neatodayNew twist on parent-teacher conferences p36

Student cheating goes high-tech p40Beware! It’s a classroom health hazard p48

NOVEMBER 2004

CURTAIN CALLHow NCLB is dimming the

lights on the arts and other subjects PAGE 20

CURTAIN CALL

20 neatoday November 2004

BY KRISTEN LOSCHERT

Just ask Beverley Anderson’s first-graders, they should know.After all, they’ve spent their last few classes with Anderson, adance teacher at the Thomas Pullen Arts Magnet School inLandover, Maryland, learning how to roll over, wag their tails,beg, and growl, all in time to music. And by this point theyknow the choreography by heart—well, almost anyway.

“In dance, the most important thing is how our bodiesmove,” Anderson reminds the students as sheencourages them to perform the steps, first likehappy dogs, then like angry ones. For manyof the children, the dance represents moreof a physical release than a stage-worthyperformance. But Anderson knows herstudents are learning important skillsthrough rhythm and movement andbuilding their flexibility, agility, andbalance, even if they don’t realize it.

“I don’t think people are educatedon dance education enough,” sheadmits. “Dance is about history. We caneven work science in. It gives kids thechance to be hands-on.”

But dance, along with those other valuedpartners in self-expression—music, art, and theater—is increasingly getting short shrift in the nation’s classrooms.With mounting pressure to improve test scores and demon-strate “adequate yearly progress” under the Elementary andSecondary Education Act, the so-called No Child Left Behindlaw (NCLB)—all in the face of shrinking school budgets—schools nationwide have cut arts programs to devote moretime to the “core” subjects that are getting measured. (Mean-

while, subjects such as social studies, long considered stan-dard teaching fare, are taking hits, too. See page 26.)

NCLB actually includes the arts in its definition of “coreacademic subjects,” but the law doesn’t mandate testing inthose areas, so unlike reading and math, they don’t counttoward a school’s performance outcomes.

The irony? The very students NCLB is most aimed at help-ing—those who are low-income, minority, and academically

vulnerable—are the ones studies consistently showstand the most to gain from regular arts instruc-

tion. “In our effort to close the achievementgap in literacy and math,” notes Raymond

Bartlett, president of the Council on BasicEducation, “we risk substituting oneform of educational inequity for anoth-er, denying our most vulnerable stu-dents the kind of curriculum availableto the wealthy.”

Arts educators are keenly aware ofthe irony, but say it only underscores a

trend that’s been quickening for years. “The arts have always been the first on

the chopping block when school boards havehad budget concerns,” says Bryan Sanguinito,

past chairperson of NEA’s Fine Arts Caucus. “Now,NCLB has come into the picture with large portions leftunfunded. Where do the arts go now?”

Sanguinito, a music teacher, knows firsthand how uncer-tain the career of an arts educator can be. He spent six yearsnurturing the strings program in Nazareth, Pennsylvania,increasing enrollment from 30 students to more than 175. Butthat didn’t stop school officials from axing the program, citing

STUDENTS WHO STUDY THE

ARTS SCORE, ONAVERAGE, 40 TO 60

POINTS HIGHER ON THE VERBAL PORTIONOF THE SAT AND 15 TO 40 POINTS HIGHERON THE MATH PORTION.

CURTAIN PHOTO: PHOTODISC; DRUM PHOTO: BURKE/TRIOLO PRODUCTIONS, INC.

the district’s stagnant budget. So, lastfall Sanguinito became an itinerantmusic teacher in Reading and nowinstructs 111 fourth- through eighth-grade students in five differentschools in the inner-city district.

In Belleview, Florida, tight economic timeslikewise led to staffing and program cuts for thearts, says Sylvia Richardson, a commercial art

teacher at Belleview High School, who has maintained her pro-gram through fund-raisers and grants.

“Art teachers often are put in the position to self-sustain ourprograms,” says Richardson, who snagged $29,000 of grant

funds last year. “At my school everyone gets the same amountof money in their budget—about $200. That equals a packageof crayons and some paper for my kids. You’re not going tohave much of an art program with that.”

