A must-read article from the Los Angeles Times about the presidential candidates' positions on the arts. Read the article here.
The League of American Orchestras has put forward a statement of common cause, "Orchestras Support In-School Music Education." The statement was drafted with input from more than 50 orchestras and reflects a collective opportunity for all orchestras to take individual, community-specific action to improve access to music education in schools nationwide. More than 200 orchestras have endorsed the statement to date. Click here to read the statement.
The Ottawa Citizen (Canada) reports: In a meeting with Ottawa educators and business leaders, creativity guru Sir Ken Robinson claimed that cutting the arts in schools is narrow-minded and counter-productive. Click here for article.
The Denver Post reports: "A first-of-its-kind study by the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Council on the Arts reveals that more arts education is linked to more successful students. The new data released last week associates arts education with higher scores at high schools on the Colorado Student Assessment Program in reading, writing and science and lower dropout rates, regardless of ethnicity or socioeconomic status. The arts are as integral to learning as reading, writing or math." Read the article here.
"Arts Positions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates"
Americans for the Arts Action Fund presents its summary of the Arts Positions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates.
As reported in Eduopia magazine: Visual Thinking Strategies blazes a path from artistic inquiry to scholastic achievement. Read the article here.
According to Gai Jones, a theater educator with over forty years of experience and former president of the California Educational Theatre Association (CETA), "Theater addresses the skills which benefit children's education and development in five general areas: physical development/kinesthetic skills, artistic development /drama and theater skills, mental development/thinking skills, personal development/intra-personal skills, and social development/interpersonal skills." To read the article, click here.
Source: California Alliance for Arts Education
Alyson Klein reports in Education Week: "The result of the presidential election will likely help determine how much money education programs receive in the 2009 federal fiscal year, which begins this week. But a multi-billion-dollar federal plan to assist the financial markets may leave the next president with very little room for major increases for K-12 schools, perhaps for the foreseeable future." Read the article here.
From eSchool News: In art classes at schools and universities today, new and emerging software is rendering art appreciation and even actual artistic production accessible to a far greater number of interested students and aspiring artists than ever before. Read the article here.
While both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates offer a clear policy statement on education (see below), neither candidate addresses arts education in their statement.
Democrat Barack Obama: "A World Class Education"
Republican John McCain: "Excellence, Choice, and Competition in American Education"
Obama does address arts education in his Arts Policy Statement, "Barack Obama & Joe Biden: Champions for Arts & Culture." At the time of posting, we could not find any statement regarding arts education on John McCain's website.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee joined up for a jam session with Congressional Musicians Caucus Co-Chair, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) on September 10 at the Center for American Progress in support of the Music National Service Initiative. Huckabee argued that arts education is key to our nation's collective brainpower and economic growth. Click the links below to read articles and see video from the event:
The Washington Post: Statesman or Showman? Huckabee's Hip Second Act
HuffingtonPost: Huckabee Hearts Music
The Center for American Progress: Kumbaya at CAP Singing the Praises of Music Education
"Policymakers have underestimated the critical role of arts learning in supporting a vibrant nonprofit cultural sector, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today. Click here to read the article.
Click here to read the full report, Cultivating Demand for the Arts: Arts Learning, Arts Engagement, and State Arts Policy
Click here to read a Los Angeles Times editorial that questions, "Is it proper for schools to try to change a cultural trend [toward placing less value on classical arts]?".
Arizona State Superintendent Tom Horne reports in this Arizona Daily Star op-ed about his experience on the Americans for the Arts Action Fund arts education panel at the Republican National Convention. Read the op-ed here.
The fall issue of Teaching Artist Journal includes Kurt Wootton on Arts Integration; Andrew Saito on English Language Learners; and Valerie Harris on Creativity Research.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors created a 10-point plan to be presented to the next President of the United States during his first 100 days in office, reports The Spectrum & Daily News (St. George, Utah). The mayors agree that every community should provide equal access to arts education for every child. Read the article here.
The Langston Hughes players' summer musical encourages schools to add theatre to their curriculum, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Meanwhile, the Seattle Public Schools announces a district-wide audit to identify any gaps in its arts offerings. Read the article here.
