In November of 1975, in response to disputes over the federal role in curriculum development and in response to changes in its own circumstances, the National Institute of Education (NIE)--the federal agency having primary responsibility for educational research and development--established a Curriculum Development Task Force. The task force organized a variety of activities to stimulate and focus the national curriculum debates and to lay the foundation for a new NIE curriculum development policy. This volume contains several products of that work. Included are essays that fall into three categories. The first includes analyses of the various social, economic, and political influences on the curriculum of American schools. The second addresses various aspects of conscious, deliberate attempts to change curriculum content and teaching methods. The third summarizes the views of persons representing a wide variety of interests and perspectives on a host of critical issues. These essays are sandwiched between an introductory chapter and a final chapter that appraises the major strategies of governmental intervention in the curriculum. (Author/IRT)