Meanwhile, school officials in Stoneham, Massachusetts,cut all fine arts classes at the elementary and middle schoollevels this summer when voters failed to approve a taxincrease designed to offset roughly half of the district’s $4.3million budget shortfall. But elementary and middle schoolarts teachers weren’t the only casualties. After 36 years ofteaching, Bob Lague, the director of fine arts at Stoneham

High School, found himself jobless as well. “A great deal of what art and music teachers do is expose kids

to something they otherwise might not have known, to developtalents they didn’t know they had,” says Lague. “I think the artsare more important now than ever, but we still have the conceptthat if we need to cut they are one of the first things to go.”

That’s what makes programs like the one at Pullen soremarkable. Even in the face of increased testing pressures, thePullen Arts Magnet School has offered a comprehensive artscurriculum for the past 15 years, serving students from acrossPrince George’s County, Maryland, in kindergarten througheighth grade. In fact, the program was one of only two magnetprograms the county did not eliminate last year. Elementary stu-

November 2004 neatoday 21PHOTOS: MEGAN K. MORR

Dance teacher Noel Grady-Smith (above) leads students in an AmericanIndian serpentine dance at Mineral Springs Middle School A+ Academy.

22 neatoday November 2004

The Play’s the ThingThrough theater, students and teachers changecommunity opinions, oneaudience at a time.

For much of her teaching career atNewark Memorial High School in Cali-fornia, theater teacher Barbara Williamsplayed it safe. Popular musicals, like West Side Storyand Cabaret, dominated her students’ performancerepertoire. But in 2002, after her community endureda series of anti-gay hate crimes, Williams knew sheneeded to branch out. So she staged a production ofThe Laramie Project, a play about the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student inLaramie, Wyoming.

“I felt we needed to do something that had somesignificance on this issue,” says Williams, who receiveda 2003 NEA Human and Civil Rights award for her workon the production. “All of us had this idea that bydoing The Laramie Project we would correct all the illsin Newark. We thought by doing this play everyonewould change their minds.”

That’s a sentiment theater teachers and studentactors nationwide can appreciate. So many educatorsare using their school productions to raise awareness

about key social issues—and improve the state ofaffairs in their local communities along the way.

“I’m a big believer in educational theater—itshould entertain, but it also has an obligation toeducate,” says Michael Marks, NEA ExecutiveCommittee member and a theater teacher atHattiesburg High School in Mississippi. “Theatercan be an agent of change. If we can cause peopleto speak with each other about topics that wereonce taboo, we’ve accomplished a lot.”

The idea of addressing key social issues throughtheater certainly isn’t new. For years, schools haveused plays like The Diary of Anne Frank, One FlewOver the Cuckoo’s Nest, and A Raisin in the Sun,among others, to address topics such as the Holo-caust, the treatment of the mentally ill, and racial dis-

dents receive 80 minutes of arts instruction every day and, overthe course of the school year, explore each of the four major artforms: visual art, music, dance, and theater. Middle school stu-dents, meanwhile, spend an hour and a half every other dayspecializing in one art form they select as their “major” and pur-sue other arts, writing, or computer classes on their off days.

“We’re in a very unique situation in this building and werealize that,” says Leslie Thomas, a strings teacher. “There area lot of arts educators who don’t have what we have. They don’thave the budget and the support or the time with their studentsthat we have, and I think that’s why we have the core teachersthat we do.”

Admittedly, programs like Pullen’s remain the exception.And educators at the school realize that even strong pro-grams like theirs won’t ensure quality arts instruction for stu-dents elsewhere.

“My biggest concern is we have a wonderful program atthis school, but then it’s very easy for the county to say ‘we havean arts magnet school therefore no other kid in the county real-ly has to have any arts,’” says theater teacher Carol Jordan.“This is an amazing program, but if you only keep it here and

there is nothing else, you’re not going to serve the kids whomost need it.”

So, what makes the arts so consistently vulnerable? Forstarters, the public misunderstands and undervalues the disci-plines, says Richard Deasy, director of the Arts Education Part-nership (AEP), a national coalition of arts, education, business,philanthropic, and government organizations committed topromoting arts education.

“The public believes the arts just benefit talented and giftedkids and there is a fear that pursuing a program in the arts willnot get you a decent job or into college,” he says. “And whereyou don’t have strong public values for the arts, you don’t havethem well represented in school.”

Consequently, staffing levels for arts classes often lagbehind those for other subjects, which means even a minor cutcan devastate a program, Deasy says.