An article by Alexandra R. Moses on Edutopia.org highlights theatre-education programs that encourage students to write and perform their own plays. "Playwriting teaches kids how to construct a plot, write dialogue, and tell a story through action. But the benefits go far beyond that." Read the article here.
a Starring Role in Education Reform
Published in Edutopia Magazine and online at Edutopia.org, this article by Sara Bernard looks at "the rising tide of community-based organizations working for education reform." Read the article here.
In an article posted on Hamptons.com (Southampton, NY), "The Town of East Hampton’s tentative 2009 budget proposes to cut 19 arts and cultural programs from theater and music to visual art, but it is arts in the schools that may suffer first. The school districts in East Hampton have partnerships with many of the programs likely to be cut." Read the article here.
The Naples Daily News (FL) reports that school supporters in Collier County are working to spread the word about the importance of passing a School District referendum "that district officials say is necessary to keep programs not mandated by the state available to students. . . . If the district doesn’t get the influx of cash it needs from the referendum, officials could have to cut non-mandated programs. Those cuts could include related arts, sports, extracurricular clubs and Advanced Placement classes." Read the article here.
Source: Americans for the Arts' Cultural Policy Listserv
In an opinion piece published by the Tucson Citizen (AZ) , an AH-64D Apache attack helicopter pilot says of his music training: “I didn't realize at age 5 that I was already in training to fly this aircraft as I learned to manipulate all four limbs simultaneously, a skill necessary to control any flying machine.” Read the article here.
The University Register (MN) reports: "On November 4, Minnesotans will have the opportunity to vote for the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment (CWLLA). This amendment to the state constitution would be a prominent move to preserve the natural areas of Minnesota, as well as the arts and culture... Fifty-nine million dollars (19.75 percent) would go to the Cultural Heritage Fund, which would focus on the arts, art education, access to art, and the preservation of Minnesota’s history and cultural heritage." Read the article here.
The New York Post reports that just 8% of city elementary schools met state requirements for arts instruction in the 2007-08 school year. And that figure was double what it had been the prior year. Read the article here.
The Payson Roundup (Arizona) reports: "[t]he $1.4 million budget override that the Payson Unified School District is asking voters to renew on Election Day will maintain programs, not expand them, district officials say. The present 10-percent maintenance and operations budget override funds music programs, elementary physical education, two school nurses and four librarians, among other things. 'These programs are in jeopardy' if the measure fails, said Superintendent Casey O’Brien. Failure means cuts, he said. 'That is a reality.'" Read the article here.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal (Florida) reports:"[S]tudents attending Silver Sands Middle School in Port Orange would have more opportunities to take arts-related courses under a proposal that will be presented Tuesday to the Volusia County School Board. The plan would allow students to substitute an extra arts course for physical education or -- if they have high enough state test scores -- reading. Parents would have to approve the substitution." Read the article here.
The Sierra Vista Herald (AZ) reports: The Tombstone school district will be pursuing a 10 percent override during the November election that would raise property taxes by an average of $6 per month to bring back music, art and P.E. Click here for the article.
Source: California Alliance for Arts Education
in Overcrowded Public Schools
MarketWatch - PRNewswire reports: At a rally at City Hall and at a City Council hearing, "[t]he Center for Arts Education sounded a call for the preservation of disappearing arts spaces in New York City's public schools. 'Easing overcrowding and providing adequate classroom space for public school students should be a top priority for New York City,' said Doug Israel, Director of Research and Policy for The Center for Arts Education (CAE), 'however, this should not be done by seizing and converting dedicated facilities necessary to support learning in the arts. Unfortunately, music rooms, dance spaces, black box theaters and art studios have been divided, walled, and turned into academic classrooms or commandeered for other purposes.'" Read the article here.
In California, the Moorpark Acorn reports that a $999,000 grant, awarded to the Moorpark Unified School District by the U.S. Department of Education recently, will boost creativity and enhance learning skills in local elementary classrooms. Read the article here.
Source: California Alliance for Arts Education
Nearly 60 elementary schools in Utah are using art to help students get smart. It's all because of a new state-funded art program. Research suggests that art can actually help students with core subjects like math, science and English. To read more, click here.Source: California Alliance for Arts Education
Illinois Arts Alliance released Committing to Quality in Education: Arts at the Core, the first arts education guidebook specifically designed for Illinois teachers, principals, superintendents, parents, and community partners. Arts at the Core offers direction and tools to assist stakeholders in strengthening arts education. (PDF) http://www.artsalliance.org/docs/QualityInEducation.pdf
As announced on Variety.com: "Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Dept. of Education, [is one of] the recipients of the Broadway League’s first Schoenfeld Vision for Arts in Education Award." Read the article here.
