The Institute for Education and the Arts is posting two funding opportunities for nonprofit organizations and professional development.

B&N Sponsorships and Donations
Barnes & Noble considers requests for local and regional support with nonprofit organizations that focus on literacy, the arts, or K-12 education; there is no deadline. For more information visit www.barnesandnobleinc.com/our_company/sponsorship/sponsorship_local/donations_local.html.

Grants for Professional Development
The NEA Foundation Learning and Leading grants are provided to individuals to fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences, such as summer institutes or action research and to groups fund collegial study, including study groups, action research, lesson study, or mentoring experiences for faculty or staff new to an assignment. Maximum Award: $2,000. Eligibility: K-12 public school teachers, public school education support professionals, and faculty and staff in public higher education institutions. Deadline: October 15, 2006. Information: http://www.neafoundation.org/programs/Guidelines%20Learning&Leadership.htm

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Funding Opportunities

The Institute for Education and the Arts is posting three funding opportunities.

ASCAP GRANT
The ASCAP Foundation will award grants to 501(c)(3) organizations engaged in music-education and talent-development programs. The average grant is approximately $3,000; applications must be received by October 1. For more information visit www.ascapfoundation.org/grants.html.

ARTS TEACHERS FELLOWSHIP
The Surdna Foundation will distribute twenty awards of up to $5,000 each to winning arts teachers, with a complementary grant of $1,500 to the winners' schools to support postfellowship activities; the deadline is November 17. For more information, visit www.surdna.org/programs/programs_show.htm?doc_id=326426&attrib_id=12040.

GRANTS FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The NEA Foundation Learning and Leading grants are provided to individuals to fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences, such as summer institutes or action research and to groups fund collegial study, including study groups, action research, lesson study, or mentoring experiences for faculty or staff new to an assignment. Maximum Award: $2,000. Eligibility: K-12 public school teachers, public school education support professionals, and faculty and staff in public higher education institutions. Deadline:October 15, 2006. http://www.neafoundation.org/programs/Guidelines%20Learning&Leadership.htm

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Arts' Impact On the Economy

The Institute for Education and the Arts is posting two articles discussing the impact of the arts and arts related organizations have on the economy.

Arts Generate Big Dollars for Area
Ann Arbor News (MI), 6/2/2006

"It's long been presumed the arts business is big business in Washtenaw County. A new survey puts some numbers down in black and white. The total, one-year economic impact of the not-for-profit arts sector in Washtenaw County was more than $165 million in survey year 2002, according to a report released Thursday by the Arts Alliance of the Ann Arbor Area, an offshoot of the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce."
http://www.mlive.com/news/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-18/1149259638258260.xml&coll=2

City's 'Creative Economy' Focus Of Meeting
WMTW.com (Portland, ME), 5/31/2006

The Mayor of Portland, ME, convened about 200 artists, business people and representatives of different arts organizations "to voice their concerns and possibly hammer out solutions to some pressing issues. Mayor Jim Cohen and other city officials organized the meeting in an effort to stress how the arts improve Portland's quality of life, which ultimately helps the economy." http://www.wmtw.com/news/9298215/detail.html

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Current Status of Funding and Education

The Institute for Education and the Arts is posting two articles discussing the current state of arts education funding and the condition of education.

Arts Education Appropriations Terminated in House Committee
Take Action on AIE For the sixth straight year, the House Appropriations Committee has proposed eliminating funding for the Department of Education's Arts in Education programs. As in the past, we will rely on the Senate to fully restore funding for these important programs. In February, the administration proposed zeroing out the program, and on June 13, the House Appropriations Committee followed suit and proposed terminating the funding in the FY 2007 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. This appropriations bill is highly contentious, and the latest intelligence says that it will not be considered on the House floor for several weeks, due to many other legislative complications. For more information about arts education appropriations, please contact Director of Federal Affairs Narric Rome at nrome@artsusa.org.

