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DID YOU KNOW?
Research In
Arts Education: |
Elementary students who attended schools in which the arts were integrated with classroom curriculum outperformed their peers in math who did not have an arts-integrated curriculum."
- Chicago Arts
Education Summary
"Engagement in the arts nurtures the development of cognitive, social, and personal competencies" by reaching disengaged students, encouraging self-directed learning, and connecting learning experiences to the world of real work"
-Champions of Change:
The Impact of Arts on Learning |
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Working to advance and preserve the arts at the center of Vermont communities.
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| NEW NEA REPORT ON READING SITES CORRELATION TO LOW TEST SCORES - 11/19/07 |
From The New York Times
November 19, 2007
Study Links Drop in Test Scores to a Decline in Time Spent Reading
By MOTOKO RICH
Harry Potter, James Patterson and Oprah Winfrey’s book club aside,
Americans — particularly young Americans — appear to be reading less
for fun, and as that happens, their reading test scores are declining.
At the same time, performance in other academic disciplines like math
and science is dipping for students whose access to books is limited,
and employers are rating workers deficient in basic writing skills.
That is the message of a new report being released today by the
National Endowment for the Arts, based on an analysis of data from
about two dozen studies from the federal Education and Labor
Departments and the Census Bureau as well as other academic,
foundation and business surveys. After its 2004 report, “Reading at
Risk,” which found that fewer than half of Americans over 18 read
novels, short stories, plays or poetry, the endowment sought to
collect more comprehensive data to build a picture of the role of all
reading, including nonfiction.
...
In seeking to detail the consequences of a decline in reading, the
study showed that reading appeared to correlate with other academic
achievement. In examining the average 2005 math scores of 12th graders
who lived in homes with fewer than 10 books, an analysis of federal
Education Department statistics found that those students scored much
lower than those who lived in homes with more than 100 books. Although
some of those results could be attributed to income gaps, Mr. Iyengar
noted that students who lived in homes with more than 100 books but
whose parents only completed high school scored higher on math tests
than those students whose parents held college degrees (and were
therefore likely to earn higher incomes) but who lived in homes with
fewer than 10 books.
The new report also looked at data from the workplace, including a
survey that showed nearly three-quarters of employers who were polled
rated “reading comprehension” as “very important” for workers with two-
year college degrees, and nearly 90 percent of employers said so for
graduates of four-year colleges. Better reading skills were also
correlated with higher income.
... Read the entire article here.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
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| ROCK 'N' ROLL CURRICULUM FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS - 11/12/07 |
From "The Artful Manager" Blog
November 12, 2007
For those about to rock
In an interesting twist on more traditional arts education, Bruce Springsteen sidekick ''Little Steven'' Van Zandt is pushing for new emphasis on the classics in middle and high school -- that is, classic rock 'n' roll. Van Zandt's foundation is announcing a new curriculum resource today.
Says the USA Today article: The plan is to distribute a 40-chapter curriculum, including teachers' guide, lesson plans, DVDs, CDs and Web-based resources, free, beginning with the 2008-09 academic year, to the nation's 30,000 or so middle and high schools.
Van Zandt is concerned that classic rock 'n' roll is less relevant and resonant with with a new generation of teens, which is partly why he's pushing the curriculum.
Says he: ''We're trying to reach everybody, whether a musician, a rock 'n' roll fan or not. We're going to make a case that this art form is so interesting that you will be absolutely compelled to listen to it, and maybe even learn how to play it.''
It's official: I'm middle-aged.
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| SUPPORT VT ARTS EDUCATION: BUY A 2008 HAUTE "COW"TURE CALENDAR - 11/11/07 |
It's the year of the 2008 Vermont Haute "Cow"ture Calendar! The 2008 Vermont Haute "Cow"ture Calendar is a project that benefits arts education programs across the state.
Various local celebrities are featured in "typical" Vermont dress: Nora Jacobson, George Woodard, Nan Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Josie Leavitt, Jason P. Lorber, Elisabeth Von Trapp, Chris Bohjalian, Ben and Jerry, Woody Jackson, Jeh Kulu Dance and Drum, Mark Nash, Andrew Sellon, Bob Nuner, Kathryn Blume, and Willem Lange.
The calendar is only $15 and is a funny, wonderful holiday gift. Ask for it at you local bookstore and give a gift that gives twice.
Read more about it from the calendar's brainchild, Sebastian Ryder.
You can buy the calendar at a number of local bookstores or buy it online at Barnes & Noble!
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| ARTS EDUCATION AND NCLB REAUTHORIZATION, NEW RECOMMENDATIONS - 10/29/2007 |
The Arts Education Working Group, a coalition of arts and arts education advocacy groups co-chaired by Americans for the Arts, has released a number of legislative recommendations for strengthening the role of the arts in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. These legislative proposals are based on the unified statement "Arts Education: Creating Student Success in School, Work, and Life," which was signed by more than 60 national education and arts education organizations.
These recommendations are very timely as the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on Monday, September 10, 2007, on preliminary legislative language, and the Senate is about to formally consider legislation.
Americans for the Arts is working to include the group's recommendations into the House and Senate draft bills, in addition to analyzing additional new proposals.
Read more about the recommendations here.
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| A PERFORMING ARTS HIGH SCHOOL IN BRATTLEBORO? MEETING ON NOV 15 @ 7PM |
Thursday, November 15th at 7:00 PM
Marlboro Graduate Center
in Downtown Brattleboro
Holstein Building, Room 2NE
For more information, please contact Andy Hauty:
(802) 380-6441 or akiweevt@yahoo.com
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| ARTS EDUCATION AND NCLB REAUTHORIZATION, NEW RECOMMENDATIONS - 10/29/2007 |
The Arts Education Working Group, a coalition of arts and arts education advocacy groups co-chaired by Americans for the Arts, has released a number of legislative recommendations for strengthening the role of the arts in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. These legislative proposals are based on the unified statement "Arts Education: Creating Student Success in School, Work, and Life," which was signed by more than 60 national education and arts education organizations.
These recommendations are very timely as the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing on Monday, September 10, 2007, on preliminary legislative language, and the Senate is about to formally consider legislation.
Americans for the Arts is working to include the group's recommendations into the House and Senate draft bills, in addition to analyzing additional new proposals.
Read more about the recommendations here.
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| JOHN EDWARDS TALKS ABOUT ARTS EDUCATION WITH MTV - 10/16/07 |
Edwards talked about the gap between scholarship and funding for athletic programs and the lack of funding for the arts by pointedly saying that when people look back on past civilizations, it is the arts that they remember — which is why it's important to fund them on every level, from kindergarten to college. His idea was to ask for specific funding from Congress to promote the arts in schools.
Here are some of Americans for the Arts’ favorite quotes from the dialogue:
“We have a responsibility to promote… arts education not only at the college level, but at a much, much younger level: first, second, third grade…”
“What we seem to say to young people is: ’You’re worthy if you’re a great athlete. Or you’re worthy if you’re a great student. But if you’re talent is in music, painting, whatever, then that’s somehow less valuable.’ Exactly the opposite is true. That’s extraordinarily valuable to America and to what people will remember about us.”
“In this case, it is true that the president doesn’t run the school system, doesn’t run the university. But the president of the United States can go to the Congress and ask for specific marked funding for the things that we’ve been talking about. Whether it’s diversity in our academics or whether it’s the arts.”
“Because I believe so strongly in the importance of the arts, I will ensure that we, at a national level, are providing incentives and funding to help promote the arts both at public schools and at colleges and universities.”
