After a 1978 meeting, eight professional education organizations drafted a position statement on the essentials of education. The statement affirmed that the interdependence of skills and content is the central concept of the essentials of education, and that subject disciplines are interdependent. The statement also listed specific essentials of education. An integrated model that could be used to put the essentials of education approach into practice was developed. The model consists of five steps: (1) developing a list of activities for a specific content area, such as art or science; (2) mapping the activity onto a grid that matches content areas with skills that include comprehending, symbol making, communicating, expressing oneself, problem solving, and logical reasoning; (3) developing a teaching schedule for each activity; (4) calculating the amount of time spent on each content area and skill; and (5) developing a planning sheet that takes into consideration teaching strategies, evaluation of activities, and resource materials for each activity. In the Colorado and Arizona schools in which the model has been implemented, teachers have noted positive benefits such as high student motivation and increased student cooperation. Appendixes include a copy of the position statement, a solar system unit activities sheet, a list of subject units developed, and short professional biographies of the model's two developers. (BC)