I am finding it pretty difficult to get excited about Arts Education Week, as recognized by the US House of Representatives. Arts Education Week is a good thing, of course, no one is likely to argue otherwise. And yes, I am big on the idea of building steps in a ladder and it would be fair to view this designation as a step in the ladder of all of our work in arts … [Read more...] about My Best Work as a Teaching Artist: An Arts Education Reflection
Breaking Through the Roadblock: An Example from Science Education Advocacy
As a follow-up to yesterday's entry, The First Roadblock to Arts Education Policy Improvement, I offer a very interesting item, an example if you will, as to what it looks like when such roadblocks are broken through. Perhaps bypassed would be a better way to treat the metaphor, as you never know what's on the other side of that roadblock! Is this a perfect example, nope. Are … [Read more...] about Breaking Through the Roadblock: An Example from Science Education Advocacy
The First Roadblock to Arts Education Policy Improvement
"If we did it for the arts, we would have to do it for every subject."That's it. There you have it. That's the first roadblock pulled out of a hat to rationalize "why not."I have heard this particular roadblock deployed many times, including in response to the advocacy for a special form of assistance to help schools without any certified arts teachers locate and hire these … [Read more...] about The First Roadblock to Arts Education Policy Improvement
Beaverton Oregon School District Meets the Required i3 Match
The Beaverton School District and Young Audiences Arts for Learning have completed raising the required match to secure its i3 grant from the USDOE.The school district and partners had approximately 21 days to raise the required $800,000, not a small sum for a relatively small school district, in this economy no less.Bravo! … [Read more...] about Beaverton Oregon School District Meets the Required i3 Match
A Good Idea: Let’s End Test Prep and Expand the Curriculum
In today's New York Daily News, United Federation of Teacher President, Michael Mulgrew called for an end to test prep:Test prep isn't instruction. In virtually every school I have gone into in recent years, teachers complained about instructional time lost to prepping students for tests. Art and music fell by the wayside years ago in most schools, but many schools were also … [Read more...] about A Good Idea: Let’s End Test Prep and Expand the Curriculum