The Condition of Education 2006
This annual report summarizes important developments and trends in education using the latest available data. The 2006 report presents 50 indicators on the status and condition of education and a special analysis on international assessments. The indicators represent a consensus of professional judgment on the most significant national measures of the condition and progress of education for which accurate data are available. The 2006 print edition includes 50 indicators in five main areas: (1) participation in education; (2) learner outcomes; (3) student effort and educational progress; (4) the contexts of elementary and secondary education; and (5) the contexts of postsecondary education. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006071

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ASCD Action Alert

The Institute is forwarding this information from ASCD:

House Poised to Cut Support for Education

Members of the House of Representatives clearly do not believe what's good for education is good enough for them. Although they successfully defended their annual cost-of-living pay increase last week, they still stand poised to consider a spending bill that would cut education funding.

Since 1989, both Senators and Representatives have been guaranteed an annual adjustment unless other legislation is passed to stop it. This year, opposing legislation was defeated in the House and Representatives will more than likely receive a pay increase for the sixth year in a row.

Meanwhile, the full House of Representatives is set to consider the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill in the coming weeks. This bill will cut overall education funding and level-fund important programs like Title I, unless we convince Congress to do otherwise. The funding cut is less than one percent; but like Congress' cost of living, the cost of education is rising. With increasing student enrollment and inflation, the bottom line of this funding bill is that our schools will struggle to do more with less.

Unlike some organizations, ASCD recognizes that money is not the silver bullet solution for education. But we are called to action because we know that these cuts are coming at a time when our students deserve more. The federal government is a powerful partner in improving teaching and learning through effective policies that translate from the Capitol to the classroom. We welcome the opportunity to work together and achieve these mutual goals.

We have posted a to make it easy for you to write your Representative. If you would like more information about the proposed funding levels, please see our .

Please write or call your Representative today to remind Congress the importance of investing in education. Visit for more information.

School's Out for Summer

Across the country, many schools have wrapped up their final days and turned students loose for the summer. What does that mean for student learning? This week, the ASCD blog wants to know what summer means to your students. How do you promote student success during the summer break?

Visit the ASCD Blog to speak up and see what others are saying.

Advocate of the Week: Utah ASCD

Utah ASCD is chugging along the path to influence and advocacy success. Earlier this month, Utah Governor Jim Huntsman and his deputy of education visited with Utah ASCD President Jeff Stephens and several others in his district. Following that meeting, ongoing contact between Utah ASCD and Education Deputy Christine Kearl led not only to Deputy Kearl accepting an invitation to the fall UASCD Conference, but also Governor Huntsman agreeing to welcome the group at the opening of the conference. Most recently, UASCD has agreed to cosponsor the Governor's education summit later this year. UASCD's star is rising fast! Your work is to be commended.

If this message was forwarded to you and you would like to receive updates from ASCD Educator Advocates, please join ASCD Educator Advocates at http://www.capwiz.com/ascd/mlm/signup

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The Internet: How We Communicate

The Institute for Education and the Arts is sharing an entry from the Good Morning Silicon Valley blog about the societal effects the creative and communicative ways in which the masses are using the internet and technology.

You kids just go ahead and entertain yourselves

By JOHN MURRELL

Let's talk for a few minutes today about how you're trying to take my job. By "you," I mean all y'all, the vast public throbbing with creativity and wired up with broadband. And by "me," I mean me and JP and countless writers, photographers, filmmakers and artists who historically have constituted the class of Professional Creative Types. These latter folks used to be identified by their trade names, but starting with AOL's growth surge in the early '90's, accompanied by the birth of the Web, they became known collectively as "content providers," the people who were paid to produce the editorial material in between the ads. That's how it worked with newspapers and magazines and television, and to media companies that's how it looked like it would work on the Web. Silly media companies.

Take a gander at what's happening, as illuminated in the latest report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. It found that 48 million American adults -- 35 percent of Internet users -- have contributed some form of user-generated content to the Internet (that's adults -- you'll have to factor in all the kids posting to MySpace and the like). Of those users, 36 million posted their own artwork, photos, stories and videos. Empowering this urge to share is broadband penetration -- of those who contributed content to the Net, the report found, 73 percent had high-speed connections. The Web is "shifting now to user-generated content," said John Horrigan, associate director of research for the project, "It shows people engaging with the Internet in a number of different ways in their lives. It shows that people are pretty interested in using the technology to put something of themselves on the Internet, not just pull down information from the Internet."

