depth is sacrificed for the sake of manageability, and the result falls short of the profound learning you’d hoped students would experience. With the mix of learners and the resource limitations in a typical classroom (namely, time), what are the secret ingredients for designing meaningful and manageable project-based learning? How do you align tasks to learning targets? What are the processes and routines that release responsibility to students to work autonomously on a project over time? How is assessment different when students work in groups? How have you partnered with other teachers or organizations to create interdisciplinary units, and what are the keys to keep such partnerships running smoothly? And, finally, why is project-based learning worth doing? How does it positively disrupt traditional templates for teaching and learning?

Submissions due: June 1, 2014

August 28: Tools for a New School Year

Next year will be different. You're taking experiences from this year and translating them into a game plan for next year. You're seeking out professional reading, training, online resources, or a colleague that will help prepare and support you for next year's challenges. We want to know what aspect of your practice you're fine-tuning over the summer break and what resources are taking you to the next level. Looking back on the school year, what was lacking and what sustained you? What do you need to start next year right?

Submissions due: June 30, 2014