Read more here.
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| GOV. BILL RICHARDSON PLEDGES FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR ARTS EDUCATION - 10/11/2007 |
The following update is provided from Americans for the Arts’ Government Affairs Department.
As chronicled on the www.ArtsVote.org, Governor Bill Richardson (D-NM) has been talking about a "major federal program of arts in the school" for several months now. Earlier today Governor Richardson announced his complete education plan in a speech in New Hampshire, which included $250 to $500 million annually for arts education. Here is the text of his announcement speech:
"...And I will put the arts back into our schools.
Students who engage in the arts are more likely to get involved in community and charity work. These students do better academically.
Arts education is not a silver bullet, but it is a lighted bridge. It’s long past time the President ordered a comprehensive analysis of the quality and extent of arts education in our schools.
I will do that. I will provide 250 million dollars for the NEA’s Arts in Education programs.
We will pay for musical instruments and music teachers in underserved communities throughout the country. And we will make art and music therapy available for children with emotional and developmental challenges.
I will fiercely support state and local efforts to stress arts education in their curricula. The federal government will offer extra matching funds to states that draw up their own, comprehensive art programs."
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| NCLB RECOMMENDATIONS FROM ARTS EDUCATION WORKING GROUP - 10/01/07 |
Article from the Cultural Commons website.
Arts Education Working Group releases legislative recommendations submitted by Americans for the Arts Details
The reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) provides an opportunity for arts education advocates to inform their elected officials in Congress about the academic and social value of arts education for all students, and why it is so important to support arts education in the reauthorization of the law.
On Wednesday, September 12, 2007, the Arts Education Working Group, a coalition of national arts and arts education advocacy organizations, released their legislative recommendations for the reauthorizations of NCLB, because research has shown that arts education has suffered as a result of the focus on mathematics and reading in NCLB. The Working Group continues to work with House and Senate committee staff to incorporate these recommendations into the reauthorization drafts.
These recommendations fall in positive alignment with much of the feds’ working draft of NCLB. The feds’ draft maintains arts education as a core academic subject and reauthorizes the Arts in Education programs at the USDE. The working group's four recommendations are to
Retain the Arts in the Definition of Core Academic Subjects of Learning
Require Annual State Reports on Student Access to Core Academic Subjects
Improve National Data Collection and Research in Arts Education
Reauthorize the Arts in Education Programs of the U.S. Department of Education
For more info, download the recommendations in full.
For further information, go to the Americans for the Arts website.
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| NEW JERSEY REPORTS OUT ON STATEWIDE ARTS ED SURVEY - 09/18/07 |
The New Jersey Arts Education Census Project is one of the most comprehensive efforts ever undertaken by any state to gather, evaluate and disseminate data regarding arts education in every public school. This site exists to broadly disseminate the census results and to provide comprehensive resources supporting arts education both in New Jersey and across the nation.
Within Our Power: The Progress, Plight and Promise of Arts Education for Every Child is the most comprehensive report on arts education in every New Jersey public school. This site exists to broadly disseminate the census results and to provide comprehensive resources supporting arts education both in New Jersey and across the nation.
The Summary Report and School Index Scores are available now, and the complete report and Survey Instrument will be available shortly.
Executive Summary: Within Our Power
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| OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS TO PERFORM WITH BREAD & PUPPET - 09/10/07 |
Hello Teachers and Organizations!
Please let your students know about this exciting event and the chance to perform with the BREAD AND PUPPET Theater!
The Helen Day Art Center is looking for 15 to 20 volunteers to perform with the Bread and Puppet Theatre on Saturday, the 22nd of September. Performers are asked to arrive at the Stowe Elementary gym at 10:00 am. You will be rehearsing all day, with a lunch break (food provided) and will be performing for approx. 50 minutes at 3:30.
Here is a description of the performance.This should be a blast!! THE DIVINE REALITY COMEDY CIRCUS features famous rats leaving a sinking ship, the triumph of the small farmer, advice on where to get your water, a celebratory ballet by a flock of roosters, the Rotten Idea Theater Company's distillation of political issues and much more, all accompanied by the Bread & Puppet Circus Band.
The show will be performed by the Bread & Puppet Company along with volunteers from the local community. Take note that if some of the circus acts are politically puzzling to adults, accompanying kids can usually explain them.
Please call Idoline at the Helen Day Art Center if you are interested in this fun performance opportunity!
Idoline Duke
Exhibit Director
Helen Day Art Center
Stowe, Vermont 05672
802 253 8358 |
| ARTS EDUCATION IN OUT OF SCHOOL PLACES - 09/04/07 |
Arts: Wherefore Art?
From Edutopia September 4, 2007
Arts: Wherefore Art? The arts vacuum in public education is filled by locals who come to the rescue. by Sara Bernard
PREDICTION: After-school and offsite programs using community expertise will take on the bulk of arts teaching.
Here's the good news for art educators: Though an unintended consequence of NCLB has been a slow stripping from the school day of anything that smacks of "extracurricular," the national tide is turning. Case in point: The 2007 National Teacher of the Year, Andrea Peterson, is a music teacher.
As America begins to recognize (or recognize again) that the arts are essential, not peripheral, to true education, arts programs will become part of the solution to the very underachievement that NCLB targets. This year, beleaguered champions of arts education will find their visions finally -- if gradually -- realized, as the growing conversation about art education's intrinsic value plays out in partnerships between community arts organizations and schools. Beyond simply filling in the gaps, this fruitful connection to expertise will offer students rich, meaningful experiences that will likely improve on traditional models for art class.
Take for instance, Big Thought, an umbrella organization managing multiple partnerships between schools and cultural centers in Dallas, Texas. The organization promotes initiatives such as Dallas ArtsPartners, providing access to cultural institutions for students and tools for teachers. "In Dallas, we're seeing an increase in arts and music education," says Gina Thorsen, Big Thought's vice president of research and development.
Though she concedes this trend is atypical for a large, urban school district, she and Big Thought's executive director, Giselle Antoni, travel the country coaching other communities to pool their resources and follow suit. "Arts and cultural organizations have resources that our schools don't have and that can be used to great benefit in the classroom," Thorsen says.
John Abodeely, arts-education manager at the Washington, DC, nonprofit organization Americans for the Arts, has seen a distinct rise in these types of partnerships in recent years. Rather than the old alliances between professional artists and classrooms, which took the form of an occasional artist-in-residence, he says, "the depth of service is much greater." Arts organizations are working side-by-side with teachers and principals to develop arts-integrated curricula that tap into the flexibility and innovation possible in after-school time.
ArtLinks, in Napa, California, is just such a program. Leslie Medine, executive director of its parent organization, On the Move, recounts an after-school mural project ArtLinks made possible. When students at the local Salvador Elementary School discussed the content of their mural (with the theme "School as community"), they discovered that if they were to paint a flag for every nationality represented at the school, there would be twenty-one flags. "That's not necessarily something that would have happened in social studies class," Medine says.
Granted, it's a paradoxical time for arts education, with cutbacks on the one hand and a growing amount of support on the other. But therein lies the hope -- and the challenge, explains Deborah Reeve, executive director of the National Art Education Association. Though times have been tough, she says, "there's a change in the air."