A Marion Star (OH) editorial applauds "[t]he return of band and orchestra to fifth graders in Marion City Schools," calling music education "not an extra" but "essential." Read the editorial here.
The BYU News reports: "A special state funded program will enhance art curriculum in elementary schools across Utah this fall because of recently approved legislature. The 2008 Utah State Legislature approved funding for four years through the Beverly Taylor Sorenson Arts Program. It will institute the 'art works for kids!' education foundation. The program will add trained art specialists coordinators, along with needed art materials. The funding totals more than 15 million dollars. The program focuses on helping young students advance art abilities in dance, music, drama and visual arts." Read the article here.
A column by Cheryl Anderson in the Appleton Post Crescent reviews Information from a recent study of arts education in Wisconsin -- a joint effort of Arts Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education -- and notes that it "will be especially useful to Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Elizabeth Burmaster, who established the Wisconsin Task Force on Arts and Creativity in Education to address the essential role arts education plays in honing creative capacities.
"Knowledge plus creativity equals a competitive edge. In her 2008 State of Education address Thursday, Burmaster proposed a budget that significantly reinvests in the state's pre-kindergarten through grade 12 system to make students world-ready so the state doesn't lose its competitive edge in the 21st century." Read the column here.
On November 4, voters in Wichita, KS, will decide whether to accept the Wichita school district's proposed $370 million bond issue. A Wichita Eagle editorial speaks in favor of the proposal, which would fund improvements in athletic facilities, auditoriums, and art and music classrooms, helping bring them up to par with those at nearby suburban schools. Read the article here.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is considering eliminating student grades in courses in the arts and career or technical education in GPA calculation. (PDF transcript) http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/1626.PDF
The Arizona Daily Star published an editorial by Marilyn Heins about Proposition 403, the "TUSD override," which would allow the Tucson Unified School District "to reduce class size, offer incentives for hard-to-fill positions, and expand the Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) program so that (after sufficient artists and arts integration specialists are trained) every elementary and middle school will be an OMA school." Read the article here.
Art and science thrive in the San Mateo (CA) school district, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Read the article here.
Melissa Nix of The Sacramento Bee reports: "Just two years ago, the state of California made a strong statement that it wanted its students to enjoy education in such arts and music programs. The state's one-time infusion of $500 million was the nation's largest single investment ever in arts education... But the current budget crisis may undo the state's renewed commitment to the arts." Read the article here.
From The Capital (MD): School officials in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, decided to overhaul the academic schedule for middle school students, leaving more time for elective classes like art and music. The move will cost the district $7.4M. Read the article here.
The Journal of Pearland (TX) reports, "To cut costs across the Pearland Independent School District and provide continuity in music education, elementary school art teachers will be replaced by music teachers by the fall of 2011... Middle school drama classes are planned to be incorporated into general class time as well." Read the article here.
A study by the Chicago Sun-Times reveals that the elementary school kids who most need recess and arts education - kids in low-income families and violent neighborhoods - aren't getting it. Read the article here.
From the Village News Network (Fallbrook, CA): "While budgets woes are resulting in some schools cutting music and other fine arts from their curriculum, Fallbrook, Bonsall and Rainbow educators appear to appreciate the importance of music and are working hard to keep it alive for local students. Read the article here.
From the Philadelphia Inquirer: "With dozens of heavy hitters in the arts community looking on, Philadelphia schools chief Arlene Ackerman said yesterday that she would solidify the leadership in art and music education by the end of the month. A central office overhaul stripped the longtime heads of those departments of their jobs, causing supporters to balk and a private contributor to threaten to pull its funding." Read the article here.
From the Effingham Herald (Rincon, GA): "With the start of a new school year, the Effingham County Board of Education believes its investment in hiring eight elementary art teachers will benefit students academically as well as personally." Read the article here.
"The state of arts education in Wisconsin public schools is 'at a crossroads,' according to a study released Monday by Arts Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education, advocacy organizations dedicated to arts education... One of the most significant findings of the study is the extremely limited availability of theater and dance classes in Wisconsin public schools." Read the article here.
