In 2011, Christina Public Schools and Killeen Independent School District turned to ASCD for solutions to their unique professional development challenges. Christina Public Schools, the largest district in the state of Delaware, opted for on-site capacity building in differentiating instruction. To meet its professional development needs, the Killeen school district, which in large part serves families of armed forces personnel stationed in central Texas, integrated ASCD's PD In Focus^® professional development solution into its existing professional learning communities.

Several high-needs New York City schools serving diverse urban learners at the elementary, intermediate, and high school level also began new relationships with ASCD in 2011. They turned to ASCD for long-term, sustainable support that included on-site coaching in areas such as using the Understanding by Design^® framework, curriculum mapping, formative assessment, and differentiated instruction. They also came to the association for help developing instructional leadership in administrators and teacher leaders at all levels.

Other districts, such as Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District in Texas, Dougherty County School System in Georgia, and Southfield School District in Michigan, continued to strengthen their relationships with ASCD. Cypress Fairbanks—the third largest district in Texas—entered its third year of ASCD-guided differentiated instruction implementation in all of its Title 1 middle and high schools. Dougherty schools began building capacity with ASCD in 2007 and continue to implement differentiated instruction. Meanwhile, Southfield School District, just outside Detroit, Michigan, continued a multiyear K–12 implementation focused on differentiating instruction.

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Each day community members generate blog posts and multimedia content, take advantage of the more than 150 groups ranging in topic from differentiated instruction to mobile technology in schools, and share ideas about what works in education today. ASCD EDge not only brings voice to the education community, but it also allows educators around the world to network and build relationships.

In 2011, the community surpassed the 30,000-member mark, earning it a significant place in the world of professional networking about education. The free online community serves members who represent all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 149 countries. Among those registered are prominent ASCD authors, important voices from education Twitter chats, and many themed interest groups.

Also this year, many of ASCD's Professional Interest Communities actively migrated to the platform, using it as a solution for program development, training, and member support.

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ASCD's advocacy work in 2011 built on the efforts of the ASCD-convened well-rounded coalition, which was developed to challenge the Obama administration's FY11 budget request that pit core subjects like music, art, and physical education against one another for funding and recognition.

This year, ASCD continued to work with the coalition to strengthen policymakers' support for an amendment that supports well-rounded education, which has been incorporated into the Senate's Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization bill. The association also conducted ongoing meetings with members of Congress about the importance of a comprehensive education.

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ASCD held three summits in 2011 to disseminate key information about the Common Core State Standards and gather educators' feedback about the resources and supports they'll need to help successfully implement the standards in their schools and districts. More than 1,300 members of the education community joined ASCD in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Utah to engage in essential dialogues that will shape the future of education.

ASCD also began creating teaching and learning tools and professional development resources about the standards. Ultimately, ASCD will provide educators with easy access to materials for teaching to the common math and literacy standards. ASCD will also help them translate the standards into multiple instructional techniques to ensure that teachers understand the underlying concepts targeted in the standards.

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Also this year, ASCD's Whole Child Initiative participated in the 2011 Child Well-Being Expert Consultation hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Italian research center for UNICEF, and the Universal Education Foundation in Paris, France.

ASCD, represented by Healthy School Communities Director Sean Slade, was the only global education organization present and was recognized as a key player in the mission to promote child well-being worldwide. OECD also invited ASCD to be part of its Centre for Educational Research and Innovation's initiative on education for social progress.

In addition, Managing Director of Whole Child Programs Molly McCloskey served as an expert reviewer of the UNESCO project General Education Quality Analysis/Diagnosis and Monitoring Framework.

A partner of the Department of Education of the Philippines, ASCD helped host training for 2,500 educators about differentiated instruction and the methodologies outlined in the Understanding by Design^® framework for curiculum, assessment, and learning. For this large-scale, hands-on workshop, ASCD supplied books and informational speakers. The association also played an important role in training and certifying secondary educators in the Philippines in the Understanding by Design framework, providing materials and training that included an intensive workshop for the nation's curriculum writers.

Work in Vietnam is evolving, and thus far six ASCD books have been translated into Vietnamese; the first limited print run of each publication sold out in only four months.

In Singapore, ASCD, ASCD Singapore, and the Singapore Ministry of Education have partnered to provide world-class online learning to teachers. Singapore has integrated a variety of ASCD's new PD Online^® courses into the nation's online teaching and learning portal.

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Attendees built connections at networking events, shared practices and strategies for 21st century education, and identified the next steps to growing a world-class education system. Presenters from around the world sparked discussion about practices and policies that will ensure all children have the opportunity to learn, grow, and prosper, no matter where they attend school.

The ASCD Summer Conference on Differentiated Instruction, Understanding by Design^®. What Works in Schools^® and Curriculum Mapping attracted attendees from more than 30 countries. Later in the year, the sold-out Fall Conference on Teaching and Learning attracted a remarkable number of international attendees: 20 percent of the audience.

For educators unable to attend ASCD's conferences in person, ASCD live streamed key sessions from the annual, summer, and fall conferences free of charge, allowing more than 1,600 people from various countries to take part in the conferences remotely.

Also this year, ASCD's Healthy School Communities broke ground by hosting its inaugural virtual conference. The professional development event attracted more than 500 U.S. and international attendees, who represented 12 countries and 36 states, for an in-depth discussion about what healthy school strategies work across the United States and Canada.

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