CINCINNATI, OH—May 24, 2023—The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded a $50 thousand dollar grant to the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) to support “Creating A Community for All Learners- Reimagining Standards-based Arts Education for Equity & Inclusion." This grant is among NEA-funded projects across the country, totaling more than $31 million, that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2023.
"Creating A Community for All Learners", a joint initiative of EdTA and other members of the National Coalition for Arts Standards (NCAS), will convene diverse education stakeholders from under-represented populations and experts on culturally responsive teaching practice in arts education. Selected stakeholders will work to craft guidance for inclusive teacher practices as well as discipline specific recommendations for future national arts standards revisions.
Along with EdTA, NCAS partnering organizations participating in the project are the National Arts Education Association (NAEA), National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Media Arts Committee (MAC), and Young Audiences Arts for Learning (YA).
A panel of culturally responsive experts who guide teachers will be pre-chosen, based on recommendations from the partnering NCAS organizations and a review of suggested applications resumes by grant leadership. Through a process of virtual and in-person convenings, the panel will analyze how the national arts standards could better address the needs and cultural benchmarks of a diverse student population to produce a gap analysis and a report that outlines guiding principles for culturally responsive teaching, along with specific instructional strategies.
The project will culminate with the work of a cohort of classroom teachers paired with community arts providers who will apply the guidance and recommendations to create and field test standards-based model lesson plans as a part of a toolkit for all arts educators, bringing the guidance to life for arts educators everywhere.
According to Cory Wilkerson, Chief Learning Officer for EdTA, "Creating a Community for All Learners" represents the first step towards an expected revision of the 2014 National Art Standards. “We know from experience that the arts standards can have an impact on how arts teachers teach and how students learn,” she said. “This project is an opportunity to consider how we can refine those standards to make them more meaningful and inclusive to a broader teacher workforce and student population.”
"Creating a Community for All Learners" is funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.