Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, March 5, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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CREATIVITY INDEX FOR SCHOOLS
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CREATIVE THINKING IN THE CLASSROOM
Editorial by Dan Hunter and Dan Bosley, Boston Globe, 2/23/08
”All the third-graders at Chase Street School in Somerset were on the floor under their desks - painting. They had been studying the Renaissance and the works of Michelangelo. And now the children were painting their own vision, Michelangelo-style. Years from now, will they remember the facts of the Renaissance, facts that can be measured by a standardized test? Or will they remember how it felt to be in Michelangelo's skin and the challenge of articulating their individual vision? They are likely to remember the art of creativity, something that is not measured on today's standardized tests. Standardized tests use individual student performances to provide one measure of school achievement. This is valuable. But, because the tests are the only public measure of school success, schools have an incentive to "teach to the test" and to educate children to be test takers. Is this all children need to learn? Are we adequately preparing them for the future? … We have proposed a bill that creates a new measure of accountability for schools in Massachusetts. With the Creative Challenge Index, a commission - comprising legislators, and business and community leaders working with the Department of Education and education leaders - would establish an index to measure how many opportunities schools provide for students to engage in the practice of creative work - taking a project from inspiration to revision to fruition.”
Read more>>

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MANDATING THE CONTINUATION OF ARTS COURSES
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AZ HOUSE PANEL OKS PE AND ARTS SCHOOL BILL
Howard Fischer, Arizona Daily Star/Capitol Media Services, 2/21/08
”State lawmakers Wednesday moved to ensure schools don't cut electives like PE and the arts to offset increased math and science requirements. With only a single dissenting vote, the House Committee on K-12 Education approved legislation to bar schools from cutting music, art and physical education programs as they're being forced to provide more academics … The committee's move came over the objection of several school officials and their representatives [who] said these decisions are best left to locally elected school boards. But state School Superintendent Tom Horne, who is pushing the measure, said there's nothing wrong with the state setting minimum standards. HB 2557, however, does not set standards or even mandate schools that don't currently offer these programs add them to the curriculum. Instead, it simply ensures those that do have the programs don't drop them.”
Read more>>

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VALUE OF IMAGINATIVE PLAY
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CREATIVE PLAY MAKES FOR KIDS IN CONTROL
Alex Spiegel, National Public Radio, 2/28/08
“For most of human history, children played by roaming near or far in packs large and small. Younger children were supervised by older children and engaged in freewheeling imaginative play. But, while all that play might have looked a lot like time spent doing nothing much at all, it actually helped build a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of elements, such as working memory and cognitive flexibility. But perhaps the most important is self-regulation — the ability for kids to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline … Poor executive function is associated with high dropout rates, drug use and crime. In fact, good executive function is a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ. Unfortunately, play has changed dramatically during the past half-century, and according to many psychological researchers, the play that kids engage in today does not help them build executive function skills. Kids spend more time in front of televisions and video games. When they aren't in front of a screen, they often spend their time in leagues and lessons — activities parents invest in because they believe that they will help their children to excel and achieve.”
Read more and listen to the story>>


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ARTS IN OUR SCHOOLS
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THEATRE IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
American Alliance for Theatre and Education (AATE), 3/08
"We know that Theatre and Drama are essential in the lives of students year round, but March is a great time to celebrate and increase public awareness of the important impact of Theatre In Our Schools."
Learn more>>

MUSIC IN OUR SCHOOLS MONTH
Music Educators' National Conference (MENC), 3/08
Visit MENC's Web site to learn more about how to celebrate and advocate for strong music education programs in March and throughout the year. This year's theme is "Music Touches Lives."
For more information>>

MARCH FOR ARTS EDUCATION
Douglas Gould & Co./Keep Arts in Schools
Visit this site for advocacy tools and gain inspiration from how other communities are marking the occasion.
Learn more>>


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GRANTS, AWARDS, AND CONTESTS
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DO SOMETHING PLUM YOUTH GRANTS
Do Someting
Maximum Award: $500
Deadline: Weekly
"This grant is available to U.S. or Canadian citizens, 25 or under, who want to further the growth and success of their existing community action project. The grant money needs to be used to fund a community action project. This is not an educational scholarship."
Learn more>>

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