Starving the Arts: Starving for the Arts · The Issue: Arts Education in the Lansing Public School...
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The Issue: Arts Education in the Lansing Public School District • March 2013: the Lansing Public School District terminated all of its arts, music, and physical education specialists • This decision was negotiated by the teacher’s union, in which teachers voted to terminate these positions and relinquish their planning hour in the face of a pay cut • The Lansing Public School District has developed in the place of traditional arts education a new Department of Innovative Arts & Fitness which staffs two visual arts coordinators • The duty of teaching the arts, music, and physical education now rests on classroom teachers who are not certified nor trained to teach these subjects Sarah Fagerman | Creativity Exploratory [email protected] Issues and Implications ✦ District is depending on non-specialists to deliver a critical component of education ✦ The model is so new and not yet fully developed; it is unclear if much is happening, or if lesson plans are being utilized by classroom teachers ✦ There are concerns about the transparency of the district in making a decision like this and not responding to initial community feedback ✦ Arts integration may discredit the arts as viable subject matter Methods • Information is primarily collected through interviews with key players in the situation • Secondary information has been collected through investigation of media coverage and publicly displayed responses • Other knowledge has been generated through the study of published reports and literature regarding arts education and arts integration Starving the Arts: Starving for the Arts The District Position: • Arts education is not being eliminated, the form of delivery is • The new focus is on arts integration—making art fit into and connect with the curriculum • Arts coordinators develop arts lesson plans for classroom teachers to follow Challenges: • Teachers are tentative about the shift, and have to learn how to manage these new tasks • Budget issues; need grant funds but lack of an established program means grants are currently unavailable • The newness of the transition means much remains unclear Future: • Emphasis on integrating community-based art education • Coordinators want to get artists involved • Coordinators working with curriculum themes and timelines Why the Arts? The arts are constantly engaged in a battle for legitimacy. Arts education is undercut time and again as superfluous—an add-on, when it should be considered an integral aspect of 21st century education. Research has established that involvement in the arts has specific educational benefits, including higher scores on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT. Art Beyond Art’s Sake Arts education has distinct relationships to subject matter and skills outside of the arts, such as critical thinking, nonverbal reasoning, conflict resolution, and links to proficiency in reading, science, and mathematics. Furthermore, arts education increases student engagement and motivation to learn, as students are involved in the active construction of knowledge. A study published by the Arts Education Partnership documented over 65 relationships between the arts and academic outcomes including: "visual arts instruction & reading readiness; dramatic enactment & conflict resolution skills; traditional dance & nonverbal reasoning; and learning piano & mathematics proficiency.” 1 Future Research Questions - What are the ethical issues teaching artists face in a situation like this? - How has this transition affected teaching pedagogies? - What is the proper balance between community and district delivery of arts education? - What is the long-term impact on the community and its youth? Community Responses The lack of communication between the district with the community before the decision and in its aftermath led to many negative responses within the arts community and in the community in general, garnering even national attention. NPR Michigan Radio covered the story following the decision and generated much public outrage: 2 “This makes me so sad - especially pretending that stuffing collective team teaching of art, music and phys. ed into the regular curriculum will be equivalent to having specialists in these areas in the schools. Not to mention the irony of people saying that our schools are failing, then cutting funds to ensure they do so.” -Ellen Wetherbee Rosewall “Very sad for the youngest generation in Michigan. No educator can effectively teach P.E., Art, or Music without having learned those skills themselves. Our politicians must not have children in Lansing Public schools. I can't imagine wanting to live where my child(ren) would not be educated to the fullest of their potential. Quite obvious to me that not having a union to stand up for our children is a HUGE negative!” -Christine Wilkins-Goodearl “Why would anyone want to be a teacher in the United States? They work more hours and get paid less than other industrialized nations. It's sad that in “the richest country in the world" we can't budget for art, music, physical fitness, and creativity in our schools” -Jon Brandal The Model: Arts Integration “Arts integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.” 