NYSATA Works for Art Education

U. S. House Desingnates ARTS IN EDUCATION week in September
Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.Con.Res. 275, legislation designating the second week of September as "Arts in Education Week." Authored and introduced by California Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA), this resolution is the first Congressional expression of support celebrating all the disciplines comprising arts education. This is a very positive showing of support for arts education and comes at a key time when Congress is making plans to overhaul federal education policy.

 The resolution seeks to support the attributes of arts education that are recognized as instrumental to developing a well-rounded education such as creativity, imagination, and cross-cultural understanding. H.Con.Res. 275 also highlights the critical link between those skills and preparing our children for gaining a competitive edge in the global economy. This is an important message for policy makers to acknowledge as they prepare to reauthorize federal education policy. To send a message to your member of Congress in support for arts education, click here.

As a House resolution, the bill does not require signature by the President upon its passage.  You can read the resolution here.

URGENT ALERT! Regents Arts Proposals:
There are two proposals up for consideration by the NYS Board of Regents that you should know about:

• The first is a request for the Regents to consider allowing school districts to select any one, (or alternatively, any two) arts disciplines from Theatre, Dance, Music, and Art to fulfill the one unit of study in the arts required at the middle level.  The regulations currently require one-half unit of art and one-half unit of music across grades 7 and 8. If the new proposal passes, students could fulfill their arts requirement without taking art or music, and the availability of these courses may be at the discretion of the school district. For more information on this proposal, Click here.
• The second proposal under consideration is an endorsement for elementary level teachers to teach Visual and Performing Arts at grades K-2.  The Regents are being asked to consider allowing general classroom teachers certified in Early Childhood Education to take 12-15 credits of arts coursework for an “arts annotation,” enabling those classroom teachers to act as certified art teachers teaching art and/or music in grades K-2.  The Committee on Higher Education met on Tuesday, April 20 to discuss this plan. For more information on this proposal, see Click here.

NYSATA is opposed to both of these proposals.  The arts are core academic subjects. Public school teachers of these core academic subjects are required to have both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in order to teach.  Certified art teachers understand that in order to teach an arts discipline, one must first be a student of the arts.  The quality of instruction would be very negatively impacted if left to general classroom teachers with only 12-15 credits in the arts.  This would not serve our students well.  In addition, the quality of the program at the upper levels will be severely impacted by a weakening of instruction during these critical early years.

The Regents reviewed the middle school arts regulations a few years ago and upheld the requirement of one-half unit of study in music and one-half unit of art across grades seven and eight.  In today’s world, where visual messages and graphic images bombard us as consumers, it is imperative that our middle level students learn to decode images and engage in processes of creative problem solving and visual communication.  Visual art at the middle school level should not be made optional for student selection or available only upon the discretion of the school district.

Click here to view a letter representing NYSATA’s response to the Board of Regents and other key players in the debate over these issues.

Please contact the following people as soon as possible to express your concern for this damaging idea. Time is of the essence:

• Dr. David Steiner, Commissioner of Education: dsteiner@mail.nysed.gov
• Mr. John King, Deputy Commissioner of Education: jking@mail.nysed.gov
• Mr. Joseph P. Frey, Chair, Higher Education Committee: jfrey@mail.nysed.gov
• Board of Regents: RegentsOffice@mail.nysed.gov
• Individual Regents Members:  http://www.regents.nysed.gov/members/Membersterms0409.html

Letter Templates You Can Use
These letters were drafted by Dr. Shannon Elliott, Director of Art Education at Nazareth College, to be used as templates for art educators, students, and other art education advocates to personalize and send to the Regents (see above).  More customized resources like this are available to NYSATA members on the MEMBERS ADVOCACY TOOLKIT page.  If you log in with your User ID and Passord, you will see the page listed under the RESOURCES heading on the top toolbar.

Advocacy Letter to the Regents: Proposal on Middle School Arts Options DOC
Urge the Regents to retain Visual Art as a required subject at the Middle School level. Personalize this letter template and and mail it today! Drafted by Dr. Shannon Elliott, Nazareth College.

Advocacy Letter to the Regents: Proposal on K-2 Certification Arts Annotation DOC
Tell the Regents that in order to understand art as a core subject (ESEA) teachers need to understand the domain knowledge in depth.  12 to 15 credit hours will notsuffice. Drafted by Dr. Shannon Elliot, Nazareth College.

Student-Produced Video Supports Keeping Arts in Schools
A group of students produced a video supporting arts in their school. View this video by going to http://www.youtube.com/user/thewistube#p/u/9/uC9DbDqO974 .

Survey of CEOs Finds Creativity as the Most Important Leadership Value
A survey conducted by IBM's Institute for Business Value finds that CEOs identify "creativity" as the most important leadership competency for the successful enterprise of the future. To read the full article, go to
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109596/what-chief-executives-really-want?mod=career-leadership

Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Hear Ken Robinson's thoughts at the TED conference.  To view the video, go to http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

Arts Meeting on Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)
On January 20, 2010, the United States Department of Education (ED) held a meeting for arts stakeholders to hear comments and suggestions regarding arts education and the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The meeting was hosted by Jim Shelton, Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Innovation and Improvement, Carmel Martin, Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, and other senior ED staff. Over 60 individuals representing various local, state and national arts organizations, both governmental and nongovernmental, were in attendance. See a Summary of the Meeting.

What Does "Quality" look like in Arts Education?
In The Qualities of Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education, Harvard researchers at Project Zero explore what first-rate arts education entails and offer tools to help educators and others make smart choices about arts education in schools and communities. To read the report, go to http://cts.vresp.com/c/?TheWallaceFoundation/91a99db961/03f955ba05/bd6bb69351.

JFK Center for the Performing Arts' Any Given Child Initiative
The Any Given Child initiative, created by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is a program designed to bring Kennedy Center staff and consultants to work with community leaders and school administrators to develop a long-range plan for arts education that is tailor-made for the school district. For more information visit http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/anygivenchild/.

Arts for Academic Achievement (AAA)
AAA is a successful school reform model that creates collaborations between classroom teachers, artists and arts organizations. For more information, visit http://aaa.mpls.k12.mn.us/.

U.S. Secretary of Education Affirms Value of Arts Education
This letter offers strong encouragement to education decision makers to find time and funds in the school day to offer a comprehensive, sequential and standards-based arts education. The full text can be accessed at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/secletter/090826.html.

Updated Arts Education Data for Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts
The NYSED Arts Education Data in Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts has been updated with information from the 2008-09 school year. The Arts Education Data charts contain statewide totals for public school student enrollments and teacher assignments in selected arts courses. The data is from the Basic Education Data System (BEDS) annually reported by teachers and administrators across New York State. Arts Education personnel in the State Education Department have received the yearly reports and compiled these charts to show trends in enrollments and teaching assignments across the years. To view the charts visit http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/arts/data.

Be an Arts Advocate!

You are just the person to give arts education a voice! Here are some tools, tips, and resources you may need to be a successful arts activist! Find organizations that are advancing the arts, resources to help you strengthen your advocacy efforts, and tips to get you started!

Americans for the Arts: Arts Action Center
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies Advocacy
Arts Education Partnership Advocacy
Kennedy Center's ArtsEdge Advocacy  Essentials
American Association of Museums Advocacy