The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) believes that education policy and practice must be based on a comprehensive approach that addresses the learning needs of the whole child. This approach ensures education excellence and equity for each student--especially those from underserved populations. Meeting the needs of the whole child means providing a balanced curriculum, linking health needs with learning expectations, and ensuring fair and comprehensive assessments. ASCD's focus on the whole child is derived from four positions adopted by the ASCD Leadership Council in 2004. These four positions are high-stakes testing, the achievement gap, health and learning, and the whole child. These positions were adopted against the backdrop of the current environment of high-stakes, punitive accountability that pushes educators to narrow the curriculum at the expense of the needs of the whole child. Addressing the needs of students is a moral imperative that must not be ignored, even though such a broad, whole-child view of education places added responsibilities on teachers, schools, policymakers, and the larger community. Meeting these needs requires a conscious effort by educators, policymakers, and the general public to create and sustain schools in which all members of the school community develop ethically, physically, emotionally, and civically--as well as academically.