3 Arts Integration in Lansing Public Schools • The Arts Coordinators develop lesson plans for classroom teachers to follow, and model the lessons for classroom teachers • Lesson plans are developed in accordance with state standards for art education • The focus lies in making art fit into and connect with classroom curriculum Pros ★ Model encourages more collaboration between coordinators and classroom teachers ★ Arts integration facilitates learning in which “disconnected ideas are meaningfully linked” 4 ★ Integration helps students make new links, connections, and solutions among ideas Cons ★ Emphasis on integration discredits the arts as stand- alone content and subject matter ★ Arts integration as a substitute for arts education misses important aspects of aesthetic learning and teaching about the arts Arts Council Of Greater Lansing: Executive Director, Debbie Mikula Position: • The role of the Arts Council is to convene and facilitate the conversation about how to move forward and create a new model • “We can’t duplicate what should be happening in schools, we can only add and pool resources” • “The kids are the real losers in this situation; they’ve lost something critical to 21st century education” • Strong emphasis on moving forward Challenges: • Initial lack of communication on behalf of the district with the community • Arts education in an urban district is an issue much larger than anything the ACGL can do. In a situation like this, a new organization is necessary to take on the issue 100% Future: • There were plans to convene a discussion between the district and the arts community, no word on if that has happened REACH Studio Art Center: Executive Director, Alice Brinkman Position: • Community arts organizations are in a tenuous position: they do not want to replace the arts in schools as if art specialists are unnecessary, but there needs to be some middle ground • “It is our community of youth that is caught in the middle.” • Strict emphasis on certification in arts education might be losing the heart of the matter Challenges: • Policy makers and school districts have to be convinced that the arts are absolutely vital to education • The former delivery of arts education was inconsistent Future: • It’s going to take creativity in developing a new system of delivery • Collaboration with 5th grade classrooms at nine different elementary schools Engaged Community Organizations
Transcript of Starving the Arts: Starving for the Arts · The Issue: Arts Education in the Lansing Public School...
The Issue: Arts Education in the Lansing Public School District
• March 2013: the Lansing Public School District terminated all of its arts, music, and physical education specialists• This decision was negotiated by the teacher’s union, in which teachers voted to terminate these positions and relinquish their planning hour in the face of a pay cut• The Lansing Public School District has developed in the place of traditional arts education a new Department of Innovative Arts & Fitness which staffs two visual arts coordinators• The duty of teaching the arts, music, and physical education now rests on classroom teachers who are not certified nor trained to teach these subjects
Sarah Fagerman | Creativity [email protected]
Issues and Implications✦ District is depending on non-specialists to deliver a critical component of education✦ The model is so new and not yet fully developed; it is unclear if much is happening, or if lesson plans are being utilized by classroom teachers✦ There are concerns about the transparency of the district in making a decision like this and not responding to initial community feedback✦ Arts integration may discredit the arts as viable subject matter
Methods• Information is primarily collected through interviews with key players in the situation
• Secondary information has been collected through investigation of media coverage and publicly displayed responses
• Other knowledge has been generated through the study of published reports and literature regarding arts education and arts integration
Starving the Arts: Starving for the Arts
The District Position: • Arts education is not being eliminated, the form of delivery is
• The new focus is on arts integration—making art fit into and connect with the curriculum
• Arts coordinators develop arts lesson plans for classroom teachers to follow
Challenges:• Teachers are tentative about the shift, and have to learn how to manage these new tasks
• Budget issues; need grant funds but lack of an established program means grants are currently unavailable
• The newness of the transition means much remains unclearFuture:• Emphasis on integrating community-based art education• Coordinators want to get artists involved• Coordinators working with curriculum themes and timelines
Why the Arts?The arts are constantly engaged in a battle for legitimacy. Arts education is undercut time and again as superfluous—an add-on, when it should be considered an integral aspect of 21st century education. Research has established that involvement in the arts has specific educational benefits, including higher scores on standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT.
