IEA Newsletter for Wednesday, August 13, 2008 ***our 200th blog post!***

Welcome to the Institute for Education and the Arts' newsletter for Wednesday, August 13, 2008 and our 200th blog post! The newsletter is published each Wednesday to the IEA listserv and archived here on the IEA blog.

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REPORTS
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STUDY: ARTS EDUCATION IN DECLINE
LOCAL SCHOOLS BUCK TREND THROUGH PARTNERSHIPS
Charles Menchaca, Wausau (Wisconsin) Daily Herald, 8/13/08
A new report that suggests fewer students are learning about the arts has local school administrators grateful for community partnerships. The report, released by Arts Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Alliance for Arts Education, shows there has been a 5 percent decline in overall student participation in arts classes among state students in grades 6 to 12 during the past four years.In addition, the report noted that most students do not have opportunities to participate in or learn about dance and theater.
Read the article>>
Read the report>>

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UNCOVERING A SHAKESPEAREAN THEATRE
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EARLY LONDON THEATER DISCOVERED
Julie Bloom, New York Times, 8/7/08
“Archaeologists in London have unearthed the remains of what is believed to be one of the earliest playhouses in the city and the second to present a Shakespeare play, Agence France-Presse has reported. The open-air theater in Shoreditch, in East London, was once known as the Theater and was where Shakespeare appeared as an actor with the troupe Lord Chamberlain’s Men.”
Read more>>


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WHO TEACHES THOSE IN GREATEST NEED?
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EXPERIENCED TEACHERS NOT IN NEEDIEST SCHOOLS, REPORT SHOWS
Kate Alexander, Austin American-Statesman, 8/5/08
“Teachers at Texas schools serving largely minority and low-income students tend to have less experience and less expertise than their counterparts at wealthier, low-minority schools, according to a study released Monday. ‘The students most in need of the most qualified teachers are the least likely to be taught by them,’ the Association of Texas Professional Educators said in the study.”
Read more>>


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EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY
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VOTERS WOULD BE WISE TO TARGET SKILLS GAP
David Brooks, opinion piece, Dallas Morning News, 8/2/08
“America's educational progress was amazingly steady [earlier in the 20th century], and the U.S. opened up a gigantic global lead … But the happy era ended around 1970 when America's educational progress slowed to a crawl. … America's lead over its economic rivals has been entirely forfeited, with many nations surging ahead in school attainment. This threatens the country's long-term prospects. It also widens the gap between rich and poor. Ms. Goldin and Mr. Katz describe a race between technology and education. The pace of technological change has been surprisingly steady. In periods when educational progress outpaces this change, inequality narrows. The market is flooded with skilled workers and so their wages rise modestly. In periods like the current one, when educational progress lags behind technological change, inequality widens. The relatively few skilled workers command higher prices, while the many unskilled ones have little bargaining power.”
Read more>>


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IMPROVING INSTRUCTION
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EDUCATORS PEER OVER STUDENTS’ SHOULDERS AT MICH. MATH LAB
Sean Cavanaugh, Education Week, 8/13/08
“Hunched over tables, peering over one another’s shoulders, a group of 5th graders is attempting to conquer some of the most difficult—and essential—material in elementary school math. They are not alone. On one side of their classroom, about 30 adults are sitting on risers, watching the students closely. They jot down notes. They listen to the students’ comments and questions, broadcast to them over a sound system. And when the students leave the room for a break, the adult observers move in to peruse the answers the children have scrawled in their notebooks. This unconventional classroom arrangement is part of the Elementary Mathematics Laboratory, a forum held here over a two-week period this summer at the University of Michigan’s school of education. The lab, now in its second year on this campus, brings together teachers, college students preparing for the teaching field, and academic researchers from across the country to observe and discuss the challenges elementary educators face in trying to help students struggling in math.”
Read more>>


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ACCESS TO THE ARTS FOR KIDS
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$12 MILLION DONATION TO THE U. WILL BOOST ART OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHILDREN
Brian Maffly, Salt Lake Tribune, 8/11/08
”For the past few weeks, Beverley Sorenson's mind has been on Maria Menchaca, the 7-year-old Salt Lake City girl killed in a shoot-out allegedly among teen-age gangsters. Sorenson, an arts philanthropist who unveiled a blockbuster gift to the University of Utah on Monday, was pondering the toll on school children stemming from the disappearance of arts education in elementary schools, according to her son Jim Sorenson. Can the arts channel the energy of at-risk children into more productive and fulfilling paths? … [T]he Sorensons believe that the arts help. Thanks to the family's support of a new ground-breaking interdisciplinary arts program at the U., Utah school kids will have more access to music, dance and visual arts than they've had in recent years.”
Read more>>



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GRANTS AND AWARDS
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NATIONAL SCHOOLS OF CHARACTER
Character Education Partnership
Deadline: 12/8/08
Maximum Award: $10,000
Every year, the Character Education Partnership (CEP) names approximately 10 public and private schools and districts (K–12) as National Schools of Character (NSOC) for their outstanding work in character education. The awards program honors these exemplars, showcase their work, and facilitates their leadership in the field of character education.
Learn more>>

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