WPLLC > Policy Expertise > Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education > Core Curriculum Areas

Core Curriculum Areas

At the heart of education is the delivery of curriculum. As the nation struggles to grapple with the challenges and demands of the 21st century global economy, implications for what children should learn are significant. What is the critical content that students need to know? What standards should we set for students' learning? How do we assess students' learning, particularly students with disabilities and limited-English proficiency? How do we prepare teachers-pre-service and in-service-to deliver content to a student population that is diverse academically, socio-economically, and culturally? How do we develop and use instructional materials and data to meet these goals? How do the strategies for meeting these goals change in the context of special education, vocational and technical education, and English-language instruction?

WPLLC serves a number of clients whose primary interest is in answering these hard questions, including institutions of higher education that prepare educators; teacher educators; and educators for a range of disciplines including mathematics, science, English and literacy, civics, social studies, and the arts; and educators of students with disabilities, rural students and English language learners.

Specific areas of WPLLC's curriculum expertise include:

• Standards and curriculum
• Professional development
• Relevance of curriculum to American 21st century competitiveness
• Rigorous curriculum in a range of disciplines
• Literacy and writing instruction across the curriculum
• Educator recruitment and retention
• Assessments