The future of arts education hinges on changing thoseunderlying public attitudes, he adds. Fortunately, arts advo-cates have made some progress on that front. A recent Phi

LIGHTS PHOTO: COMSTOCK; LARAMIE CAST PHOTO: MICHAEL MARKS

Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll on public attitudestoward the public schools found that 81 per-cent of Americans worry that judging aschool’s performance solely on English andmath test scores will mean less emphasison art, music, and other subjects. Thatpercentage increases to 85 percentamong parents of public school students.Meanwhile, a poll commissioned byAmericans for the Arts, a nonprofit artsadvocacy group, found that more than 90percent of respondents agree the arts are“vital” to providing a well-rounded educa-tion to children.

But public opinion goes only so far. Schoolsremain strapped for cash and supporting an arts programdoesn’t come cheaply. Many districts simply don’t allocate thenecessary resources or do not know what it takes to developquality arts programs, says Michael Blakeslee, deputy execu-tive director for the National Association for Music Educators.In addition, finding educators to teach these classes can be

challenging since many arts disciplines, likemusic, have a shortage of qualified teachers.

“Because there aren’t the mandates forthese programs, if you don’t have enough

teachers an enterprising supervisor can say‘I can solve the shortage by cutting the pro-gram’ and anecdotally we hear of thathappening,” says Blakeslee.

And those cuts may just get deeper. Ina recent study by the Council for BasicEducation (CBE), a nonprofit organization

that advocates for liberal arts subjects, 25percent of principals reported decreases in

the time their schools devote to the arts and 33percent expect decreases in the next two years. (At

the same time, three-quarters of principals surveyedreported increases in the instructional time devoted to reading,writing, and math.) The cuts have hit poor minority students thehardest—36 percent of principals in schools with large percent-ages of minority students reported reduced instructional timefor the arts, while 42 percent anticipate future decreases. And

AMONG PARENTS OFPUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS, 85

PERCENT WORRY THAT JUDGINGSCHOOLS SOLELY BASED ON

THEIR ENGLISH AND MATH TESTSCORES WILL MEAN LESS

EMPHASIS ON ART, MUSIC,AND OTHER SUBJECTS.

November 2004 neatoday 23

crimination, says Michael Peitz, executive director of theEducational Theatre Association (ETA).

What has changed, though, are the topics students aretackling. Through plays like TThe Inner Circle, Freedom Sum-mer, and The Guys students at Hattiesburg High School haveaddressed AIDS, the struggle of local civil rights activists,and the September 11 terrorist attacks. Meanwhile, produc-tions of The Laramie Project and Bang Bang You’re Dead, aplay inspired by the school shootings of the 1990s, are onthe rise, according to ETA.

But school leaders, audience members, and the generalpublic aren’t always interested in the progressive messagesthese plays offer. Many question whether such works areeven “appropriate” material for teen actors. During NewarkHigh’s production of Laramie, for instance, students had toenter the school through police barriers because protesters

picketed the play. And Williams received plenty of calls fromother educators seeking advice when their own districtsrefused to let them perform the show. Even The Crucible,which topped ETA’s list of most-produced high school playsduring the 2002–03 school year, has raised a few eyebrowsfor dealing with witchcraft.

“There are times when we think students aren’t ready tohandle these issues and, in some ways, doesn’t that deny thereality of the world the students live in, since they deal withthose issues every day?” Peitz asks. “In all of these [works],the teachers are looking for plays that challenge their stu-dents’ minds, as well as those of their audience.”

And it works. During their production of Freedom Sum-mer, students at Hattiesburg High School met with actualmembers of the historic 1964 campaign to register Blackvoters, many of whom had been beaten or jailed for theirefforts.

“It opened [the students’] eyes to the struggle and theyhad a better appreciation for where they are today as aresult of what these men and women did in the 1960s,”says Raphael Waldrop, forensics coach in the Hattiesburgtheater department.

Meanwhile, after Williams’ students performed TheLaramie Project they organized a group to speak out againsthate crimes and lobbied district officials to modify the citycode to include protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, andtransgendered individuals.

“Laramie turned out to be something that is still with meand probably always will be,” says Williams, who retired thissummer. “All the kids in the show felt they had made a dif-ference and got the community to sit up and take notice andmake some changes. And it’s created this incredible desireto keep doing it.”

The cast of The Laramie Project at Hattiesburg High School

PALETTE PHOTO: PHOTODISC

more than twice as many principals from high-minorityschools than low-minority schools expect the time willdecrease greatly.

