Dewey21C

Sunday's New York Times had a very interesting article about Scarsdale High School dropping its Advanced Placement Courses, which many had complained were overly reliant on rote memorization, with something called Advanced Topics. In addition, a handful of select private schools have abolished their Advanced Placement Courses, and paid $40,000 a piece to have Ivy League … [Read more...] about What exactly is the equity issue all about?

Okay, it's back to Dewey21c, in the long shadow of the five-day online discussion about arts education. In the next couple of days, my first guest blogger will appear. I am lining others up as well...I wanted to get back on track with my regular blog by moving fairly far afield from the topics covered in the discussion.Years ago, there were two tracks in high school: academic … [Read more...] about Not Your Father’s Vo-Tech–The Future of High Schools

When I was working as an arts education consultant in the early 90s, during pretty difficult fiscal times for schools, principals were focused on integrating the arts across the curriculum. I know this, because during this period I was involved in focus groups and interviews with hundreds of principals and school district officials across the country.It was pretty simple: … [Read more...] about Economic Cycles and Arts Education

I can't tell you how many times I have heard supporters of arts education say: "we need a research project that will prove beyond any doubt what we already know about the benefits of arts education. Then we will really make headway."It's the silver bullet theory. In this case, it's the incontrovertible piece of research that will flip the switch. The silver bullet theory has … [Read more...] about Is There a Silver Bullet to Fix Education?

Thanks to New York State politics, the cuts to NYSCA as proposed by Governor Patterson will not be taking place. Phew....With state budget deficits growing, what happened here may be worth noting carefully, very carefully.It raises the question of exactly how prepared we all are to advocate during a period of budget reductions. In this instance, had the New York State … [Read more...] about Update on NYSCA Funding Cuts