Bingo. This is the rude awakening awaiting any media company that's still snoozing. Consumers are no longer restricted to consuming. "It's the mass talking to the mass," said Jesse Drew, associate director of technocultural studies at the University of California-Davis, specifically talking about video-sharing site YouTube but laying out the general principle. "Now there's no central spigot that everything comes out of." Writing in GigaOM, Robert Young says, "Today's social networks (along with other forms of social media, like blogging and online video-sharing) are just the tip of iceberg when it comes to the long-term potential of digital self-expression. ... To some extent, self-expression should be viewed as a new industry, one that will co-exist alongside other traditional media industries like movies, TV, radio, newspapers and magazines. But in this new industry, the raw materials for the 'products' are the people." Young goes on to make the case that the primary job of a successful social networking site will be to manage the relationships among users who both consume and produce.

Well and good, says Nick Carr, but he raises two concerns about what he calls "the global karaoke machine": Is there any money to be made serving as a user-to-user clearinghouse? And how close is this to a zero-sum game? "If people are busy creating their own private reality shows, how much time and interest will they ultimately have for reading newspapers or going to the movies?" Carr asks. "Self-commoditization is in the end indistinguishable from self-consumption. And narcissism is a very deep well. Young may be right that 'digital self-expression' is an iceberg. But if that's so, the traditional media business may be the Titanic."

Read more here.

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NEA Grants for Professional Development

The NEA Foundation Learning and Leading grants are provided to individuals to fund participation in high-quality professional development experiences, such as summer institutes or action research and to groups fund collegial study, including study groups, action research, lesson study, or mentoring experiences for faculty or staff new to an assignment.
Maximum Award: $2,000.
Eligibility: K-12 public school teachers, public school education support professionals, and faculty and staff in public higher education institutions.
Deadline: October 15, 2006.
More Information: http://www.neafoundation.org/programs/Guidelines%20Learning&Leadership.htm

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Dana Foundation Professional Development for Teachers of Performing Arts

Dana Foundation Arts Education Grants seek to support innovative professional development programs leading to improved teaching of the performing arts in public schools. Within this broad field, the Foundation is interested primarily in training for: professional artists teaching performing arts in public schools; in-school arts specialists (permanent school staff, full or part-time) who teach performing arts in the public schools.

Maximum Award: $75,000.

Eligibility: Dana does not award grants to individual schools or school districts. Projects must originate in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and their surrounding areas within a fifty-mile radius.

Deadline: August 31, 2006.

More Information: http://www.dana.org/grants/artseducation/guidelines.cfm

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IMLS Announces New Museum Grants for African American History and Culture Program

The Institute will award $842,000 in grants to strengthen African American museum operations, care of collections, and personnel; advance the study of African American history, art and culture; encourage collaborations among museums, historical societies, and educational institutions; and enhance educational programming. Draft guidelines are available on the agency’s Web site. Final guidelines will be made available approximately 45 days before the grant deadline. Please mark your calendars.

Deadline: July 15

Draft guidelines and more information: http://www.imls.gov/pdf/AAHC_Draft_Guidelines.pdf

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$1050 for Small or Rural Libraries to Buy New Books

The Libri Foundation supports the concept that children who learn to enjoy reading at an early age continue to read throughout their lives. In order to develop a love of reading, children must have access to books which stretch their imaginations, touch their emotions, and expand their horizons.

Many rural schools either have no library or the library is inadequate to meet the needs of students.

The foundation works with the library's local organizations, who can contribute from $50 to $350, which the foundation matches at a 2-to-1 ratio. Thus, a library can receive up to $1,050 worth of new, quality, hardcover children's books through the program.

Deadline: July 15, 2006

More Information: http://www.librifoundation.org

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Pod People: Teachers find cool new uses for Apple's ubiquitous player.

Edutopia reporter Cheri Lucas reports on how iPods can be used to enhance student learning.

Read the full Edutopia story here:
http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=Art_1280&issue=jun_05

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Local Students Use iPods for More Than Just Music

Reporter Sarah Reilly of The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Virginia, filed this story on May 7, 2006:

"[Student Justin] Moore uses an iPod to rewind a recorded demonstration of [teacher Erika] Leer doing the experiment and reading the instructions, leaving her free to move between the other groups and check on their progress. 'It makes my job easier,' Leer said. 'People can go at their own pace.'"

