Journal of Curriculum and Supervision

The Journal of Curriculum and Supervision (1985–2005) was a quarterly journal of theory, inquiry, and analysis in the scholarship and practice of the fields of curriculum and supervision. Published by the ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development), the journal began with the fall 1985 issue. ASCD Executive Editor Ron Brandt stated in introducing the journal that ASCD was creating the most widely circulated English-language scholarly publication on curriculum and supervision in the world. Brandt attributed the journal to a history of recommendations begun in the late 1950s and culminating with a plan for increased attention to research and theory. The journal began publication with Edmund Short and Robert F. Nicely Jr. as editors and O. L. Davis Jr. (Davis also was editor of the journal from 1995–2005), Maxine Greene, Thomas Sergiovanni, Arthur Steller, Decker Walker, and Benjamin Williams as editorial board members. The editorial board chose the name of the journal and specified that it would be a refereed scholarly journal that examined curriculum and supervision practices and related policy issues. The journal invited articles from a wide variety of appropriate research methods, including interpretive, empirical, historical, critical, and analytical.

The journal continued its 20-year history with largely the same publication intent. Its masthead statement in the final year of publication, 2005, stated that the journal was a refereed scholarly journal that reflectively examined curriculum and supervision policies and related issues as they pertained to teaching, learning, and leadership. Studies using a variety of appropriate research and inquiry methods were accepted for publication.

During its publication life, the journal reported, served as forum for, and felt the impact of changing paradigms in curriculum and supervision. In 1985, supervision was an expected and respected role and professional practice, and clinical supervision was [Page 507]the model paradigm. The purpose of supervision was to ensure reasonable practice-based compliance and fidelity to curriculum and instructional initiatives within schools and districts. During the two decades of the journal's publication, competing paradigms first moved supervision from expert-based clinical supervision to more collegial developmental models, then to more democratized and peer-based coaching and learning community models. The conceptual shift led to identity issues within the field and scholarship of supervision. This intellectual and practical shift in the field was catalogued by Short as part of a report on the journal's first 10 years. He reported that 31 of 80 articles on supervision had been on either conceptual or philosophical issues in supervision. In a similar manner, the publication years of the journal witnessed the continued movement of the curriculum field from emphases on curriculum practice and curriculum development to curriculum studies and the influence of critical theory in the field. Short's review indicated that 20 articles published on curriculum—by far the largest proportion—in the journal were theoretical or philosophical.

There also were different views of the journal's role. ASCD Executive Gordon Cawelti saw the journal as a potential outlet for definitive and practice-changing research studies that could be promoted as policy and practice contributions by the parent organization. This view was consistent with ASCD's move toward increased lobbying and development as a major education publishing house. Contributors and other members of the higher education community, however, viewed the journal as an outlet for the broad array of topics and inquiry modes listed on the masthead guidelines. ASCD's decision to suspend publication after the 2005 volume year was attributed to diminished circulation (revenue) that no longer justified publication expenses.

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