A local school district in West Virginia will no longer approve arts field trips, according to The Charleston Gazette (WV). "The ones that will be approved will be academic," said Jane Roberts, assistant superintendent for elementary education. "They'll have strong ties to science, social studies, reading or math." Read the article here.
UPDATE: On August 10, the Charleston Gazette published an op-ed by Dr. David Wohl of Arts Advocacy West Virginia in response to the district's decision to cut field trip funding. Read the op-ed here.
Receives Thunderous Applause
As posted on TheDerrick.com: "Representatives of the Keystone School District [PA] community asked board members Monday night to face the music and reinstate two staff positions in arts education to maintain quality programming into the future. Board members listened to testimony... for nearly an hour before voting... [to] hire a replacement elementary school art teacher. That action earned the board a standing ovation and thunderous applause in the crowded high school auditorium." Read the article here.
Authors: Larry Johnson, Rachel Smith, Rachel Varon, Peter Samis, Holly Witchey
Publisher: The New Media Consortium (2008)
This report claims that museums should fill the arts education gap in schools and offers a Texas model to do so. It challenges philanthropy to provide the funds to do this. It’s written by the program model itself.
Publisher: Arts Education Collaborative (2008)
Combining the efforts of more than 20 arts educators, administrators, and professionals in the region over the course of two years, the Arts Education Collaborative sought to create a product that would provide parents with an introduction to the Pennsylvania Standards for the Arts and Humanities. The resulting Parent Handbook, High Quality Education in the Arts: A Handbook for Parents, seeks to serve as a guide to demonstrate how these standards might be implemented in a school’s curriculum, and to help them assess the degree to which the school provides opportunities for children to meet the standards.
Endorsed by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Pennsylvania PTA, and the Division of Standards and Curriculum, Bureau of Teaching and Learning Support of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the handbook also includes information about how parents can support, improve, and advocate for arts programs in the schools.
Download samples from the handbook at http://www.artsedcollaborative.org/parent.html. For more information on how to obtain copies for your PTA, PTO, PTG, Booster organization, department, or other group, please contact the AEC at info@artsedcollaborative.org or 412-201-7405.
Authors: Regie Stites and Heather Malin
Publisher:
Center for Education Policy, SRI International (September 2008)
Although California’s Education Code calls for all students to be offered a course of study in the four arts disciplines (dance, music, theater, and visual arts), findings from An Unfinished Canvas reveal a large gap between policy and practice.
California’s State Board of Education adopted content standards for the visual and performing arts in 2001, but the Education Code neither requires schools to follow state arts content standards nor mandates any student assessment in the arts. Recent experience has shown that large-scale assessment used for the purpose of accountability can be effective as a force for implementing standards-based K–12 curriculum and instruction in mathematics, science, social studies, and English/language arts. It is not at all clear, however, whether large-scale assessment could or should be used to support the implementation of K–12 standards-based arts education.
This paper provides a review of the status of large-scale arts assessments and current practice in statewide arts assessment for the purpose of K–12 education accountability.
Click here to read An Unfinished Canvas: Large Scale Assessment.
Publisher: Americans for the Arts (September 2008)
The Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC issued its Congressional Arts Report Card, covering the 110th Congress (2007-2009).
The 2008 Congressional Arts Report Card reveals that 181 members (43%) of Congress received a grade of A or higher. When the grades of the Members of each state delegation are averaged on a state-by-state basis, the highest scoring state delegation is Maine, with a perfect score of 100. Alaska and Wyoming are the lowest scoring state delegations with a score of 20 points each.
Additionally, the Arts Report Card shows that support for the arts is bipartisan and growing, as evidenced in the nearly 24% increase in membership of the Congressional Arts Caucus since 2000. Also, 21 representatives improved their Report Card scores by one-letter grade or more from their 2006 Report Card grade.
The entire Report Card containing letter grades and numerical scores of every Member of Congress based on his or her voting record on arts issues can be found online at:
http://www.artsactionfund.org/stay_informed/special_reports/
Author: Laura Zakaras, Julia F. Lowell
Publisher: The RAND Corporation (September 2008)
This new study from the Wallace Foundation reveals the central role arts learning plays in ensuring children can benefit from the arts as adults and that America has a robust cultural life in the future. Synthesizing previous studies, researchers find long-term involvement in the arts is most likely to be stimulated by arts education that develops a range of individual capacities. According to the authors, a healthy demand for the arts is critical to a vibrant nonprofit arts sector and policies that focus on supporting the supply of the arts and broadening access to the arts are not sufficient for building that demand.