Gina Thorsen, in Dallas, concurs. "Perhaps a pendulum swung too far in one direction," she muses. "Now it's swinging back." |
| ART FOR OUR SAKE: NEW REPORT OUT FROM PROJECT ZERO - 09/02/07 |
From The Boston Globe September 2, 2007
Art for our sake:
School arts classes matter more than ever - but not for the reasons you think
By Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland
Why do we teach the arts in schools? In an educational system strapped for money and increasingly ruled by standardized tests, arts courses can seem almost a needless extravagance,and the arts are being cut back at schools across the country.
One justification for keeping the arts has now become almost a mantra for parents, arts teachers, and even politicians: arts make you smarter. The notion that arts classes improve children's scores on the SAT, the MCAS, and other tests is practically gospel among arts-advocacy groups. A Gallup poll last year found that 80 percent of Americans believed that learning a musical instrument would improve math and science skills.
But that claim turns out to be unfounded. It's true that students involved in the arts do better in school and on their SATs than those who are not involved. However, correlation isn't causation, and an analysis we did several years ago showed no evidence that arts training actually causes scores to rise.
There is, however, a very good reason to teach arts in schools, and it's not the one that arts supporters tend to fall back on... Read the entire article here.
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| THE FUTURE OF TEACHING ARTISTS: WHAT HAVE WE GOT TO LOSE? 08/27/07 |
What Have We Got to Lose? Preserving the Important Qualities of the Teaching Artist Profession, While Still Moving Ahead With Its Professionalization
Passing on the vision and practice of art-making is as old as culture itself: creation stories told during long winter evenings, women and young girls weaving baskets, men welcoming boys to their dances. One generation has always taught the next.
This history moves forward into the 21st century. Artists; arts program administrators; school, hospital, senior center, and prison administrators and staff; and professors in a variety of college departments are increasingly asking that the valuable work done for decades by teaching artists be recognized as a professional field.
One repeated conversation is a fundamental one that questions the ways in which professionalization of the field strengthens or harms this work that we love. In the midst of these conversations, I often think of architect Chris Alexander. When brought to the site of a new project, Alexander is said to have asked community members not only what they wanted that they didn't have, but also what they presently had that they valued and did not want to lose.
That's the question I'd like now to ponder: What do we--teaching artists, students, program administrators, site partners, community activists--cherish about the work of "art in other places," as Bill Cleveland calls it, as it has been practiced over the decades? What do we want not to lose as teaching artistry becomes a more formal field?
Read the full article...
Discuss this issue...
About the Author:
Judith Tannenbaum has been a teaching artist for over thirty years, sharing poetry and writing in a wide variety of settings (including maximum security prisons, programs for gifted youngsters, rural junior college extension classes, and continuation high schools with at-severe-risk-youth). She has also created newsletters and manuals for artists working in prison, public schools, and community settings.
Tannenbaum currently serves as training coordinator with San Francisco's WritersCorps (http://www.sfartscommission.org/WC/) program. Her books include Disguised as a Poem: My Years Teaching Poetry at San Quentin (Northeastern University Press), Teeth, Wiggly as Earthquakes: Writing in the Primary Grades (Stenhouse Publishers), and Jump Write In! Creative Writing Exercises for Diverse Communities, Grades 6-12. (Jossey-Bass). She also writes for Teaching Artist Journal.
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| TEACHING ARTIST SURVEY UPDATE, CALL FOR FEEDBACK - 08/27/07 |
To my friends and colleagues,
Many of you have been providing me with input and data to support my research on the impact of teaching in the craft and work of an artist. The answers and anecdotes are shaping an interesting image of the 21st century teaching artist. (Primarily US, but, increasing information from other continents/nations).
Please help me in the home stretch and consider completing this simple survey and/or passing it along to the teaching artists with whom you work. If you are able to share it with a group of teaching artists from one affiliated community, please do so, and let me know the general demographic that you have shared it with. For an abstract of this thesis, please refer to the Teaching Artist Journal or the survey website.
There will be some results to share in the spring of 2009. In the meantime, I am also engaging in some face-to-face sessions with artists this fall.
Stay in touch and do contact me with any questions or supporting anecdotes.
Thanks so much.
Laura Reeder
Executive Director
Partners for Arts Education
laura@arts4ed.org
www.arts4ed.org
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| SAVE THE DATE! 2007 VAAE FALL ARTS ED CONFERENCE ANNOUNCED: SEPT 27 & 28 |
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VAAE FALL ARTS EDUCATION CONFERENCE
The Arts Puzzle - Collaborate, Integrate, Celebrate!
September 27 & 28, 2007, Jackson Gore/Okemo Mountain Resort, Ludlow, VT
For more information, please visit the conference website.
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| CONSERVATIVE EDITORIAL CALLS FOR EDUCATION INCLUDING THE ARTS - 08/21/07 |
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In “Not By Geeks Alone,” Chester E. Finn and Diane Ravitch discuss the increase in government funding for science, technology, engineering and math ("STEM" subjects) included in the recently passed America Competes Act. "Worthy though these skills are, they ignore at least half of what has long been regarded as a 'well rounded' education in Western civilization: literature, art, music, history, civics and geography. . . . True success over the long haul -- economic success, civic success, cultural success, domestic success, national defense success -- depends on a broadly educated populace with flowers and leaves as well as stems. That's what equips us to invent and imagine and grow one business line into another. It's also how we acquire qualities and abilities that aren't easily 'outsourced' to Guangzhou or Hyderabad."
Read the entire article here.
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| CONSERVATIVE EDITORIAL CALLS FOR EDUCATION INCLUDING THE ARTS - 08/21/07 |
In “Not By Geeks Alone,” Chester E. Finn and Diane Ravitch discuss the increase in government funding for science, technology, engineering and math ("STEM" subjects) included in the recently passed America Competes Act. "Worthy though these skills are, they ignore at least half of what has long been regarded as a 'well rounded' education in Western civilization: literature, art, music, history, civics and geography. . . . True success over the long haul -- economic success, civic success, cultural success, domestic success, national defense success -- depends on a broadly educated populace with flowers and leaves as well as stems. That's what equips us to invent and imagine and grow one business line into another. It's also how we acquire qualities and abilities that aren't easily 'outsourced' to Guangzhou or Hyderabad."
Read the entire article here.
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| CALL FOR PAPERS - ARTS EDUCATION: TO WHAT END? - 08/20/07 |
Artists, scholars, educators, and others who share a profound concern for the present and future state of arts education are invited to submit proposals for a conference that will consider the end of arts education. This interdisciplinary conference presents an important opportunity to reassess, rethink, and redefine the nature and future of our field. It provokes the fundamental question: Arts education- to what end? The Arts Education conference will be held at New York University's Kimmel Center for University Life on March 7 and 8, 2008.
Abstracts will be due October 1. Email abstracts to Daniel Bloch at djb282@nyu.edu. For questions about the conference please call (212) 992-9380.
In an era of standardized testing, shrinking budgets, and educational reforms that purport to keep teachers accountable and to leave no students behind, what is the role and place of arts education? How are arts educators contributing and responding to national and local arts and educational policies? How can arts education programs foster innovative forms of creative cultural expression, intercultural understanding, and civic engagement? Is arts education adequately preparing students as cultural producers-artists, teachers, researchers, and intellectuals-who can successfully negotiate a rapidly transforming and globalizing world? Where can arts educators turn for rich pedagogical models and reflective contemporary artistic frameworks?
