I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people from the arts education field say that arts ed needs to become part of school reform. And, this is not a new chorus, but a rather old one, going back at least 15 years.Granted, 15 years ago, when people spoke of school reform, they meant something along the lines of school improvement, which could mean improvement of … [Read more...] about Arts Education and School Reform: An Unlikely Duo
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Real Funding for Advocacy: What Is Sorely Needed
The simple fact is that funding for arts education advocacy has been fractional. The state alliances have historically been funded on a marginal basis and local advocacy has for the most part been nascent. Underdeveloped advocacy efforts and little funding to support anything better. That's arts education in 2011. Think good ideas for an engine, but little gas in the tank.The … [Read more...] about Real Funding for Advocacy: What Is Sorely Needed
A Living Mural At McKinley Middle School: Sustaining the Arts Across Years
Classes Come and Go, But the Mural Grows and Grows, by Fernanda Santos, The New York Times, May 18th, 2011The mural occupies the walls and steel doors along two floors of a middle school in Brooklyn. If turned into pavement, it would extend more than two city blocks.It's a terrific story about a terrific school that I know well. IS259 in Brooklyn was a long-term partner school … [Read more...] about A Living Mural At McKinley Middle School: Sustaining the Arts Across Years
Guest Blogger, Jane Remer: The Law of Unintended Consequences: How “Reform” Became the Language of Defeat in 1983
Jane Remer's CliffNotes: Recently to my chagrin and discomfort, many scholars and practitioners in favor of improving public education through democratic means refer to current events and efforts in harsh terms. What we used to call "positive school change, development or improvement" has been cast aside as "soft and wimpy" and replaced with a lexicon that uses "reform" in … [Read more...] about Guest Blogger, Jane Remer: The Law of Unintended Consequences: How “Reform” Became the Language of Defeat in 1983
An Arts Education Toolkit, by Parents, for Parents
The Center for Arts Education, where I work, has had a toolkit for the past five or so years that was created by the parents, teachers, school leadership, and cultural partners, of PS 203 Queens, together with CAE as part of the program Parents as Arts Partners.Involving Parents and Schools in Arts Education is a 44 page toolkit, with a whole host of tools that any parent will … [Read more...] about An Arts Education Toolkit, by Parents, for Parents