“We’re seeing that low-income minority students are beingdenied the liberal arts curriculum that their more privilegedcounterparts receive as a matter of course,” says RaymondBartlett of CBE. Yet research shows such students have themost to gain from regular arts instruction.

According to AEP’s report Champions of Change, a compi-lation of studies on the impact of arts on learning, students whoparticipate in the arts outperform those who don’t on virtuallyevery measure. Researchers found that “sustained learning” inmusic and theater correlate to greater success in math andreading, and students from lower socioeconomic backgroundssee the greatest benefits. In fact, “learning in and through thearts can help ‘level the playing field’ for youngsters from disad-vantaged circumstances,” the researchers contend.

For instance, a study of high-poverty schools in Chicagofound that schools using an arts-integrated curriculumthrough the Chicago Arts Education Partnerships in Educa-tion (CAPE) program saw greater improvement in students’

reading and math performance than schools not involved inthe program. CAPE schools also made larger gains in closingthe achievement gap between high- and low-income students.

Similarly, a study of after-school programs for disadvan-taged youth found that students engaged in the arts achievedmore academically and personally than similar students notinvolved in after-school activities. The arts students outper-formed peers who participated in sports, community involve-ment, and academic after-school programs as well.

“All students benefit intellectually, personally, and sociallyfrom quality arts education,” says Deasy. “But students of spe-cial needs—English-language learners, special education,those who may be failing in school—those who are often thelowest performing on standard measures of achievement, areimmensely benefited from the opportunity to engage in qualityarts experiences and instruction.”

Educators at Peter Howell Elementary School in Tucson,Arizona, know he’s right.

The first thing that strikes visitors when they walk intoHowell Elementary School is the music—classical music waft-ing through the halls piped over speakers throughout thebuilding. And of course they can’t miss the artwork. Printshonoring the works of the great masters, from Renoir toMonet, hang alongside oil paintings and charcoal sketchescrafted by aspiring first-grade Picassos. Meanwhile, in theirclassrooms, teachers opt for incandescent lamps instead of

24 neatoday November 2004

CURTAIN CALL

BUGLE PHOTO: COMSTOCK; PHOTOS: CHARLES VOTAW

Leslie Thomas (left) oversees the strings program at the Pullen ArtsMagnet School. Students also can study band (above) and vocal music.

overhead fluorescent lighting to give their learning spaces awarm, homey feeling. It all creates a “kinder, gentler” atmosphereat the school, teachers say, and they have the OMA program tothank for it.

OMA stands for Opening Minds Through the Arts—aninnovative approach to learning that integrates arts lessonsinto all aspects of instruction. Twice a week music specialistsfrom the University of Arizona teach instrumental music andcomposition to students, while reinforcing key learning con-cepts presented by the classroom teachers. For instance,kindergartners review basic counting and numerical patternsby exploring patterns in music with a visiting wood-wind trio or string quartet. Meanwhile, first-graders learn about the structure of a storyand build their language skills by writingand scoring their own operas.

“You would think that losing half anhour every day out of your teachingtime is a lot to give up,” says Eve Long,who teaches a combined kinder-garten and first-grade class. “It’s notreally giving it up, though. It’s reallyenhancing what I’m doing. It’s mak-ing my teaching easier because thekids are so willing to jump onto thesethings.”

In addition to working with the visit-ing musicians, teachers meet in gradelevel teams for an hour each week tostrategize on lesson topics and instruc-

tional approaches. Then they collaborate with the school musicand art specialists, individually and at monthly joint meetings, onways to use music and visual art to accomplish their learninggoals. Fifth-graders studying landforms in science class maymake clay models or other visual representations of what theyare studying. At the same time, the music specialist reinforcesstudent literacy by reviewing classroom literature during hismusic lessons and helping students craft original songs based ona character’s emotions or a key plot element.

Howell is not without challenges, of course. Theschool, which serves 400 predominantly Hispanic

and African-American students, meets almostevery condition for an “at-risk” population.