Known as a world leader in Arts Education, the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development offers innovative undergraduate and graduate degree programs across four artistic disciplines: dance, music, theatre and visual art. Arts Education at NYU Steinhardt is characterized by a strong commitment to critical inquiry, arts based research and practice, and socially engaged scholarship and teaching. Boasting a dynamic faculty made up of highly visible artists and scholars on the cutting edge of their fields, Arts Education at NYU Steinhardt is committed to preparing teachers for the opportunities and challenges of urban arts education in an ever-changing world. Located in the heart of Greenwich Village-one of New York City's most creative and historic neighborhoods-NYU Steinhardt draws on the rich diversity and cultural wealth of New York City, NYU, and the New York City school system. It offers unparalleled opportunities to study, teach and create across a diverse range of educational, artistic and professional settings.
Papers should relate to the topics identified in the second paragraph above. Please clearly articulate (in the abstract) which art or arts your topic addresses. Feel free to also address additional topics you deem appropriate.
Thank you!!
Susan
Susan R. Koff, Ed.D., Director, Dance Education Program
CC: NYU Steinhardt Committee
David Darts, PhD Susan R. Koff, EdD
Cathy Benedict, EdD Nan Smithner, PhD
Philip Taylor,PhD David Elliott PhD
Joe Salvatore, MFA Christina Marin, PhD
David Montgomery, PhD John Gilbert, EdD
Dipti Desai, PhD Barbara Bashaw, MA
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| A NEW BOOK THAT TACKLES THE OLD DEBATE: ROLE OF ART IN SCHOOLS - 08/04/07 |
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From The New York Times
August 4, 2007
ARTS EDUCATION
Book Tackles Old Debate: Role of Art in Schools
By ROBIN POGREBIN
When two researchers published a study a few years ago concluding
that arts classes do not improve students’ overall academic
performance, the backlash was bitter.
Some scholars argued that the 2000 study’s authors, Ellen Winner and
Lois Hetland of Project Zero — an arts-education program at the
Harvard Graduate School of Education — had failed to mention some
beneficial effects of arts classes that their research had revealed.
Others cited findings that reached the opposite conclusion,
indicating that students who take high-quality art classes indeed do
better in other courses. Some even accused the authors of devaluing
arts education and the arts in general.
But Ms. Winner, Ms. Hetland and two other collaborators are pushing
back. In a new book due out this month, they argue forcefully for the
benefits of art education, while still defending their 2000 thesis.
In their view art education should be championed for its own sake,
not because of a wishful sentiment that classes in painting, dance
and music improve pupils’ math and reading skills and standardized
test scores.
“We feel we need to change the conversation about the arts in this
country,” said Ms. Winner, a professor of psychology at Boston
College and a senior research associate at Project Zero. “These
instrumental arguments are going to doom the arts to failure, because
any superintendent is going to say, ‘If the only reason I’m having
art is to improve math, let’s just have more math.’ “
“Do we want to therefore say, ‘No singing,’ because singing didn’t
lead to spatial improvement?” Ms. Winner added. “You get yourself in
a bind there. The arts need to be valued for their own intrinsic
reasons. Let’s figure out what the arts really do teach.”
In their new study Ms. Winner, Ms. Hetland and their co-authors,
Shirley Veenema and Kimberly Sheridan, focused on the benefits
accrued through classes in painting, drawing, sculpture and the other
visual arts. The results are to be published in their book, “Studio
Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education” (Teachers
College Press).
They observed students taught by five visual arts teachers in two
high schools in Massachussetts: three at the Boston Arts Academy, a
public urban high school, and two at the Walnut Hill School for the
arts, an independent secondary school in Natick. At both schools, all
students specialize in an art form but are enrolled in a regular
academic curriculum.
The authors videotaped a two- to three-hour class of each teacher
once a month for one academic year. They then zeroed in on what they
deemed to be crucial segments of teaching and learning, showed those
clips to the teacher after each class and interviewed them about
their intentions.
“Why did you do that, what was your goal, what kind of learning were
you trying to effect?,” Ms. Winner said, citing some of the questions.
After transcribing all the interviews, the authors spent a year
developing a method for coding the tapes and transcripts according to
the thinking, or “mind habits,” of the teachers as they sought to
convey concepts and strategies to the students.
The researchers found that the visual arts classes did have broad
indirect benefits, even if they were not directly related to
quantifiable performance in other subjects. “Students who study the
arts seriously are taught to see better, to envision, to persist, to
be playful and learn from mistakes, to make critical judgments and
justify such judgments,” the authors conclude.
In a design class taught by Mickey Telemaque at the Boston Arts
Academy mentioned in the book, for example, students are encouraged
to look through a viewfinder with one eye, so that they lose their
depth perception and see the world as if it were a two-dimensional
picture with flat lines, shapes and colors. Ultimately, the exercise
not only demystifies the challenge of drawing but also enables
students to grasp alternative ways of seeing.
Yet some educators assert that improved critical thinking redounds to
measurable academic achievement too. A study by James S. Catterall, a
professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles,
found that students who had more involvement in the arts in school
and after school scored better on standardized tests.
He contends that the executive summary of Ms. Winner’s 2000 study did
not reflect the full results of her research, which he said showed
many positive benefits from arts classes. But Ms. Winner said the
three statistically significant benefits that she found were
unrelated to grades or test results: making music in the classroom
improved visual skills in children; listening to 10 to 15 minutes of
classical music improved the same type of skills in college students
(although the effects lasted only 10 to 15 minutes); and classroom
drama improved some verbal skills.
“When kids take a lot of art, they don’t improve in their core
subject areas,” she said in an interview. “We simply found no
evidence of that.”
When students who take art also generally do well in school, Ms.
Winner and her co- researchers say, this may be because academically
strong schools tend to have strong arts programs, or because families
who value academic achievement also value achievement in the arts.
“You cannot conclude that because they’re taking art, they’re doing
well in school,” Ms. Winner said. “There’s just no way to conclude
anything about causality.”
In campaigning for keeping arts education, some educators say,
advocates need to form more realistic arguments.
“Not everything has a practical utility, but maybe it’s
experientially valuable,” said Elliot Eisner, a professor emeritus of
education at Stanford University. “Learning through the arts promotes
the idea that there is more than one solution to a problem, or more
than one answer to a question.”
Edward Pauly, the director of research and evaluation at the Wallace
Foundation, which finances arts education, said that the arts can
promote experiences of empathy and tolerance. “There is no substitute
for listening to jazz, seeing ‘Death of a Salesman’ performed,
reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ seeing the Vietnam War Memorial,” he
said. “Those powerful experiences only come about through the arts.”
Still, such reasoning may not be sufficient to keep arts education
alive in public schools. “That’s not the kind of argument that gets a
lot of traction in a high-stakes testing environment,” said Douglas
J. Dempster, dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of
Texas, Austin.
In a time when President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” policy
emphasizes test results, the arts do not easily lend themselves to
quantifiable measurements.
Art classes are often the first thing to be jettisoned from a crowded
curriculum. As a result, Ms. Winner said, it is understandable that
some arts advocates hew to the academic argument to keep the arts in
the curriculum. “The arts are totally threatened in our schools,” she
said. “Arts advocates don’t even think about whether they’re accurate
— they latch onto these claims.”
“I am an arts advocate,” she added. “I just want to make plausible
arguments for the arts.”
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| CALL FOR PAPERS - ARTS EDUCATION: TO WHAT END? - 08/20/07 |
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Artists, scholars, educators, and others who share a profound concern for the present and future state of arts education are invited to submit proposals for a conference that will consider the end of arts education. This interdisciplinary conference presents an important opportunity to reassess, rethink, and redefine the nature and future of our field. It provokes the fundamental question: Arts education- to what end? The Arts Education conference will be held at New York University's Kimmel Center for University Life on March 7 and 8, 2008.
