The Virginia Beach (Virginia) Public School Division, which has a fairly large student population of 55,500 students, has enjoyed strong community support over the last 2 years for its newly instituted comprehensive curriculum assessment and development project. The project's goal of attaining educational improvement in all areas from kindergarten through grade 12 has been aided by 5 full-time professionals and a 36-member task force of students, parents, teachers, and administrators. Since its inception in 1981, the project has been entirely locally funded and controlled. The task force's recently completed final recommendations include emphasis on communicative competencies, such as reading and writing; increased support of mathematics and science; and plans for continuing curriculum development. A task force statement on philosophical goals, stressing commitment to excellence and greater expectations of students, has been adopted by the school board. The study's comprehensive curriculum plan anticipates developments over the next 10 to 20 years and focuses on 4 principal areas, including learning skills and processes and graduation standards. Community involvement was obtained through numerous small discussion groups and Parent Teacher Association (PTA) conducted surveys. The final report's 125 recommendations include raising academic standards and giving higher priority to interdisciplinary studies, writing, and computer literacy. (JBM)