About 80 percent of students receive afree or reduced-price lunch and half areEnglish-language learners. Many stu-dents live in single-parent households,while others live in the local homelessor domestic victims’ shelter or one oftwo group homes for orphans. Mostarrive at Howell’s front door with lim-

ited vocabularies and under-devel-oped auditory skills—two traits Jan

Vesely, the school’s principal, thoughtshe could improve by using the arts. So,five years ago she and the school’s musicspecialist developed OMA as a way toenhance student achievement by integrat-

MORE THAN 35PERCENT OF PRINCIPALSIN SCHOOLS WITH LARGE

MINORITY POPULATIONS SAY THEIRSCHOOLS HAVE REDUCED THE

AMOUNT OF INSTRUCTIONAL TIME FORTHE ARTS, WHILE 42 PERCENT EXPECT

FUTURE DECREASES.

November 2004 neatoday 25PHOTOS: CHARLES VOTAW; FOUR GIRLS PHOTO: COMSTOCK

Theater teacher Jeff Peck directs his middle school students during anintroductory drama class at the Pullen Arts Magnet School.

26 neatoday November 2004

BONNIE ROSENFIELD didn’tplan to spend her summerlooking for a job.

But like 20 other healthand physical education teach-ers working for theMinneapolis public schools,Rosenfield got a pink slip onJuly 2. Health and P.E. simplyaren’t educational priorities inthe district, Rosenfield says,because they aren’t part ofthe “testing standard.”

“I feel like people look atus as educational frills, thatwe’re not necessary, andthat’s why we’ve been takingheavier cuts than everyoneelse,” the health teacher says.“But being healthy isn’t anelective.”

Yet to many school dis-tricts, classes like Rosenfield’sare luxuries, ones they can’tafford when such classesdon’t count toward a school’s

performance under the so-called No Child Left Behindlaw (NCLB). So in the race todemonstrate “adequateyearly progress,” schoolsnationwide have scaled backon P.E., health, social studies,and foreign language classesto devote more time andresources to reading, writing,math, and science—coursestested under the federal lawand used to evaluate schools.

“Even though there is nodecree that says ‘don’t teachthese things,’ if there is noaccountability for it, thethings there are accountabil-ity for take precedence, sothat is affecting programs insome places,” says Dr. JudyYoung, vice president for theAmerican Alliance for Health,Physical Education, Recre-ation, and Dance.

For health and P.E. teach-ers that means less time with

students and often more ofthem, as many as 40 to 60students per class in someplaces, Young says. Somedistricts, like Minneapolis,have assigned physical educa-tion teachers who have multi-ple certifications to teachother classes. Others, likeCooper City, Florida, pullstudents out of class foradditional academic work andencourage P.E. teachers toincorporate math and readinglessons into their curriculumto prepare students for thestate tests.

“Too many people inadministration have the oldconcepts of ‘here’s a ball, goplay,’ rather than what wereally do in physical educationtoday—help kids understandwho they are and how theirbodies work,” says WendyWood, a physical educationteacher at Pioneer Middle

No Subject LeftBehind? Think Again.NCLB’s demands leave little time forelective and liberal arts classes.

PALETTE PHOTO: PHOTODISC; PHOTO: MICHAEL MCELROY

Physical education teacher WendyWood helps her students understandthe importance of personal fitness.

ing the arts into math and language arts lessons at each gradelevel. And the approach seems to be working.

Her first year at the school, Vesely’s students struggled toscore in the 40th percentile on the Stanford Achievement Test, anational math and reading exam. A year later, at the end of thepilot year for the OMA program, the first-graders scored in the80th percentile. An independent study by WestEd, a nonprofitresearch agency, found similar results: after two years in theOMA program, second-grade students had significantly higher

reading, language, and math test scores than students inschools without OMA. Additionally, the achievement gap

for Hispanic students narrowed considerably for stu-dents involved in the program. Coincidence? Veselydoesn’t think so.

“We had to figure out how we connect things in ameaningful manner so we could buy more time andmake the time we do have more efficient and effectivewith the kids,” says Vesely. “The arts help reach kids

in more intimate areas to open them up to learning.And the feeling is the more angles we can hit, the more

likely the child will master the concepts. We’re not justteaching. We’re teaching for learning—and it’s working.”But OMA’s impact goes well beyond test scores. Since

implementing the program, student behavior problems havedecreased, attendance has improved, and students appear morefocused and ready to learn, teachers say. The program providesan additional avenue for students learning English as well.

“I’ve had children from China or Mexico who’ve come inwith no English and of course it’s scary for them,” says ChristinaDiaz, a kindergarten and first-grade teacher. “But as we do oursongs, you see their body language relax, and I believe they learntheir English through music first. They are getting the formationof our language and it connects them to the other children.”