Abstracts will be due October 1. Email abstracts to Daniel Bloch at djb282@nyu.edu. For questions about the conference please call (212) 992-9380.
In an era of standardized testing, shrinking budgets, and educational reforms that purport to keep teachers accountable and to leave no students behind, what is the role and place of arts education? How are arts educators contributing and responding to national and local arts and educational policies? How can arts education programs foster innovative forms of creative cultural expression, intercultural understanding, and civic engagement? Is arts education adequately preparing students as cultural producers-artists, teachers, researchers, and intellectuals-who can successfully negotiate a rapidly transforming and globalizing world? Where can arts educators turn for rich pedagogical models and reflective contemporary artistic frameworks?
Known as a world leader in Arts Education, the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development offers innovative undergraduate and graduate degree programs across four artistic disciplines: dance, music, theatre and visual art. Arts Education at NYU Steinhardt is characterized by a strong commitment to critical inquiry, arts based research and practice, and socially engaged scholarship and teaching. Boasting a dynamic faculty made up of highly visible artists and scholars on the cutting edge of their fields, Arts Education at NYU Steinhardt is committed to preparing teachers for the opportunities and challenges of urban arts education in an ever-changing world. Located in the heart of Greenwich Village-one of New York City's most creative and historic neighborhoods-NYU Steinhardt draws on the rich diversity and cultural wealth of New York City, NYU, and the New York City school system. It offers unparalleled opportunities to study, teach and create across a diverse range of educational, artistic and professional settings.
Papers should relate to the topics identified in the second paragraph above. Please clearly articulate (in the abstract) which art or arts your topic addresses. Feel free to also address additional topics you deem appropriate.
Thank you!!
Susan
Susan R. Koff, Ed.D., Director, Dance Education Program
CC: NYU Steinhardt Committee
David Darts, PhD Susan R. Koff, EdD
Cathy Benedict, EdD Nan Smithner, PhD
Philip Taylor,PhD David Elliott PhD
Joe Salvatore, MFA Christina Marin, PhD
David Montgomery, PhD John Gilbert, EdD
Dipti Desai, PhD Barbara Bashaw, MA
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| CONTACT WASHINGTON AND ASK FOR MORE ARTS EDUCATION SUPPORT! - 07/25/07 |
Dear Vermont Arts Education Advocate:
I just took action on this important arts issue and I hope you'll take a moment to do the same.
Please Follow This Link to Take Action on Important Arts Issues http://capwiz.com/artsusa/utr/2/?a=9855086&i=84485367&c=
If your email program does not recognize the URL as a link, copy the entire URL and paste it into your Web browser.
Here is the letter I sent to Leahy, Sanders, and Welch. It takes two minutes, tops!
Dear [recipient name was inserted here],
On Thursday, June 7th the House Labor-Health-Education Appropriations
Subcommittee provided a funding level of $39 for the Arts in Education
program at the U.S. Department of Education. While the Senate has always
provided key support for this program, it is the first time in the history
of the program that the House has provided any funding. Clearly support
for arts education is growing stronger!
The Arts in Education program develops and disseminates school models for
achieving academic excellence through the arts. The programs currently
receive about $35 million, and arts education advocates have been calling
for a funding level of $53 million. Research has proved that students with
an education rich in the arts have better grade point averages in core
academic subjects, score better on standardized tests, and have lower
drop-out rates than students without arts education.
As a constituent, I request that you support at least $39 million in arts
education funding in the FY 2008 appropriations bill.
Sincerely,
Stacy Raphael
Education Programs Manager
Vermont Arts Council
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| GOVERNOR HUCKABEE CONTINUES TO CRUSADE FOR ARTS EDUCATION - 07/23/07 |
TMV - Education: What steps would you recommend to (a) improve public education in the United States and (b) make college more affordable/accessible?
Governor Huckabee: I believe that public education, like energy independence, has become a national security issue. Our national security depends on retaining our economic superiority as much as our military superiority. If we win the war on terror – and we will – but lose out to China economically, we’ve lost our position as the world’s only superpower.
The 21st century will belong to the creative, they will thrive and prosper, both as
individuals and as societies. The creative ones will be the competitive ones. How do we nurture something as elusive as creativity? We can’t teach it the way we do state capitals and multiplication tables. We do it by offering art and music to all our students, all the way through school. So the secret weapons for becoming creative and competitive are art and music, our “Weapons of Mass Instruction.”
It infuriates me when people dismiss the arts as extracurricular, extraneous, and expendable. To me, they’re essential. What would happen if an art teacher puts a paintbrush in a young boy’s hand, and he discovers his God-given talent? Inside every child, there are treasures to find. Education’s Job One in the 21st century must be to unlock those treasures.
Studies have shown a direct correlation between quality music education and higher English and math scores, up to one-third higher. Music develops both sides of the brain and the capacity to think in the abstract. Music teaches students how to learn, and that skill is transferable to learning foreign languages, algebra, or history.
Art and music also keep children in school. There is an established correlation between engagement in the arts and dropout rates. But we have to do even more to bring down the 30% dropout rate. We need to transform our schools, especially at the high school level. I have a plan that will virtually eliminate dropouts, raise standards, yet save so much money that we can strengthen early learning, reduce college costs, and save taxpayers billions of dollars.
It’s called personalized learning. I want to put each child at the center of his education, so that his learning reflects his interests and aspirations. With the help of his teachers, parents, and community, each student drafts a learning plan. He studies a core curriculum for part of the day, but beyond that, he is encouraged to integrate his personal passions and career ambitions into credits toward graduation. What has traditionally been extracurricular becomes part of his custom-made curriculum and a source of academic credit. A student who takes karate gets gym credit. A student who plays in a rock band gets music credit. A student intern at a newspaper gets English credit. The opportunities are as limitless as each one’s imagination and dreams. Let’s remove the walls and roof of the classroom and realize that it encompasses the entire community; with the Internet, it now encompasses the entire world.
With respect to making college more accessible and affordable, we need to make certain that students are well-prepared when they enter college, so that they don’t require remedial education, which is repeating high school classes at college costs. Right now almost half of students need remedial classes. As Governor of Arkansas, I instituted a seamless curriculum from pre-school through college, so that instead of a disconnect between high school and college level work, our students could make a smooth transition. I also instituted one of the most demanding high school curricula in the country, which caused the number of students taking advanced placement classes to grow by leaps and bounds. When students enter college with AP credits, they get their degrees faster and less expensively. We made college more accessible by offering a two-year institution within driving distance of all our citizens and by dramatically increasing distance learning in both two and four-year institutions. We invested heavily in our scholarship programs for high-achieving graduates because we knew that we would ultimately get back $4 for every $1 we spent because of the better jobs those students would get. We also had a successful program that helped poor parents attend college by providing financial aid, child care, transportation stipends, and counseling. As President, I would encourage all states to do what I did as Governor to make college more accessible and affordable."
Read the entire article here.
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| VT ARTS ASSESSMENT INSTITUTE AT CASTLETON STATE COLLEGE: AUGUST 7-9 |
CHECK OUT THE FULL BROCHURE HERE!
Three full days of arts assessment training will be provided by national and regional experts in arts assessment. This year’s institute will include advanced learning opportunities for those arts educators who attended last year’s institute. Contact Gail Kilkelly, Coordinator for Arts, at gail.kilkelly@state.vt.us or (802) 828-6560.
