Accountability in Arts Education
The following is an excerpt from the
p. 10, 11 published 2008.
Education Policy Leaders Focus on the Arts
In a recent landmark event, the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA) convened a California Arts Education Strategic Task Force in spring 2007 with the collaborative support of the California Alliance for Arts Education. Co-chaired by State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O’Connell, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Secretary of Education, Dave Long, the Task Force was composed of representatives of the legislature and California’s major educational organizations, including the California Parent Teacher Association, the California Teachers Association, the California School Board Association, and the Association of California School Administrators. The group was charged with crafting recommendations to move California’s public school system toward systematic instruction in the four arts disciplines as part of a comprehensive education. The criteria for their recommendations were that they should 1) build on existing policies, implementation models, and expertise in the field, 2) have the potential for statewide impact, 3) promote cost efficiency, and 4) have the potential to garner broad support from education leaders, policy makers and key constituents. The following recommendations emerged (California Arts Education Strategic Task Force, 2007, p. 7-9):
Recommendation 1: Leadership Capacity
The Task Force recommends that the state should build district and school leadership capacity by creating a statewide professional development program for district leaders, school site leaders, and school board members to implement coherent, standards-based curriculum and instruction in the arts.
Recommendation 2: Teacher Professional Development
The Task Force recommends that the state augment funding for professional development to expand teacher content knowledge to advance teaching and learning in the arts.
Recommendation 3: Integrated Planning for the Arts
The Task Force recommends that the state direct districts to include arts education in the school-level Single Plan for Student Achievement and the school district Local Educational Agency Plan.
Recommendation 4: Curricular Support
The Task Force recommends that the state work with the California Department of Education, the California State Board of Education, and the California Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission, as well as other groups, to facilitate the development of arts education curricula and supplementary instructional resources to help districts include the arts in the core curriculum at each elementary grade level.
Recommendation 5: Public Information and Visibility
The Task Force recommends that the state increase public awareness of the status of arts education in California’s public schools by making it easier for parents, families, and community members to know about arts education programs that are offered to students at every school at each grade level. The state should support statewide organizations, working with the arts industry, to enhance arts education at the state and local levels.
Recommendation 6: Assessment of Student Learning
The Task Force recommends that the state encourage district assessment of student learning in the arts.
These recommendations reinforce those made two years earlier by the California Alliance for Arts Education in Quality, Equity, and Access, and contribute to a growing foundation of state level political leadership and advocacy for the arts in education.
Reading the Landscape
The progression of recent developments creates a new landscape for arts education that is characterized by the following conditions:
• Our public school system is not providing most students with the visual and performing arts instruction required under state policy.
• Students must master the arts-inherent skills of creativity, innovation, teamwork, and self-motivation in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century workforce.
• There is growing bipartisan political will to invest in and protect the visual and performing arts as an essential component of the education we provide within our public school system.
• Viable guidelines and recommendations have been put forth that can advance the establishment of quality arts learning as part of a comprehensive standards-based curriculum for all California students.
From the convergence of these recent events, an unprecedented opportunity—we believe a watershed moment—currently exists to set a policy course that will expand accountability for the arts within public schools and help deliver on the promise of arts education in the life of every student.
From CALIFORNIA ALLIANCE FOR ARTS EDUCATION - ACCOUNTABILITY IN ARTS EDUCATION p. 10, 11
www.artsed411.org/files/docs/CAAllianceforArtsEd_AccountabilityArtsEd_2008.pdf