Click here to learn more and download the full PDF report.
Click here to read an AScribe article about the report (published September 8).
Author: Daniel Anker, Carol Ponder & Donna Santman
Publisher: Alfred Publishing (2008)
Music From the Inside Out is a cinematic exploration of the magic and mystery of music through the stories, passion, and artistry of the 105 musicians of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Bring the excitement of the film into the classroom through a newly developed curriculum that engages students in reading, writing, listening and talking about all kinds of music and offers students the opportunity to compose their own works.
The curriculum is intended for grades four and up and is constructed so that each lesson may be used individually or as part of the complete curriculum. The accompanying CD includes a selection of music examples for the classroom. The full-length movie and classroom posters are also available, as well as a special supplemental teaching CD that includes excerpts not shown in the theatrical release.
Author & Publisher: Music for All
Created by Arts Wisconsin, Music For All, and our sister alliance, the Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education, this report uses district data for grades 6-12 to examine public school arts education in Wisconsin state, including disciplines and courses offered, student enrollment, student-teacher ratios, and the effects of the district's location and wealth.
Author: Elena Rocha
Publisher: The Center for American Progress
Expanded Learning Time in Action examines whether high-poverty and high-minority schools and districts are rethinking the school calendar, if they are adding learning time to the calendar in a significant way, and if they are using learning time differently.
This report identifies more than 300 current initiatives in high-poverty and high-minority schools across 30 states, implemented between 1991 and 2007. It also offers snapshots of school and district initiatives that incorporate additional learning time into the school calendar. Read the synopsis and download the full report here.
Client: Americans for the Arts
Publisher: H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University
Arts in Our Schools (AiOS) is the culmination of a Spring 2008 capstone project completed by 11 graduate students of the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University. Throughout the project, the team developed and observed the following Opportunity Statement:
In an era of school reform, arts organizations face a critical challenge to keep arts in the school curriculum. Recognizing the role of the public school administrator as crucial to the existence of collaborations between schools and arts organizations, this project will focus on the public school administrator’s challenges and obstacles in creating and maintaining successful partnerships with local arts organizations, and identify potential solutions.
Co-editors: Cynthia Weiss and Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein
Publisher: Center for Community Arts Partnerships/Columbia College Chicago (2008)
Through curriculum samples, essays, and first-person testimony from teaching artists, teachers, principals, college faculty, program administrators, and public school students, AIMprint outlines teaching methods that account for students' diverse learning styles and offers an expansive model for arts integration in the 21st century.
Topics addressed include: higher-order thinking strategies that link arts and literacy, building partnerships between educational and community interests, and creating a community of learners at every level of an arts partnership. More Information
Edited by Carol Fineberg, Doctor of Arts
Publisher: The Dana Foundation (2008)
Comprised of 18 essays by artists and educators, Planning an Arts-Centered School: A Handbook highlights best practices and offers approaches from the authors' varied experiences in the development of successful arts-centered schools.
The Handbook was designed to guide organizations in essential issues including: curriculum development, governance, funding, assessment, and community participation. Download the Handbook PDF here.
Authors: Kathy Danko-McGhee and Ruslan Slutsky
Publisher: National Art Education Association (2007)
Kathy Danko-McGhee and Ruslan Slutsky analyze the link between children's artwork and literacy development in this easy-to-read primer for parents and educators alike.
By providing a range of art experiences and alternative ways to teach children critical thinking and visual perception skills, Danko-McGhee and Slutsky paint a picture of the role that the visual arts play in early childhood development. The two examine the need for new thinking and a departure from traditional literacy exercises. The Impact of Early Art Experiences on Literacy Development lays the foundation for rethinking the way that we engage young children in early literacy learning.
Author: Anne Dunkin
Publisher: Princeton Books (2006)
Dancing in Your School: A Guide for Preschool and Elementary School Teachers can help support standards-based arts education as core curriculum, and encourage teachers' use of dance as interdisciplinary learning in their classrooms.
More information or call 301-657-2880.