New Institute design to engage all learners at their level.
- Large group and small group sessions designed to meet your level of assessment literacy.
- Discipline-specific group discussions (art, music, theatre, dance)
- State sessions to talk about current issues in your state.
Choose Level I or Level II sessions
Level I participants are those who:
• Seek foundational knowledge or an arts assessment refresher
• Are new to arts assessment or come with many questions about theory and practice
Level II participants are those who:
• Attended AAI 2206 or other arts assessment training – ready to move to next level.
• Use assessment strategies in the classroom
• Develop classroom/district assessment systems
• leadership role in developing arts assessments.
• NEW - Level II Graduate credit is also available for those who successfully completed the graduate credit option at AAI 2006.
Highlights!
• History of Assessment
• What do we mean by “Assessment FOR Learning?”
• Strategies and examples presented by staff from four schools
• “Grand Rounds” – Hear and see what other schools are doing.
• Teaching with the End in Mind
• “10 Reasons Why Teachers Don’t Assess” – A full morning with Dr. Scott Shuler, Arts consultant - CT
• What do we do with assessment data?
Break out sessions include:
- The Human Side of Assessment
- Performance Anxiety and Assessment
- Art Responding Through Technology (ARTT) on-line mentoring.
- District-wide balanced arts assessment
* Agenda subject to change |
| TEACHING ARTIST INSTITUTE AT LESLEY UNIVERSITY IN BOSTON: AUGUST 22-24 |
August 22 - 24, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
To register, please download this registration form [pdf], complete it, and mail it back with your payment or scholarship information.
This program is one of a series offered through a partnership between Lesley University’s Creative Arts in Learning Division and NECAP, the New England Consortium of Artist-Educator Professionals. NECAP is a collaboration of the six New England state arts agencies with other organizations and individuals, working to advance the field of the artist-educator, create a regional network, and provide quality professional development.
To learn more, visit www.artisteducators.org or email necap@aannh.org. To join the NECAP list-serve, e-mail necap-on@mail-list.com.
Come get a student's-eye look at the critical components of a successful residency
* Engage in hands-on, experiential workshops
* Learn from accomplished teaching artists
* Explore residency planning, processes and product goals
* Discover creative ways to structure residencies
* Get re-inspired as an artist Program Format
* Workshops in each of the artistic disciplines
o Strengthen your current skills
o Explore new disciplines
o Learn through collaboration with other creative professionals
* Keynote addresses
* Panel discussions
o Focus on strategies for maintaining artistic integrity in traditional educational settings
o Understanding and bridging cultural differences
o Learn how to advocate for arts and artists in education Institute offerings
Join us at Cultivating the Field, a special institute for teaching artists
Plan I Can: Curriculum Planning Demystified Laura Davis, Instructor
This workshop gives teaching artists a no-fear approach to the residency-planning process.
* Identify areas within state curriculum frameworks that connect to your arts discipline
* Test templates that help streamline the process.
* Learn to design collaborative activities and products with fellow teachers
* Improve your ability to advocate for the value and power of the arts
* Make arts-integration a positive experience for everyone involved
Setting the Stage: Arts Unlocking the Multiple Intelligences Through Theater Christopher Eaves, Instructor
Immerse yourself in creative processes that challenge preconceptions about teaching and learning.
* Observe a residency taught using multiple intelligence theory strategies
o Learn to weave these strategies as effective teaching tools throughout your work
Curriculum in Motion Celeste Miller, Instructor
Experience an arts integrated approach that uses dance/movement and choreography as tools for teaching units of academic study.
* Explore the process of embodying a topic study (from the sciences to language arts)
* Adapt dance/movement into topic lesson plans
* Academic and arts standards are both addressed in this workshop
Institute Costs The fee for each participant is $175
Lodging must be arranged separately but affordable recommendations are provided on our Institute Registration Form
Registration
To register, please download this registration form [pdf], complete it, and mail it back with your payment or scholarship information. |
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| PUBLIC RADIO INT'L FEATURES ROBERT PINSKY ON ARTS EDUCATION - 06/11/07 |
Last week Chris caught up with our neighbor, Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. Pinsky was fresh from a fundraiser for The Boston Arts Academy, which is Boston’s only high school for the arts. As a hearty advocate for human expression, Pinsky told Chris that he profoundly admires the academy for sticking its neck out in an academic atmosphere where kids slog through a monotone curriculum of testing, testing, testing, and more testing.
During this hour, with Pinsky as our guide, we’ll be talking about arts education in America. Is eliminating the marching band the best way to keep kids moving forward? Is arts education a necessity that has become a luxury? Will this era of No Child Left Behind give rise to a generation of would-be Gershwins and Ginsbergs? Will we forever be dependent on writers and musicians like Dave Eggers and Flea to keep young artists afloat?
What was your arts education like? How does it differ from your child’s? What are the long-term consequences of short-changing kids’s culture?
A powerful advocacy tool for arts education advocates! Listen to it here...
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| CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON ARTS EDUCATION FUNDING ON YOUTUBE - 06/08/07 |
On March 28, 2007 Director of Education, Ayanna Hudson Higgins gave congressional testimony on the importance of arts education to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education & Related Agencies.
On June 7, 2007 the House Labor-Health-Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved a $39 million funding level for the Arts in Education program at the U.S. Department of Education. This is the first time in seven years that this program has received funding from the House subcommittee. It would represent a slight increase to FY 2007 level of $35.3 million.
The subcommittee also provided an increase of 5 percent ($20 million) in advance funding for public broadcasting and an increase of 12.7 percent ($125 million) for 21st Century Community Learning Centers (after school programs).
Very inspiring stuff! Watch it here...
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| VT MIDI WORKSHOP, JUNE 21 FOR MUSIC EDUCATORS, MUSICIANS, ETC - 05/16/07 |
- For all music educators, composers, musicians, and school technology personnel
- Hartford High School, White River Junction
- Thursday, June 21 – 8:30 am to 3:00 pm – 6.5 hours PD credit certificate given
Contact Sandi MacLeod for more information or to register:
http://www.vtmidi.org ~ sandi@vtmidi.org
30 Steeplebush Rd.
Essex Junction, VT 05452
P - 802-879-0065
F - 802-879-3384
C - 802-578-8580
Workshop Descriptions:
A1 and repeat session B1 - Facilitating the Compositional Work of K-5 Composers. In this session we will examine the key characteristics of young composers, the elements of planning successful instruction, and guiding thoughts for creating a community of composers in your classroom. We will review lessons found to be engaging and captivating and hear some musical pieces created by young composers. Michele Kaschub, presenter
A2 - Improvising and recording film scores using GarageBand. Film scores make an excellent prompt for getting young musicians to think creatively with sound. Garageband provides an excellent interface for allowing students to create real-time improvisations while watching a movie. Demonstration of both individual work as well as group compositions and improvisations will be shown. Alan Kaschub, presenter
A3 and repeat session - C3 Audio Recording and Tour of the Music Lab Integrating MIDI and Audio Using Sequencing Software (Sonar)- a hands-on session designed to introduce basic concepts of sequencing MIDI and either recording external audio or importing found sound into Sonar. This will also include a quick tour of the music lab.