Read Reilly's entire article here:
http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835916434&path=!news

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Let the Games Begin: Video games, once confiscated in class, are now a key teaching tool. If they're done right.

In this story from Edutopia, author Jenn Shreve explores how video games can motivate students in the classroom.

Read the entire Edutopia article at:
http://www.edutopia.org/magazine/ed1article.php?id=Art_1268&issue=apr_05

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Young and Wired: Computers, cell phones, video games, blogs, text messages -- how will the sheer amount of time spent plugged in affect our kids?

The Institute for Education and the Arts posts this article discussing the influence technology has on American youth.

In the May 14, 2006, issue of The San Francisco Chronicle, Katherine Seligman says:

Young people reported spending about six and a half hours per day occupied with various media, according to a survey released last year by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Learn more at the Chronicle's website:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/14/CMGGKIACOL75.DTL

Cultural Importers: Musicians Cross Borders - Luckily

From The Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/21/2006

The Philadelphia Inquirer's music critic comments on the relationship between immigration policy and the arts:

"[I]mmigrant composers constantly come up with possibilities that others don't and probably would never imagine. . . . Theoretically, great art would be created no matter what. But would our ears have the proper conditioning to perceive it were we not surrounded by immigrants, legal and otherwise, in our everyday lives?"

Read the entire article at: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/entertainment/14619436.htm


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Gyorgy Ligeti's Music Was a Constant Surprise

By Tim Page, The Washington Post

Millions of people have heard the music of Gyorgy Ligeti, although most wouldn't recognize -- or know how to pronounce -- his name.

Click here to view the entire article in The Washington Post.

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Surdna Foundation Arts Teachers Fellowship Program

The Surdna Foundation announces the seventh year of a national initiative to support the artistic revitalization of outstanding arts teachers in specialized, public arts high schools. Surdna recognizes that arts teachers often lack the time and resources to reconnect with other arts professionals and with the artistic processes they teach.

Through the program, fellows will design individualized courses of study that will provide both immersion in their own creative work and the opportunity to interact with other professional artists in their fields. Surdna believes that this approach to professional development will enhance the effectiveness of arts teachers and will directly benefit the young people they teach.

All fellows accompanied by school leaders will convene in fall 2007 to share experiences and discuss relevant issues and concerns. (Convocation expenses will be paid by Surdna.)

Fellows will also be expected to work with colleagues and school administrators to carry out post-fellowship plans, and submit a report on the impact of the fellowship.

Organization: Surdna Foundation
Eligibility: Full- and part-time high school arts teachers
Value: $6,500; number of awards varies
Deadline: November 17, 2006

Click here for more information.

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Learning Through the Arts - Summer Institute at Cleveland State University

Cleveland State University's Center for Arts and Innovation has announced its Summer Teacher Institute: Learning Through the Arts, designed for K-12 classroom teachers, arts specialists, administrators, and teaching artists.

Eight of Cleveland's leading cultural institutions collaborate to provide a variety of graduate level course for teachers to use the arts as an innovative tool for reaching out to students. The Institute opens with a large Opening Luncheon on June 23, which is open to the public, with Dr. Howard Gardner, from Harvard University, and author of Muliple Intelligences as Keynote Speaker.

Click here to learn more.

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Arts Action Alert!

The Institute for Education and the Arts is posting an arts action alert: contact your representative to help restore funding to public broadcasting and arts education programs.

Earlier today the Committee on Appropriations of the U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that would slash funding for public broadcasting and arts education programs. Please visit Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy Center to urge your Representative to vote to restore the funding to these vital programs when the bill comes to the floor later this month.

Background:

Today's House Committee activity approved action taken last week by the House Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations that cut $115 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the primary agency for our nation's public television and radio broadcasting, and zeroed-out a $36 million funding pool for arts education programs through the U.S. Department of Education. Unfortunately, both of these cuts had also been requested in the President's FY 2007 budget.

Only one amendment to partially restore $20 million in funding back to CPB was adopted in full committee today, which would still leave the agency with a devastating cut.

We expect that when the full House debates the bill, it will consider a floor amendment to fully restore the public broadcasting funds. A similar scenario occurred last year, when thousands of calls and emails from grassroots advocates from around the country helped to convince the House to reverse the cuts. A bipartisan group of representatives led the fight last year, and we expect them to do so again this year, including Reps. David Obey (D-WI), Jim Leach (R-IA), and Nita Lowey (D-NY).

