http://www.statesmanjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20104300322

Oregon's ELI Team will address the question of how Oregon can support and strengthen the arts-based knowledge of its generalist classroom teachers.

As the team prepares to submit a proposal, please offer any additional thoughts, issues, best practices models, etc. you would like to share.

I'm drafting a proclamation for the governor and starting this conversation thread. What are YOU doing?

I'll start:

"Why So Much Drama in the Drama Department?"
http://chronicle.com/article/Why-So-Much-Drama-in-the-Drama/48712/
As a "theatre person" this explains a lot of the skills I bring to a team, but also many of the challenges I encounter fitting my personality and background into a more conventional working environment. I wonder what skills/challenges folks in other disciplines encounter when working with non-artists.

1) On October 13th, Americans for the Arts staff participated in a webinar was conducted to disseminate preliminary information to assist arts education state leaders to understand the RTTT program objectives and how their state could include arts education in its application (if it was doing one). The briefing materials, and a recording of that webinar are online.
http://www.menc.org/documents/tuesday/webinar.html

2) Americans for the Arts, along with a dozen other arts organizations submitted comments in reaction to the proposed grant program. Several of those areas of concern have been modified, for the better, we're pleased to say. A quick review of the grant guidelines finds:

a) The original proposal tried to tie teacher and principal performance to student achievement levels...the final proposal includes this more agreeable language, for example: "States, LEAs, or schools must include multiple measures, provided that principal [or teacher] effectiveness is evaluated, in significant part, by student growth (as defined in this notice). Supplemental measures may include, for example, high school graduation rates and college enrollment rates, as well as evidence of providing supportive teaching and learning conditions, strong instructional leadership, and positive family and community engagement"

b) The original proposal did not include the term "core academic subjects" anywhere - which includes the arts in its definition...the final RTTT guidelines provide the following definition for "Increased Learning Time" which is expected to be included in any successful RTTT school- level reform application:
"Increased learning time means using a longer school day, week, or year schedule to significantly increase the total number of school hours to include additional time for (a) instruction in core academic subjects, including English; reading or language arts; mathematics; science; foreign languages; civics and government; economics; arts; history; and geography; (b) instruction in other subjects and enrichment activities that contribute to a well-rounded education, including, for example, physical education, service learning, and experiential and work-based learning opportunities that are provided by partnering, as appropriate, with other organizations;"

c) The new inclusion of "social, emotional and cognitive" learning approach into the Early Learning Priority and the School Intervention strategy sections. This is a particularly interesting development which the arts education field may greatly benefit from.

d) The definition of what can measure "student achievement" typically limited to state assessments, now includes, "other measures of student achievement that are rigorous and comparable across classroom" - which was an item in our recommendations to USDE.

3) One significant area did not change, unfortunately:

a) The emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) was not reduced, as we and many others requested. However, this does not prevent states from including the arts as part of their STEM initiative as Ohio has done. The guidelines do say however that the STEM emphasis can, "cooperate with industry experts, museums, universities, research centers, or other STEM-capable community partners to prepare and assist teachers in integrating STEM content across grades and disciplines, in promoting effective and relevant instruction, and in offering applied learning opportunities for students"

4) Finally, here is a summary of the possible state award amounts, based on population, that a successful application could yield.
CATEGORY 1 – $350-700 million
California, Texas, New York, Florida

CATEGORY 2 – $200-400 million
Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, New
Jersey
CATEGORY 3 – $150-250 million
Virginia, Arizona, Indiana, Washington, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Missouri, Maryland, Wisconsin

CATEGORY 4 – $60-175 million
Minnesota, Colorado, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, Puerto Rico, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Oregon, Connecticut, Utah, Mississippi, Iowa,
Arkansas, Kansas, Nevada
CATEGORY 5 – $20-75 million
New Mexico, Nebraska, Idaho, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Maine, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, South Dakota, Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, District of Columbia

Narric Rome
Director of Federal Affairs Americans for the Arts
1000 Vermont Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20005
nrome@artsusa.org
www.americansforthearts.org

What has been effective for you? What resources are most beneficial? What challenges are you facing?

The alternative language I propose: the Creative Core of Education, or for short, the "Creative Core."

Within this new rhetorical frame we capture the artistic disciplines and arts integrated instruction alike; we accept and rejoice in blurring lines with technology and other STEAM-related initiatives; we insert another column on the scoring rubric for project-based learning; and we rebuke the defacto policy position that the arts function on the periphery of the "real" academic core. And it's alliterative, it feels good to say. Say it with me: "the Creative Core."

What do y'all think? Or does it really matter - for policy or practice - the way we conceive of arts education? Am I just publicly rambling on a Friday morning?

