The Plan

Capitalizing on his many years in the music business, Steven Van Zandt is calling upon his community to help create a once-in-a-lifetime History of Rock and Roll curriculum that will feature not only the finest music writers and historians working today but the legendary musicians and performers who are the story. At present, a forty-chapter History of Rock and Roll is in the works, written by authors including Jon Savage, Peter Guralnick, Colin Escott, Anthony DeCurtis, Holly George-Warren, Nick Hornby, Julian Bond, Roddy Doyle, and many others. That History will provide the basis for the fifty-plus lesson plans, the teacher guides, and the supporting audio and video materials that will be provided free to the schools and online for the general public. In addition, an interactive website will act as a virtual meeting place for educators, students, scholars, and fans alike.

With the project materials developed, a New Jersey-based pilot phase will mark the first of the project’s launch, allowing for the materials to be refined and for select teachers and students to get a first experience of this unique, cross-curricular, standards-based project. Following the pilot phase, The Rock and Roll Forever Foundation will hold teacher training summits, launch a national publicity tour, and, through its major partner Scholastic, Inc., deliver materials to interested middle schools nationwide, after which high schools will be serviced in the same fashion.

"The history of American music is about much more than just music. In it one finds some of the most powerful voices this country has ever heard, voices from society's margins that used music to make much needed changes. Not only should that history be studied in the classroom, we owe it to generations ahead to ENSURE that it is." -Dr. Julian Bond, Chair, NAACP