For the sixth straight year, the House Appropriations Committee has eliminated funding for the Department of Education's arts education programs. As in the past, we will likely have to rely on the Senate to fully restore funding for these important programs.

Next Steps

In the next few weeks the full House of Representatives will consider the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill on the floor. We hope you will make your voices heard! Please visit our E-Advocacy Center to send a message to your Members of Congress protesting the proposed funding cuts to public broadcasting and arts education.

Thank you again for your continued support of the arts!

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Report: Seven Strategies for Success in School-Business Partnerships

A new report from the Denver-based Daniels Fund offers concise, practical advice about creating successful and lasting SCHOOL-BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS.

According to the Daniels Fund website,

The sense of urgency to turn around low-performing schools and ensure all students achieve at high levels has never been greater. The federal law, No Child Left Behind, requires all students to be proficient in reading and math by 2014.

Increasingly, businesses and other partners are stepping up to help. Some have “adopted” an entire school or classroom, providing generous financial support and human resources on an ongoing basis. Others have donated school supplies or completed one-time community service projects at the school. What is significant about the contributions of these businesses is their emphasis on helping students learn. The stakes are high. These students are their future work force.

A partnership between a school and a business can prove beneficial to both partners if the right components are in place.

The Daniels Fund has researched why some school partnerships are more effective than others.

This report highlights seven strategies for successful partnerships based on the findings. Researchers reviewed more than 40 Web sites; interviewed nearly 40
educators, business leaders and partnership experts; and conducted focus groups of principals, business representatives and district stakeholders in Denver, Colorado, where the Daniels Fund is headquartered. School-Business Partnerships: What Works? offers educators, business leaders and administrators practical advice about creating successful and lasting school-business partnerships to improve schools and increase student achievement.

To view the seven strategies, visit the website for the Daniels Fund.

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"What Works" Rates Programs' Effectiveness

From Education Week:

The U.S. Department of Education, in a bid to make its $15 million What Works Clearinghouse Web site more useful to policymakers and practitioners, quietly unveiled a new face for the site this month.

The What Works project is aimed at vetting research on educational interventions and programs so that decisionmakers can make informed choices about "what works" -- or is likely to work -- in their own schools.

The initial reports mostly gauged whether individual studies met the clearinghouse's tough evidence standards. So few studies passed muster, though, that clearinghouse operators worried that practitioners would get discouraged from using it.

The revamped Web site includes new "intervention reports" that contain program descriptions, information on costs to implement the program, and simple ratings on program effectiveness in specific areas.

Read more of the Education Week article.

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IMLS Partners with NEA to Create Largest Book Club Ever

The Institute for Library and Museum Services Director Anne-Imelda Radice and National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Gioia announced the Big Read on May 9 from Carnegie Hall in New York City.

The Big Read is a new national reading program designed to revitalize the role of reading in America.

Click here to learn more.

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New Skills for a New Century

By Bob Pearlman; written for Edutopia Magazine

Pearlman begins his article:

Let's assume the No Child Left Behind Act works fine and that by 2014 every student meets the targeted standards and passes his or her state's exit exam. Will those students be successful as citizens and workers in the twenty-first century? Not a chance.

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

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Early Education Key to Scientific Career Choice

From The Boston Globe:

Teenage career preferences are a more reliable indicator than mathematical aptitude for predicting which students become scientists, suggesting a flaw in federal education strategies, a University of Virginia study found. The survey of students who were in 8th grade in 1988 found that those who expressed interest in science, yet made only average math scores, had a 34% chance of graduating college with a science or engineering degree. Among those with above-average math scores and no preference for science, only 19% of the college graduates earned such degrees. The findings suggest that mandatory testing policies under No Child Left Behind might worsen the nation's output of scientists by distracting teachers from activities that stimulate student interest in sciences, the study concluded. President Bush has proposed training 70,000 additional teachers to lead advanced-placement math and science courses. The study's author said his research suggests that such efforts might be too late, since many children have already decided career preferences by high school. In some instances, students with no interest in science are taking the advanced-placement science courses merely to avoid them in college.

To read this article in its entirety, please click here.

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