Math and the Liberal Arts (wonderful cultural connections and history here)
http://mtcs.truman.edu/~thammond/history/Art.html

Metropolitan Museum of Arts
Islamic Art and Geometric Design
Learning Activities
http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/publications/pdfs/islamic_geometric/islamic_art_and_geometric_design.pdf

The idea is that with proper processes, checks, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer problems and unforeseen complications. *Wikipedia

So how do we collectively define Best Practices in arts education in Oregon? Perhaps we can use the SMART evaluation practice and learn more about high quality, that can be Sustained, Measured, provide Access, are Reasonable, and Timely?

The presentation was well-attended and received. While in DC for AEP, I had the pleasure of hearing both Rocco Landesman, NEA Chairman, and Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education, speak. Remarks from both speakers will be available.

http://www.arts.wa.gov/education/aeri.shtml

What information in this report would be valuable to collect in Oregon? What key partners would need to be engaged in order to garner valid, comprehensive results? What benefit would a survey like this provide to Oregon and to your work?

Chance for Success
K-12 Achievement
School Finance
Standards, Assessment &Accountability
Transitions & Alignment
The Teaching Profession

View results for all states at:

http://www.edweek.org/ew/qc/2010/17src.h29.html

Dr. James J. Heckman, an expert in the economics of human potential, discusses the importance of investing in early childhood education.
http://www.ready-for-school.org/the-case/heckman-video-series

What other resources are out there to support those working directly in Pre-K settings? How does this video connect to our work in the arts?

What unique challenges do Pre-K arts advocates face? For example, how to best track the long-term impact of early experiences in the arts? Any suggestions?

What suggestions would you make to them?

From Megan Kirkpatrick
Arts Education Professional Development and Resources Manager
Los Angeles County Arts Commission

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission, San Francisco Arts Commission and Santa Clara County Office of Education have launched “Designing the Arts Learning Community: a Handbook for K-12 Professional Development Planners.” The handbook represents a move away from the one-day workshop or summer course to a systemic, ongoing collaborative approach that yields powerful results for students’ learning in the arts. It demonstrates how to establish, grow and sustain a learning community that comes together to improve arts instruction.

The handbook has a national perspective, drawing on the experiences of arts education professional development programs from across the United States, and features a searchable database of 50 model programs from across the country. It is designed to be used online but offers options to print out sections or the entire handbook.

Take a look at the handbook: http://handbook.laartsed.org

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills brings together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers to define a vision for 21st century education centered on the skills needed to be effective citizens, workers, and leaders in the 21st century.

The arts – dance, music, theatre, and visual arts - are included as core subjects within the Partnership’s Framework for 21st Century Learning. America’s leading professional organizations for educators in these disciplines are involved in a project with the Partnership to demonstrate how an education in the arts develops essential 21st century skills. Writers for this project have drafted an “Arts Skills Map,” which is a document to be read and understood by all those interested in the arts as a part of a full, balanced education.
The writers are inviting comments on the Skills Map. All comments must be submitted through http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=p7IKPP0l7CmzWFIv1Tkp8Q_3d_3d
by Friday, December 11, 2009.

Is there, or should there be, a separation between advocacy and action/programs/development? As if to imply the political support is something outside, requiring a different set of skills, knowledge, and time. Doesn't this reinforce the disconnect between policy and practice?

We should be utilizing the tools at our disposal to close the feedback loop - like this forum is trying to do. By building in structures of reflection and discussion and dissemination from the beginning, the advocacy bit happens along with....

(implications for education too...maybe need an education/professional development forum - Shocked

Any takers on this topic?

Whole Child Education positions the arts and creativity right next to healthy food, PE and safe schools.

There are publications and resources avaiable here:

http://www.wholechildeducation.org/clearinghouse/

If this initiative interests you, you can sign the petition to sign up for the mailing list.

When a state reaches 1,000 signautres on the petition, Whole Child Initiative will present the petition to that state's board of education.

http://www.oregonartseducationcongress.org/teambuilding_lessons.html

Thank you to everyone who led and shared their teambuidling lesson plan.

We know that the arts are a core subject in NCLB, but we don't see the same kind of assessment that we do in other subject areas.

Here is a resource developed in California that presents one way of approaching assessment:

The California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA), with a generous grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, launched an Arts Education Initiative in early 2006. CCSESA urges every school to weave the arts into the fabric of the curriculum providing all students with a comprehensive education, kindergarten through high school. CCSESA supports students, schools, districts, and communities to continuously improve student achievement in each of the state’s 58 counties through a fully equipped and comprehensive statewide network.

http://www.ccsesaarts.org/content/assessment_guide.asp

Of particular interest to me today is the "Dispelling 4 Myths about Arts Education Assessment."

How does your organization or school assess arts education?

Evidence Based Research for Student Learning

Is there a Q&A/Instructions for using as a positive tool?

Identify clearly what the objective is – mission?

Project based ideas in actual classrooms (embedded video)

Sharing Success Stories

Demo techniques/ Prof. Learning communities online!

Lesson Plans

Virtual/Interactive Instruction