B2 and repeat session C2 - Rhythm, Rhyme and Rap. Using Rap music composition as a tool for developing rhythmic fluency and understanding. This session will chronicle a project first used at USM this Fall where 45 incoming freshmen were asked to create, notate and record a rap composition during the first 2 weeks of classes. This presentation will examine the goals of the project, the process involved in preparing the students and will explore some of the fascinating results. Alan Kaschub, presenter
B3 and repeat session D3 - Film-scoring using Sibelius is a hands-on session exploring the collaborative possibilities between video and music composition. This workshop will address compositional and artistic issues related to film-scoring as well as covering the necessary software skills. Topics will include: Importing video to Sibelius, syncing music to film, using hit-points for effective scoring, and more. Matt Podd, presenter
B4 - MIDI Guitar. Take a glimpse into MIDI guitar, a way for the guitar to interface with computer music labs the same way that keyboards have. Grab the most popular instrument in the world and integrate it into your classroom. Led by Marc Schonbrun, educator and clinician on guitar integration and methods.
C1 - Composing Music, Creating Me. I’ve never met a middle school student who did not want to write their own song or create their own music. Music is a critical factor in the evolution of self-identity. In this session we will examine the unique characteristics of M.S. composers, the types of projects and assignments that suit their development, and hear some musical pieces created by middle school composers. Michele Kaschub, presenter
C4 - Groovy Music for Elementary Classroom (Shapes, Jungle and City) and other Sibelius Educational Suite Products Learn about Groovy Music, the new early childhood software from Sibelius. Groovy Music takes children through the process of composition, learning about form, and timbre in a highly education, engaging, game-like interface. Sibelius Clinician Marc Schonbrun will demonstrate all three levels of Groovy Music for ages 5-11 as well as the rest of the Sibelius Educational suite designed for students of all levels.
D1 - Video-Conferenced Music Teaching: Increasing the Opportunities. Learn how American college students teach music through video-conferencing with elementary students at a school for underprivileged children in Mexico. Video-taped examples and the college students’ reflections/perceptions of the experience will be shared. The technology used to facilitate this long-distance teaching environment will be demonstrated and discussed, and participants will brainstorm ideas for using this exciting medium in their own classroom settings. Pat Riley, presenter
D2 - Everything You Wanted To Know About Music Technology But Were Afraid To Ask. A lighthearted, open forum for the technophobe educator! This is the place to come and learn about music technology in a roundtable discussion meant to educate, not intimidate. All the important bases will be covered: audio, MIDI, computers, blue screens of death... Led by educator and music technologist and all around nice guy, Marc Schonbrun.
D4 – Research Project: Using Groovy Music Shapes to Enrich K-2 Curriculum. A research study this past year with general music classes in K-2 focused on how the new interactive theory and creative software from Sibelius might meet the needs of her classrooms already focused on a comprehensive curriculum. Charlene will discuss the study and the results as she integrated Groovy Music with her classes at Williamstown Elementary School. Charlene Helman, presenter
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| NEW ENGLAND EARLY CHILDHOOD ARTS CONFERENCE IN MAINE ON JUNE 27TH |
For immediate release
Joining Hands: Early Childhood and the Arts
New England-wide conference brings together teaching artists and
early childhood educators
"Joining Hands: Early Childhood and the Arts," a New England-wide conference for teaching artists and early childhood educators and care providers, takes place Wednesday, June 27, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, at the Wells Elementary School in Wells, Maine.
The conference, which features nationally known speakers and a variety of hands-on workshops, is open to artists in all disciplines who teach in schools, preschools, and community sites, and to all those who work with children age 3 to grade 3.
Keynote speaker Miriam Flaherty Willis, senior director of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts Education Program, will discuss "Making Creative Connections: Meaningful Partnerships for Teaching Artists and Early Educators."
Willis directs the Wolf Trap's Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts, which places performing artists in classroom residencies and has been replicated in 15 regions throughout the country. In 1994 the Institute received the National Endowment for the Arts' Arts Plus award. Willis co-chaired the national Task Force on Children's Learning and the Arts, which produced the report "Young Children and the Arts: Making Creative Connections." She has served on the national advisory committee for Save the Children and as an editorial consultant for "Young Children," published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
In the afternoon Willis will present a workshop called "Books Connect: Children's Literature, Learning and the Performing Arts."
Dr. Dee Hansen, Chair of Graduate Music Education at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, will discuss "A Mind Full of the Arts: What Brain Research Tells Us about How Children Learn."
"Brain research is uncovering fascinating and important discoveries," Hansen says. "We'll talk about the functions of the brain and how the arts affect and engage children in the learning process. We'll also explore developmental stages of learning and how this knowledge informs us as artists and teachers."
Hansen previously served as the fine arts consultant for the Kansas State Department of Education and as president of the Kansas Music Educators Association. She is a member of the U.S. Department of Education Teacher-to-Teacher Training Corps, and has presented trainings for The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and MENC, the National Association for Music Education, which published her books, The Handbook for Music Supervisors and The Music and Literacy Connection, chronicling the links between music learning and reading skills.
Hansen will also lead an interactive session called "Arts Play and Learning" and an afternoon workshop on "The Art of Assessing Young Children." Additional afternoon workshops will include a session presented by VSA arts of New England affiliates on "The Arts and Early Learning in Inclusive Settings," and sessions focusing on multicultural programming and discipline-specific work with young children in movement, theater, music and visual arts.
"Joining Hands" is presented by the New England Consortium of Artist-Educator Professionals (NECAP) in partnership with New England State Arts Agencies, the Arts Alliance of Northern NH, the Wells Elementary School, and Lesley University. This will be NECAP's sixth annual event in its "Widening the Circle" conference series for artist-educators. By convening artists who share a common interest in both art making and teaching, NECAP works to create and support a network for the professional development of teaching artists across New England.
"We're excited that teaching artists from across New England are taking this important area of work seriously," says Paul Faria, arts education manager at the Maine Arts Commission. "The arts provide a critical pathway to learning and literacy. Teaching artists and early-childhood educators are natural partners and guides along this path. We're really happy to bring them to together in a beautiful place, at a beautiful time of year."
To assist artist-educators as they work to expand their skills and professional network, resources on professional development opportunities across the New England region will be shared. Artists and early-childhood educators and providers are encouraged to bring brochures and other materials for the resource tables, which will be open for browsing and sharing before the conference begins and during a lunch-time networking session.
The registration fee of $50 includes morning refreshments and lunch. Pre-registration is required. Conference details and registration information are posted at www.artisteducators.org, www.aannh.org, and on state arts council websites. A block of rooms is being held for participants at a reduced rate until May 31 at the Hampton Inn & Suites Wells/Ogunquit.
Those interested in additional program and registration information are invited to contact conference coordinator Frumie Selchen of the Arts Alliance of Northern New Hampshire, 603-323-7302, or by email at necap@aannh.org.
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| EXPLORING THE WORLD AT SCHOOL - ARTS INTEGRATION SUCCESS - 06/08/07 |
Willards Elementary School in Salisbury, MD, "has moved from the lower testing range to one of the top three schools in the county," thanks, says educator Cindy Sullivan, to efforts that began four years ago "to integrate the arts -- visual arts, theater, dance and music composition -- into the core curriculum."
Read more here...
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| US DOE TEACHER WORKSHOPS: ARTS FOCUS IN LOWELL, MA ON AUGUST 6-7 |
Teacher Workshops
The U.S. Department of Education will host its annual summer regional workshops series for teachers to learn best practices from fellow educators who have had success in raising student achievement. Draft agendas are available on the schedule.
"2007 will mark the fourth summer that the Department has given teachers across the country an opportunity to convene with their colleagues and learn new strategies that work in the classroom."