This book is a call to arms for changing our country's educational system and for thinking in a creative, new paradigm. For arts leaders and teachers alike, this resource will help you re-examine how you can work more creatively. It addresses three main questions: Why is it essential to promote creativity? Why aren't people more creative? What should be done? Order the Book. Posted April 2007
Making Art Together
Students do not have to paint like Da Vinci to make worthwhile art, and teachers who have never picked up a paintbrush can still use collaborative art projects to enrich their teaching and the world at large. That is the message of a new book, Making Art Together: How Collaborative Art-Making Can Transform Kids, Classrooms, and Communities, by artist Mark Cooper and educational consultant Lisa Sjostrom. The book is illustrated with more than ninety photos of sculptures, murals, and billboards that Cooper helped students and teachers create. Read a complete review of this book. Posted April 2007
A Well Tempered Mind: Using Music to Help Children Listen and Learn is hot off the Dana Press, guiding readers through a highly successful music residency project designed to improve learning prospects for first- through third-grade at-risk students. With classroom vignettes, music theory and findings in one of the newest areas of brain research, this book offers valuable advices to classroom teachers, teaching artists, and parents. Order a copy Posted March 2007
Dancing in Your School: A Guide for Preschool and Elementary School Teachers by Anne Dunkin features more than 70 dance activities, giving educators tools for integrating dance education into activities in the classroom, gym, and playground. Combining theory with practice, this book will enable educators to generate lesson plans and activities tailored for kinesthetic learning, arts education, and physical education. Order a copy Posted March 2007
Do you know a new teacher? MENC is now offering the Teacher Success Kit, newly revised and updated for 2006. Topics covered include Getting Organized, Planning a School Year Calendar, Designing and Running Effective Rehearsals, and more. Additionally, all information incorporates the National Standards. Order a kit online Kits are free to all MENC members. Posted March 2007
Based on over a quarter of a century of hands-on residencies in thousands of K-12 classrooms, Teaching Curriculum through the Arts contains scores of practical activities, processes, and techniques for using the arts as teaching strategies. This manual also shows ways to design an arts-based curriculum, align Howard Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligence with the arts, and assure the optimum effectiveness of utilizing professional artists in the classroom. Order Posted March 2007
Creative Dance for Learning: The Kinesthetic Link is a comprehensive teaching guide that addresses the “what”, “why” and “how” of creative dance. It provides theoretical and practical guidance on teaching creative dance, particularly in educational settings. The authors’ approach is heavily influenced by Barbara Mettler, Margaret H’Doubler, and Rudolph Laban, all legendary figures in the field of creative dance. Available from Amazon or McGraw Hill. Posted March 2007
When: Wednesday, October 29, noon to 1 p.m. Eastern time.
Where: http://www.edweek-chat.org
Submit questions in advance.
As Election Day approaches, the presidential candidates are making their final appeals to voters—including promises to improve education.
Education Week reporters David Hoff and Alyson Klein have reported, blogged, and even “Twittered” throughout the presidential campaign. They will be answering your questions about what the candidates have said about education and how the election’s outcome may affect the most pressing K-12 issues before the nation.
About the guests:
David Hoff is an associate editor for Education Week. His edweek.org blog, NCLB: Act II, covers news on the No Child Left Behind Act and its renewal.
Alyson Klein is a staff writer for Education Week. She also blogs for Campaign K-12, edweek.org’s blog on what the candidates are saying about education.
For background, see Education's Week's Campaign '08 stories, blog posts, and videos.
No special equipment other than Internet access is needed to participate in this text-based chat. A transcript will be posted shortly after the completion of the chat.
In a recent entry posted on ARTSBLOG, John Abodeely states: "Creating change in education is not only a function of affecting classroom practice. To impact education, one must know and then act upon the network of decision-makers that determine what a child experiences each day in the classroom." Read the full post here.
Ceramic artist-in-the-schools George Woideck writes about art education, artist-in-residence, professional development, ceramic techniques, technical questions, art teaching resources and more.
Authored by Richard Kessler, Executive Director of the Center for Arts Education in New York City, Dewey21c is a blog dedicated to the belief that the arts are part of our genetic code.
Earlier this month, the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) released newly developed Smart and Ethical Principles and Practices for Public Interest Lobbying.
The four principles and 17 practices serve as benchmarking tools that nonprofits can use to assess their current lobbying activities and set goals for their future lobbying efforts. A group of nonprofit leaders worked for 18 months to develop the principles and practices in response to the need for nonprofits to claim public interest lobbying as an honorable and effective strategy for advancing their missions. Click here to read the full list of principles and practices.