Last year, for instance, Diaz had a student from China whocouldn’t speak a word of English at the beginning of the schoolyear. By November, the student had the leading role in the schoolopera and had developed excellent English skills, she says.

“Initially, many teachers felt [the OMA program] was justone more thing we had to do,” Diaz admits. “But the key is inte-gration. Teachers look for more creative ways to teach. Andover the years we’ve taken for granted that it really helps thechildren learn better.”

Teachers at North Carolina’s Mineral Springs MiddleSchool A+ Academy feel the same way.

Integrating the arts is nothing new for this Winston-Salemmiddle school, which, like Howell, serves an at-risk populationof predominantly poor minority children. Since 1995, the schoolhas participated in the A+ Schools Program, an instructionalapproach that encourages classroom teachers to collaboratewith arts specialists to enhance their curriculum from multipleperspectives. Students also receive daily instruction in drama,dance, visual art, or vocal or instrumental music, depending onthe discipline they choose to study.

The program, now based at the University of North Caroli-na Greensboro, started with 25 pilot schools statewide, includ-ing Mineral Springs. Today, more than 40 schools in North Car-olina have adopted the approach, many as part of their school

November 2004 neatoday 27

School in Florida. “[Students]learn the value of being physi-cally fit. It also improves theirmental alertness and ability toconcentrate on their academicsubjects.”

Social studies classes havetaken a beating as well, espe-cially at the elementary level.Nearly 30 percent of elemen-tary school principals surveyedby the Council for Basic Educa-tion (CBE) say their schoolshave reduced the amount oftime spent on social studiesclasses. The percentage iseven higher among schoolswith large numbers of minor-ity students, where nearly halfof the principals report moder-ate or large decreases in socialstudies instruction.

In Florida, for instance,students now can graduatewith six fewer credits, whichmeans many could completetheir high school careers with-out taking a single social stud-ies course, says Evelyn Butts, aworld history teacher at TampaBay Technical High School. Herschool, which serves 2,000students, has half as manysocial studies teachers asEnglish teachers, Butts says.The social studies educatorsalso receive less professionaldevelopment and fewerresources than their English,math, and science colleagues.

“The No Child Left Behindact actually diminishes theneed for social studies,” shesays. “Because the emphasis ison English and math, and to acertain degree science, youhave to say that is importantbecause that is what’s beingtested.”

Foreign language teachers,like Kay Miller in Wichita,Kansas, also are feeling thefall-out from NCLB as schoolofficials reallocate theirresources. Even though Millerhad 105 students registeredfor her French classes atHeights High School last year,the district downgraded her

job to a half-time position.With the help of her localAssociation, Miller got the full-time slot reinstated for thisschool year, but teachers atother area schools weren’t asfortunate. Of the district’s 11high schools,only

threeemploy full-time German teachers, shesays, and several reduced theirFrench teachers to part-timeemployees.

The situation is especiallycritical for minority students. Inthe CBE survey, 23 percent ofprincipals in high-minorityschools have reduced the timethey devote to foreign lan-guages, while 29 percentexpect future decreases. At thesame time, foreign languagescontinue to lag at the elemen-tary level, with only one-thirdof elementary schools offeringany instruction.

“What’s important here isthat all subjects be adequatelyfunded and earmarked as coresubjects so they remain in thecurriculum and part of whatyoungsters experience,” saysJesus Garcia, president of theNational Council for the SocialStudies. “We’re veryconcerned our children areleaving our schools having arather distorted and unbal-anced curriculum presented tothem that will result in kidswho can perform well on tests,but who know very little aboutother subject areas.”

A MERE 8 PERCENT OFELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, 6 .4

PERCENT OF MIDDLE SCHOOLS, AND 5.8 PERCENT OF HIGH

SCHOOLS PROVIDE DAILY PHYSICAL EDUCATION OR ITS

EQUIVALENT TO ALL STUDENTSIN ALL GRADES FOR THEENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR.

PHOTO: PHOTODISC

improvement plans to increase student achievement. Duringthe past two years, schools in Oklahoma and Arkansas haveimplemented the program as well.

“The arts provide children with alternate lan-guages out of which they can make sense ofwhat’s going on,” says Vincent Marron,executive director of the A+ Schools Pro-gram. “One of the things the programdoes is release the creativity of theteachers and encourage them to takean overall view of their role as lead-ers in a school. It provides theteachers and students with moreentry points to learning than a tra-ditional approach to the curriculumwould allow.”

