Surveys National Council of Teachers of English Centers of Excellence to learn how good English curricula develop. Discusses the Center of Excellence's origins and development, curriculum approval process, implementation, evaluation and assessment, funding, and obstacles. Concludes that the Centers of Excellence offer a highly professional,…

Resisting the notion that there is a single English language arts curriculum that all schools can or should follow, this book focuses on processes for designing, implementing, and evaluating curriculums suited to the needs of individual schools and students. Part 1 of the book (The English Language Arts Curriculum in the 1990s), provides the…

The president of the National Council of Teachers of English recommends steps for a fundamental change in literacy education including teacher training programs, smaller classes, cross curriculum programs, long-range planning for improving English instruction, and de-emphasis of standardized test scores in favor of other measures of literacy. (MJL)