Source: Americans for the Arts
Anthony Cody blogs on Edutopia.org about getting a letter to the editor published in your local paper, and how to speak effectively and powerfully on education issues. Read Anthony's blog entry here.
A new task force of national policy experts with diverse religious and political affiliations, in a wide range of public policy fields, launched a campaign calling for a "Broader, Bolder Approach to Education" to break a decades-long cycle of reform efforts that promised much and have achieved far too little.
The signatories to "Bolder Approach" read like a Who's Who of diverse national leaders from all political and policy spectrums, who have come to agree that the policy embodied in No Child Left Behind has failed. The release of the "Broader, Bolder" statement marks the beginning of a long-term effort to persuade federal, state and local policymakers to consider a more enriching framework as they work to support every child's education. Learn more about the Broader, Bolder Approach.
Newly Updated State Policy Database
During the week of May 7, the Arts Education Partnership launched a newly updated State Policy Database, which includes valuable information on policies affecting arts education. New tools allow users to compare multiple states’ individual policies at one time. http://www.aep-arts.org
These services help organizations build capacity by exploring the intersection of the arts and technology, including the annual Technology in the Arts conference, podcasts, blog, and consulting. http://www.technologyinthearts.org/
TechSoup Stock is a nonprofit service that distributes donated and deeply discounted technology products to eligible nonprofits and public libraries. You can save 80%-96% on brand-new software donated by top companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Intuit, Adobe, Symantec, and more. Featured donated software available through TechSoup Stock includes Microsoft Office 2007 ($20) and Norton AntiVirus 2008 ($15). Since 2002, TechSoup Stock has helped more than 73,000 nonprofits across the U.S. and Canada save over $1 billion, enabling them to redirect these savings toward program work. http://www.techsoup.org/stock/default.asp
Not on the Test
Take a listen to this powerful, satirical tune by Tom Chapin and John Forster, originally written and performed for NPR's "Morning Edition."
http://www.notonthetest.com
Free Grants Search from The NonProfit Times
The NonProfit Times recently launched an online portal that gives free access to corporate donation data for fundraising research to nonprofit grant writers and others researchers. The portal’s address is www.nptgrantsearch.com. The research portal was launched with more than 4,300 searchable records of corporate donations valued at $1 million or more to U.S. charities.
The only free service of its kind, users can search, view, and save information about the corporate donor, recipient organization, size of gift, and year of donation. Nonprofits can research current donors and create customized prospect lists to assist in solicitation planning. Access is available immediately at www.nptgrantsearch.com or from NPT’s home page. Posted April 2008
In November 2000, the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (of which ArtsEd Washington is a member) developed an effective tool known as A Community Audit for Arts Education: Better Schools, Better Skills, Better Communities, to assist local education, community and cultural leaders in assessing the status of arts education in their schools and school districts, and to encourage community partnerships to strengthen and expand arts education for all students. While designed to encourage serious evaluation, it is most valuable as a vehicle for encouraging conversation and community planning in support of arts education. An updated and re-designed edition of A Community Audit for Arts Education is now available. A workable PDF version is also available online. You can click and type into the fields of this version. (PDF) Posted - Sept 2007
The Federal Resources for Educational Excellence website has just added some arts resources including a section on Ragtime, Van Gogh, political cartoonist Herb Block, and Gift of the Indus: The Arts and Culture of Pakistan website that was created by the Kennedy Center. The new Ragtime section of the site presents sheet music, essays, video and sound clips here. Also new to the site, the Song of America commemorates the history of song composition in America . Posted - Sept 2007
New music software called Groovy Music makes it easier for young musicians to learn about instruments, theory, notation, and composition and to create their own songs. The software, designed for children ages five to 11, was created by Sibelius, a well-known maker of music composition software. Learn more Posted - Sept 2007
ArtsEdge has a catalogue of Podcasts, developed over the past year. Most of these are referenced in the Look-Listen-Learn section of the ArtsEdge site, where one will also find teacher resources and dedicated Web pages with more information—and where listeners can listen to and download clips individually.
Examples include:
Blues Journey: The story of the blues travels from the coasts of Africa, through the cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta, across the hills of Appalachia, to the streets of Chicago and beyond.