Most importantly, each school cancustomize the program to suit its spe-cific needs. At Mineral Springs, forinstance, academic and arts educators plantwo thematic units each year per grade levelthat incorporate lessons in all disciplines—includingthe arts. The approach appeals to students’ different learn-ing styles, provides multiple opportunities for students tomaster content, and helps students see the connectionsbetween each subject.

Last year, for example, the eighth-grade team developed acomprehensive lesson around the Great Dismal Swamp inNorth Carolina. Students started by reading The Weirdo, abook set in the swamp, in their English classes and wrote

essays from the perspectives of different characters inthe book. Then a field trip to the swamp provid-

ed an opportunity for students to collectmoss, soil, and insect samples they ana-

lyzed for science class. The project cul-minated with students creating orig-

inal artwork inspired by their trip.“No student has only one set of

talents or skills,” says Noel Grady-Smith, a dance teacher and theschool’s A+ program coordinatorlast year. “If we only address thatone set of skills, specifically the

mathematical/logical and the ver-bal/linguistic, we miss a whole range

of expertise the student has.”With that in mind, teachers don’t

limit students to pencil-and-paper tests todemonstrate the knowledge they have mas-

tered. Eighth-graders studying the Harlem Renais-sance, for example, complete a research paper for their lan-guage arts class; a visual presentation, such as a MicrosoftPowerPoint display, poster, or dramatic interpretation, forsocial studies; and an interpretative dance for Grady-Smith.

MORE THAN HALF OF THESTATES REQUIRE STUDENTS TO

COMPLETE AN ARTS CLASS TOGRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL.

28 neatoday November 2004 DANCER PHOTO TOP: DIGITAL VISION; PHOTOS: DANNY PECK; MUSIC PHOTO: DON FARRELL

Dance teacher Beverley Anderson leads Pullen students through somebasic dance moves (above) and observes a final dress rehearsal (left).

The approach lets students express themselves through theirwork, she says; and, consequently, they become more investedin their own learning.

“Children can express and experience learning much morefully when they have an artistic medium to work through,”Grady-Smith says. “It helps them get into deeper levels of think-ing so they are applying knowledge and abstracting. They haveto be able to do that to turn what they have learned into art.”

Yet, even model programs like those at Mineral Springs,Howell Elementary, and the Pullen Arts Magnet, aren’t immuneto the fiscal crunch. Two years ago, the North Carolina state leg-islature cut all state funding for the A+ program and schoolsnow must foot the entire bill for the staff training necessary toimplement the program. As a result, fewer rural and lower-income schools have signed up in recent years, Marron says.(Although, Marron hopes the program will resurface in nextyear’s state budget.)

And when Howell Elementary School wanted to add visualarts to the OMA program last year, Vesely had to resort to taxcredits and other financial donations to the school to pay theteacher’s salary. As a result, the art teacher works only part time.

Meanwhile, educators at the Pullen Arts Magnet in Mary-land fund the school’s drama and dance productions throughticket sales, since the county does not provide any money forthe events. The school also organized a nonprofit communitysupport group to raise money to upgrade the arts facilities andhopes to build a new creative and performing arts center on theschool grounds next year.

Such penny pinching and dollar stretching come with theterritory, arts educators say. Nonetheless, they remain hopefulthat sooner or later those outside of their disciplines will under-stand and value their subjects as much as they do.

“Arts educators should hold on and weather the storm,”says Jeff Peck, a theater teacher at Pullen. “Because in the longrun people will see that all arts programs are vitally importantand they need to be maintained and continued because they willensure that we have better students.”

Time to Take Center StageWhat does it take to build a strong school arts program and howcan you safeguard yours from the budget axe? Find out more in thespecial online bonus edition of the November NNEEAA TTooddaayy coverstory. Here you’ll find:

RESOURCES for sustaining and building your school’s arts programRESEARCH about the academic and social benefits students receive

from regular arts instructionINFORMATION from

education associations andnonprofit groups on the front lines of arts advocacy

November 2004 neatoday 29PHOTOS: CHARLES VOTAW; THEATER PHOTO: DIGITAL VISION

Pullen art teacher Sheila Hyman shows students how to create an animalmask (left and above) and prepares for the school’s annual art show (top).

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