The Advocacy Update is where you can find state and
national news about theatre and other arts education
EdTA NEWS
EdTA
kicks off JumpStart Theatre Pilot Project in Cincinnati: JumpStart Theatre, a collaboration between the Educational Theatre
Association (EdTA), and New York City-based companies, Music Theatre
International (MTI) and iTheatrics, began accepting applications from
Cincinnati-area middle schools in February, with the goal of launching the
program in three schools in fall, 2015. The three-year pilot program will train
educators to develop sustainable arts programs at underserved that do not
currently offer theatre in the curriculum or after school. The
program will select three additional local schools in 2016, with the goal of
creating a national network of JumpStart schools in future years.
NATIONAL NEWS
Arts
Advocacy Day 2015: Registration is open. AAD annually convenes
advocates from throughout the country for training and lobbying for strong
public polices and funding for the arts and arts education.
Turnaround
Arts Initiative Report Released: The President's Committee on the Arts
and the Humanities (PCAH) released the results of an independent study that
reveals substantial gains in student achievement at schools participating in
its Turnaround Arts initiative.
Elementary and Secondary
Education Act (ESEA) Reauthorization: Our
greatest policy leverage since ESEA’s 2002 passage has been the inclusion of
“arts” in the definition of “core academic subjects”. A new reauthorization
bill by Senator Lamar Alexander excludes any mention of core subject
areas.
National
Core Arts Standards Piloting Project Launches : More
than 100 teachers from throughout the country have begun the process of
gathering student work benchmarked against the new Core Arts Standards Model Cornerstone Assessments (MCAs), at the grades of 2, 5, 8 and the three high
school levels (proficient, accomplished, advanced) to demonstrate the type of
standards-based evidence needed to show student achievement.
STATE
NEWS
Vermont: Bennington
Community Starts Statewide Forum Discussing the Future of Arts Education in
Vermont (BenningtonBanner.com)
Oregon: Two Portland charter schools object to
being left out of city art tax funding (OregonLive.com)
Illinois: Despite $10 million investment in arts
education, experts say much work remains (Medill
Reports Northwestern)
Kentucky: SKyPAC receives major gift to bolster
Allen County arts education (wkyufm.org)
Alabama: Birmingham voters approve $3 million
property tax to fund arts and music in schools (AL.com)
Iowa: Testifying to add fine arts to Iowa’s
core education (IowaPublicRadio.org)
Des Moines’ Findley Elementary shows
math, reading gains through the arts (Des Moines Register)
California: Santa Monica-Malibu Education
Foundation receives $450,000 gift to fund teacher education and arts education (Santa Monica Mirror)
South
Carolina: Advocates urge more arts funding to
help South Carolina’s struggling schools (The State)
WORTH READING
Do
Struggling Schools Need the Arts?: Tight budgets and the
pressure of preparing for high-stakes math and reading tests have caused some
schools to cut art, music, theater, and dance programs. A report on
the Turnaround Arts Initiative, released in January by the President’s
Committee on the Arts and the Humanities shows struggling schools improved
after increasing their emphasis on the arts. (World Mag)
Americans
for the Arts Board Member Floyd Green Makes STEAM Case: On MLK Day, Floyd Green, Vice President and Head of
Community Relations & Urban Marketing at Aetna and member of Americans for the Arts' Board of
Directors, received the National Action Network’s Merit Award for his efforts
to expand healthy living to all communities. In his acceptance remarks, Mr.
Green highlighted the significance of the arts to personal health and
achievement. (PARTnership Movement)
Inspired Learning: Commentaries on Arts Education: Educators and advocates discuss the role of the arts in K-12
learning. This special edition commentary package includes a video exploring
how an artists-in-residence program is building school community. (Education Week)
Full
STEAM Ahead: Inside Penn’s Approach to Education: Is
emphasizing everything the same as emphasizing nothing? Penn’s choice of a
STEAM approach to education — one that treats Science, Technology, Engineering,
Arts, and Mathematics equally — instead of a STEM approach has raised this
question. “We are absolutely committed to integrating liberal arts and sciences
with more technical education,” President Amy Gutmann says. (The Daily Pennsylvanian)
One
Size Fits All Does Not Fit “The Arts”: A recent report from the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) looks at motivations for and barriers to
arts attendance. The report confirms that reasons for non-attendance are
complex and personal and when armed with lots of data, there’s no
one-size-fits-all solution to improving participation across all disciplines
and individuals. (CreateEquity)