Art Beyond Art’s SakeArts education has distinct relationships to subject matter and skills outside of the arts, such as critical thinking, nonverbal reasoning, conflict resolution, and links to proficiency in reading, science, and mathematics. Furthermore, arts education increases student engagement and motivation to learn, as students are involved in the active construction of knowledge.
A study published by the Arts Education Partnership documented over 65 relationships between the arts and academic outcomes including: "visual arts instruction & reading readiness; dramatic enactment & conflict resolution skills; traditional dance & nonverbal reasoning; and learning piano & mathematics proficiency.” 1
Future Research Questions- What are the ethical issues teaching artists face in a situation like this?- How has this transition affected teaching pedagogies?- What is the proper balance between community and district delivery of arts education?- What is the long-term impact on the community and its youth?
Community ResponsesThe lack of communication between the district with the community before the decision and in its aftermath led to many negative responses within the arts community and in the community in general, garnering even national attention. NPR Michigan Radio covered the story following the decision and generated much public outrage: 2
“This makes me so sad - especially pretending that stuffing collective team teaching of art, music and phys. ed into the regular curriculum will be equivalent to having specialists in these areas in the schools. Not to mention the irony of people saying that our schools are failing, then cutting funds to ensure they do so.” -Ellen Wetherbee Rosewall
“Very sad for the youngest generation in Michigan. No educator can effectively teach P.E., Art, or Music without having learned those skills themselves. Our politicians must not have children in Lansing Public schools. I can't imagine wanting to live where my child(ren) would not be educated to the fullest of their potential. Quite obvious to me that not having a union to stand up for our children is a HUGE negative!” -Christine Wilkins-Goodearl
“Why would anyone want to be a teacher in the United States? They work more hours and get paid less than other industrialized nations. It's sad that in “the richest country in the world" we can't budget for art, music, physical fitness, and creativity in our schools” -Jon Brandal
The Model: Arts Integration“Arts integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.”3
Arts Integration in Lansing Public Schools• The Arts Coordinators develop lesson plans for classroom teachers to follow, and model the lessons for classroom teachers
• Lesson plans are developed in accordance with state standards for art education
• The focus lies in making art fit into and connect with classroom curriculum
Pros★ Model encourages more collaboration between coordinators and classroom teachers★ Arts integration facilitates learning in which “disconnected ideas are meaningfully linked”4
★ Integration helps students make new links, connections, and solutions among ideas
Cons★ Emphasis on integration discredits the arts as stand-alone content and subject matter★ Arts integration as a substitute for arts education misses important aspects of aesthetic learning and teaching about the arts
Arts Council Of Greater Lansing:Executive Director, Debbie Mikula
Position: • The role of the Arts Council is to convene and facilitate the conversation about how to move forward and create a new model•“We can’t duplicate what should be happening in schools, we can only add and pool resources”
• “The kids are the real losers in this situation; they’ve lost something critical to 21st century education”
•Strong emphasis on moving forwardChallenges:• Initial lack of communication on behalf of the district with the community
• Arts education in an urban district is an issue much larger than anything the ACGL can do. In a situation like this, a new organization is necessary to take on the issue 100%
Future:• There were plans to convene a discussion between the district and the arts community, no word on if that has happened
REACH Studio Art Center:Executive Director, Alice Brinkman
Position:• Community arts organizations are in a tenuous position: they do not want to replace the arts in schools as if art specialists are unnecessary, but there needs to be some middle ground• “It is our community of youth that is caught in the middle.”
• Strict emphasis on certification in arts education might be losing the heart of the matter
Challenges:• Policy makers and school districts have to be convinced that the arts are absolutely vital to education
• The former delivery of arts education was inconsistentFuture:• It’s going to take creativity in developing a new system of delivery
• Collaboration with 5th grade classrooms at nine different elementary schools
Engaged Community Organizations