--U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.
Workshop Information
Date: 8/6/2007 - 8/7/2007
Focus: History, Science, Arts
Grade levels: K-12
Location: Lowell National Historic Park, Lowell, MA
Lowell National Historical Park and the U.S. Department of Education will hold this free workshop for teachers. The workshop will be held at the Boots Cotton Mills Tsongas Industrial History Centers, a federal park managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The focus of the workshop will be science, history and the arts. Teachers may be able to earn professional development credit through their district or state by attending.
Agenda Highlights: NAEP Arts Processes: Designing Curriculum and Embedded Assessments for the K-12 Classroom
This session introduces a standards-based, arts-curriculum design and student achievement evaluation process for kindergarten through 12th-grade educators built on:
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arts processes defined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress;
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research from a Queensland, Australia, evaluation project;
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assessment/evaluation work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe; and
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instructional strategies of Dr. Robert Marzano.
Engage in an evaluation of student work by using a rubric and panel process, including individual and team reflection using a dialog rubric to guide the discussion. The process you learn can be applied to other content areas.
Presentation PDF
Handouts PDF
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| STARR FOUNDATION AWARDS $1.5 MILLION FOR ARTS EDUCATION - 05/21/07 |
New York City-based Young Audiences has announced a one-year, $1.5 million grant from the Starr Foundation, also in New York, to further its Arts for Learning Lessons program.
Young Audiences will use the largest grant in its 54-year history to help fund the program, which provides five thousand children with arts-based literacy instruction at its sixteen chapters. Additional support for the initiative comes from the Dana, Ford, William Randolph Hearst, William and Flora Hewlett, and Sequoia foundations.
According to Young Audiences national executive director Richard Bell, studies have shown that students' participation in arts activities informed by academic standards and objectives yields lasting benefits. A recent independent study of elementary school students in three school districts found that student participants in the program made substantial gains on literacy tests compared to students who did not participate, and also considered the lessons to be easier and more enjoyable than those in the standard curriculum.
"The Starr Foundation's generosity will help [us] extend the reach of the Arts for Learning Lessons program in order to help elementary students achieve higher level reading skills...and raise student achievement on state and local literacy standards," Bell said. "Young Audiences is committed to using the arts [to help children] reach their full potential both in and out of the classroom."
“The Starr Foundation Awards Leading Arts-in-Education Nonprofit $1.5 Million to Improve National Literacy Test Scores in Schools Across the Country.” Young Audiences Press Release 5/17/07.
Read more here...
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| NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS - EDUCATION LEADERS INSTITUTE - 05/18/07 |
Washington, DC -- With the increasing emphasis on core school subjects such as reading and math, art teachers and art programs are struggling to maintain a place in the regular school schedule. Today, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announces the NEA Education Leaders Institute, a new program that will help increase the commitment of school leaders, state legislators, and policy makers to enhance the quality and quantity of arts education. The NEA Education Leaders Institute will gather teams of school leaders, legislators, policymakers, educators, professional artists, consultants and scholars from up to five states at a three-day conference, to discuss a shared arts education challenge, and engage in strategic planning to advance arts education in their respective states.
The Institutes will commence with a pilot session in March 2008. The Arts Endowment will partner with the Illinois Arts Council to select the five participating states, determine the agenda and plan and implement the NEA Education Leaders Institute. Each state will supply a team of seven members including state department of education officials, governor's cabinet members, superintendents, district-level school leaders, artists, and arts advocates. These state teams will discuss a shared arts education challenge, such as school schedules, assessment, leadership in arts education, curriculum development, and standards. As participants exchange ideas, plans for innovative partnerships and programs are expected to emerge, coupled with renewed commitment to arts education at the school-district level. A professional evaluation firm will conduct an independent assessment of the workshop, and an executive summary of the evaluation findings will be available to the public.
"This institute will provide a forum for pioneers of education design to reflect on the role of the arts plays in a nation made healthy by broadly educated citizens," said NEA Director of Arts Education Dr. Sarah B. Cunningham. "In addition to serving the arts, arts educators and educators, we look forward to inviting experts from beyond education to contemplate and design ideal education opportunities that draw on, build from and expand arts learning for American children."
Read more here...
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| SUBSCRIBE TO "FROM THE TRENCHES," A MONTHLY ARTS EDUCATION PODCAST - 05/18/07 |
“From the Trenches,” is a monthly podcast exploring the news headlines, news events and news makers that impact music and arts education across the country. From the Trenches is produced and funded by the Music for All.
To Subscribe to From the Trenches in iTunes click here. For other programs follow your software’s instructions to subscribe to podcasts and use the following link: http://music-for-all.org/trenches.xml...
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| CONGRESSIONAL HIGH SCHOOL ARTS COMPETITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED - 5/14/07 |
| In a ceremony held on Monday, May 14 at the T.W. Wood Gallery in Montpelier, Xavier Donnelly of Burlington High School was named the winner of the 26th Annual Congressional Arts Competition. Read more |
| NPR'S "FROM THE TOP" COMES TO VERMONT; LOOKING FOR TALENTED YOUTH! - 05/01/07 |
Calling all Musicians!
Do you know a young Vermonter who’s a fantastic classical musician? Send them to VPR's website and they might end up on national radio! From the Top is recording a show at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph, Vermont this fall. They're looking for young Vermont musicians to be on the program. From the Top showcases extraordinary young musicians around the country. The program airs on VPR Sunday nights at 6, and on VPR Classical at 5.
Click here to apply for your chance to appear on From the Top.
About the Program
From the Top showcases the nation's most outstanding young classical musicians. Each one-hour program presents pre-collegiate musicians whose stunning individual performances are combined with lively interviews, unique pre-produced segments, lighthearted sketches and musical games.
Tune in and find out who's growing up to fill the shoes of Andres Segovia, Jacqueline DuPré or Paul Robeson!
From the Top website (loads of information, from educational curricula and audio clips to community chat and audition tips)
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| VERMONT YOUTH ORCHESTRA ANNUAL AUDITIONS, MAY 7-24 - 05/01/07 |
The Vermont Youth Orchestra Association will hold auditions for the 2007-08 Season from May 7-24 at the Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester. Auditions are open to any young musician, currently in grades 3 – 11, who has played an orchestral instrument for at least one year. Woodwind and brass players younger than the 7th grade should have at least two years of experience on their instrument.
Auditions are heard by Music Director Troy Peters and other members of the VYOA artistic staff. All qualified students are offered placement in the appropriate VYOA group, based on skill and experience as demonstrated in the audition. Other audition facts:
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Auditions include a scale, a prepared solo, and sight-reading.
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Auditions take approximately 10 minutes each.
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All auditions are held in the Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester.
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Auditions for new members are by appointment only.
Audition appointments for new students begin on April 9, 2007. For more information, call the VYOA at 802.655.5030 or visit their website.
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| MUSIC TEACHER WINS 2007 NATIONAL TEACHER AWARD - 04/26/07 |
For only the second time in 57 years, the National Teacher Award has gone to a music teacher in Washington state this year!
"...Andrea Peterson, 33, has taught in the district for 10 years.
She says it's essential for schools to offer classes like art or music and physical education because they are the only thing that motivates some students to come back to school day after day.
'If you can tap into that motivation, you can get them to achieve higher at all levels,' Peterson said..."
The article on cnn.com is truly uplifting for arts education advocates, so read and circulate! | | | |