IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, July 9, 2008. The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

------------------------------
REPORT
------------------------------

REVITALIZING ARTS EDUCATION THROUGH COMMUNITY-WIDE COORDINATION
Rand Corporation, 6/08
Arts education in the nation’s public schools has been declining for a generation, undermined by factors ranging from the state budget crises of the late 1970s to current school reforms that focus on reading and math. In a number of urban areas in recent years, arts learning advocates have sought to counter this trend by forming coordinated networks of schools, cultural organizations, funders, local government and other groups to work in common to revive arts education. These efforts are fragile and vary widely from city to city, but when well planned and executed, they show promise toward achieving the goal of more arts education for more children. This RAND study, commissioned by the Wallace Foundation, examines six such initiatives — in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles County, New York City and the Oakland-Berkeley area of California. It details common strategies they have used and discusses conditions that have helped and hindered their effectiveness."
Download the free report>>
Read the Chicago Tribune story>>


------------------------------
THINKING SKILLS NOW
------------------------------

THINKING SKILLS NOW
ASCD
“At a recent workshop for educators, participants pondered: What is the most important 21st-century skill to teach our students? In a world where teachers cannot teach every student what each will need, thinking skills landed near the top of the list for everyone. The summer online issue of Educational Leadership addresses thinking skills for the second time this publishing year. The ASCD Homepage highlights this issue and other resources that demonstrate how to improve students' ability to think deeply and well.”
View resources>>

IMMERSED IN INQUIRY
Jean Anne Clyde and Angela Hicks
Thinking Skills NOW/Educational Leadership Online, 7/08
“When adults observe children outside of school—playing, exploring, interacting—few of us recognize their behaviors as evidence of powerful learning. Yet in a moment, children's silliness can turn serious. Hooked by their own curiosity, children will intently examine found "stuff," focus on clues, and together compare what they are seeing with what they already know. They become oblivious to everything but their learning. Genuine inquiry builds on natural curiosity. It draws on strategies that most good learners use in nonschool settings: experimenting, questioning, thinking and rethinking, and communicating. It's also the kind of learning that is largely swept aside in schools.”
Read more>>


------------------------------
MUSIC EDUCATION
------------------------------

MIXED REVIEW FOR MUSIC IN CHARTER SCHOOLS
News Wise, 6/30/08
"Are charter schools embracing or excluding the arts? The first investigation of the status of music education in charter schools suggests the answer is neither. Joshua A. Russell of the University of Arkansas music department and James R. Austin of the University of Colorado, Boulder, examined 122 surveys from charter schools in 15 states, a representative sample of charter schools nationally. In addition to investigating music education within charter schools for the 2005-06 school year, the researchers compared music education in charter schools and other public schools. The researchers found that 70 percent of the surveyed charter schools offered music classes, with music available in 84 percent of the schools that had a combination of elementary and secondary students. The percentage dropped for schools without the combination: only 64 percent of individual elementary schools and 53 percent of secondary schools. The larger the school, the more likely music would be offered. While the majority of charter schools offered music, the researchers found that the music instruction provided in charter schools ‘does not appear to be at a level completely commensurate with that of traditional public schools.’”
Read more>>


-----------------------------------------
GAMING AND LEARNING
-----------------------------------------

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION RECEIVES $1 MILLION GRANT FROM VERIZON FOUNDATION TO STUDY HOW GAMING CAM BE USED TO IMPROVE PROBLEM-SOLVING AND LITERACY SKILLS
American Library Association (ALA), 7/08
“ALA will launch an innovative project to track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy skills and build a model for library gaming that can be deployed nationally. Funding for the project will be provided by a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation. ‘Gaming is a magnet that attracts library users of all types and, beyond its entertainment value, has proven to be a powerful tool for literacy and learning,’ said ALA President Loriene Roy. ‘Through the Verizon Foundation’s gift, ALA’s gaming for learning project will provide the library community with vital information and resources that will model and help sustain effective gaming programs and services.’”
Learn more>>
Read a reaction on the ASCD blog>>


-----------------------------------------
ARTS POLICY
-----------------------------------------

PUTTING THE ARTS BACK INTO THE ARTS:
AUTHOR BILL IVEY CELEBRATES CREATIVITY, CULTURE, AND THE “AMATEUR”
Utne Reader, 7-8/08
An interview with former National Endowment for the Arts chair Bill Ivy about his new book, Arts, Inc.: How Greed and Neglect Have Destroyed Our Cultural Rights (University of California Press, 2008). “Ivey, now director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University, argues that arts policy has long targeted two issues, arts education and increasing funding for nonprofit organizations, that aim to ‘bring more fine art to the American people’ without encouraging more people to actually create. Amateurs who might like to dabble in photography or the guitar, for instance, aren’t empowered by our society (or our schools) to do so.”
Read more>>


-----------------------------------------
MUSIC AND MATH
-----------------------------------------

MISSISSIPPI CLASSROOMS WORK TO INTEGRATE THE ARTS
Eleanor Barkhorn, Delta Democrat Times (Miss.), 6/29/08
“Fifth grade geometry students at Melissa Manning Elementary sang songs instead of memorizing facts. Sixth graders … learned about negative and positive numbers by dancing along a number line, not filling out worksheets. And as teachers abandoned their tried and true teaching techniques in favor of arts-based methods, student enthusiasm and achievement soared. The woman behind [it] was Marcia Daft, a Washington, D.C.-based educational consultant who specializes in using the arts to teach math, as well as language arts, social studies and science. Daft has spent four weeks in Greenville over the last two years, showing local educators how to employ chanting games to promote literacy, dance routines to demonstrate scientific processes, and group movement to teach math. Earlier this month, she was back for a final series of workshops in which she reinforced concepts to teachers who experienced her workshops before and revealed her secrets to educators who were new to her techniques. ‘Every classroom learns better if the arts are part of the learning process. That transcends private school, public school, economics,’ said Daft, whose visits to Greenville were funded by a grant from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.”
Read more>>


-----------------------------------------
GRANTS AND AWARDS
-----------------------------------------

GRANTS FOR NATIVE PLANTS
Lorri Otto Seeds for Education
Deadline: 11/15/08
“Project goals should focus on the enhancement and development of an appreciation for nature using native plants. Projects must emphasize involvement of students and volunteers and increase the educational value of the site. Creativity in design is encouraged, but must show complete and thoughtful planning. The use of and teaching about native plants and the native plant community is mandatory, and they must be appropriate to the local ecoregion and the site conditions (soil, water, sunlight). The project leader should be knowledgeable and committed. Funds will be provided only for the purchase of native plants and seed.”
Learn more>>


# # #