Jazz in DC In this audio series, jazz legends Frank Wess and Dr. Billy Taylor paint a colorful picture of the nation's capital when its clubs and schools were teeming with a new kind of popular music—jazz. Posted - Sept 2007
Modeled on Florida’s Arts for a Complete Education, this Toolkit provides information and resources to begin, develop, or sustain an arts education coalition in your community. In each tabbed section of the Toolkit, you will find information, suggestions and a wealth of resources.This Toolkit helps coalitions to shortcut the process with examples of successful work already accomplished. Access the toolkit Posted - Sept 2007
The Herb Alpert Foundation launches a new website to support musicians, music educators, and all others interested in building a career in the music business. Posted - Sept 2007
The Education Commission of the States (ECS) announces the release of the Education Leadership Policy Toolkit, a comprehensive online toolkit that provides information on effective education leadership policies and practices. The toolkit was created through the generous support of MetLife Foundation and is designed to provide information to state policymakers and school district leaders -- as well as principals and teachers -- with the goal of increasing leadership capacity in schools, districts and states. Information on the site was gathered and synthesized from a series of case studies conducted around the nation in districts with strong student learning, often in challenging contexts. The Education Leadership Policy Toolkit organizes information into eight key categories that represent the common leadership factors in all the studied districts: Vision, Governance, Relationships, Culture, Human Development, Instruction, Evaluation and Resource Allocation. Within each category, users can find example policies and practices, recommendations and key elements of effective leadership at three different levels: state, district and school. The toolkit provides online audio clips of interviews with teachers, principals and superintendents. Posted April 2007
Our Californian sister organization has launched their Insider’s Guide - both a guidebook and a hands-on technical assistance process that enables districts to assess current arts learning programs and funding allocations, identify gaps in delivery, and create long range plans that will ensure equitable access for all students in each of the four arts disciplines. The Insider's Guide to Arts Education Planning offers field-tested best practices, innovative ideas, templates and strategies as a guide to navigate the challenging terrain of arts education planning. Visit the Guide. Posted April 2007
The Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education has just released OER Commons, the first comprehensive open learning network that enables users to find freely available high-quality teaching and learning materials. Created with and for educators, students, and self-learners, this broad selection of open educational resources for K-12 and higher education can be browsed, searched, and enhanced using collaborative social networking features, such as tags, ratings, and reviews. The goal of OER Commons is to bring innovation to teachers and learners around the world. Posted April 2007
Musicians United for Songs in the Classroom, Inc provides ideas on how to incorporate songs at school. Don't miss the resource list under Classroom Activities. Check it Out! Posted April 2007
KeepArtsInSchools.org has recently undergone a transformation including more information than ever on making the arts part of every public school student's education. • Keep current on national efforts to put arts education in public schools • Access toolkits to make compelling cases for arts education • Read case studies of successful campaigns by Ford Foundation grantees • Read the latest opinion research on arts education • Find out how to create an on-line petition or write a letter to request support • Swap tips with other advocates on the message board. Posted March 2007
The Performing Arts Workshop (San Francisco, CA) has a well-designed website with outstanding resources, such as best practice guides for artists, arts administrators, and educators. Some of the resources include information on the role of the artist in schools and relationships with school staff, as well as sample lesson plans and model partnerships. The website’s General Resources page contains links that can serve as valuable sources of information for arts advocacy campaigns. Visit their site Posted March 2007
Web search giant, Google, launched a site in June devoted entirely to Shakespeare that allows users to browse through the full texts of his 37 plays. The site also provides links to scholarly research, Internet groups, and videos of theatre performances. Take a look Posted March 2007
The National Endowment for the Arts is pleased to announce that 25,000 high school teachers may now obtain print, audio, and video materials to assist in teaching Shakespeare in today's world. This offer is part of Shakespeare in American Communities, the largest tour of Shakespeare in our nation's history. The National Endowment for the Arts is sponsoring hundreds of live performances in all fifty states by some of America's most celebrated professional theatre companies. One million school children will experience live theatre in small and mid-sized towns and underserved urban and military communities. To order this educational resource kit or to download materials, visit their website. Posted March 2007
NEA Jazz in the Schools is an educational resource for high school teachers of social studies, U.S. history, and music. The five-unit, web-based curriculum and DVD toolkit explores jazz as an indigenous American art form and as a means to understand American history. The kit includes a teachers' guide featuring tips, cross-curricular activities, and assessment methods. Each kit also includes student materials, a timeline poster, and a CD. Please visit the NEA Jazz in the Schools website. Posted March 2007