Lost

Why did Washington,DC's Mayoral incumbent Adrian Fenty, and his school reform champion Michelle Rhee, go down in defeat? For an answer to this question I turn to Diane Ravitch, which is itself deserving of an explanation because I usually disagree with her. But, lately, on very special days, I have noticed Diane Ravitch is right. I think this might be one one of those days.

In her most recent letter to her pen pal Deborah Mier, Ms. Ravitch addresses the election in Washington, DC, and hits the nail on the head, arguing that Mr. Fenty lost because Mayoral control of the school system led to an undemocratic process of school reform. The speed with which Ms. Rhee worked her changes, and her apparent unwillingness to compromise, may have led the majority of African American voters to feel they were being ignored. The vote became a referendum on school reform and the reformers got schooled. Sadly, the district's children may not be so lucky.

Ms. Ravitch makes another strong point:

"When the Tea Party wins a race, journalists don't write about who controlled their vote, but about a voter revolt; they acknowledge that those who turned out to vote had made a conscious decision. Yet when black voters, by large margins, chose Vincent Gray over Adrian Fenty, journalists found it difficult to accept that the voters were acting on their own, not as puppets of the teachers' union."

Read the rest at Education Week.

Also: Keep up with all the news and more by getting on Dale's List. Join the ATA Forum on Yahoo, and stay in the loop with daily updates on everything from jobs, to trends in education. Membership is FREE.

Stay Strong

Teaching artists who partner with classroom teachers might want to read "Strong Arts, Strong Schools: The Promising Potential and Shortsighted Disregard of the Arts in American Schooling" by Fowler. It is our book of the day, and it comes highly recommended. Here is the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Strong-Arts-Schools-Promising-Shortsighted/dp/0195148339

Also: ATA is on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Association-of-Teaching-Artists/45276461667

I am blogging by phone. It's a small world, afterall.

Lips Together, Teeth Apart

Via BoingBoing, researchers put an opera singer and an MC in a MRI machine, and recorded video of them performing. It is so much fun to watch how it all happens. I urge you to do so after the jump!

Also: U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the release by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers of the Common Core State Standards.

In other news: Over at MOMA, Marina Abramovic has left the building, and, if it's Friday, this must be Facebook.

And:  Love is Here, Now You're Gone - The Supremes

All In the Planning

Teaching Artists and students in Sacramento, California may soon benefit from the newest arts education initiative coming out of the Kennedy Center.

Designed to help ensure that all children are guaranteed a full arts education, the program is a data-driven, district-wide planning model, accompanied by a traveling team of experts. School districts must submit an application. The first city chosen for the model program is Sacramento.

Congratulations, and good luck.

Details of the initiative are described below:

The Any Given Child initiative, created by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, seeks to bring access, balance, and equity to each child's arts education, using an affordable model that combines the resources of the school district, local arts groups, and the Kennedy Center. The program is designed for students in grades K-8.

Kennedy Center staff members work with community leaders and school administrators in a Community Team to develop a long-range plan for arts education that is tailor-made for their school district. The Team reviews existing arts resources in the school district and the education programs offered by local arts organizations and companies. Once there is a snapshot of the arts education resources, the Team develops a plan specific to the needs of that community.

With Care

Although earlier Presidents have tried to rectify the situation, they all failed, and millions of our fellow Americans, many of them Teaching Artists, still don't have health insurance. 

On Sunday, there was an historic vote in the United States House of Representatives on the latest health care legislation. The bill passed and the political parties are gearing up for the next round of vicious partisan attacks.

In the meantime, thankfully, there's always the Actor's Fund.

Also:  Star Wars - A New Hope

Standard Issues

A brand-new set of Core Standards may soon replace the patchwork quilt of local standards that Teaching Artists have to consult when planning in-class workshops.

The New York Times reports:

A panel of educators convened by the nation’s governors and state school superintendents proposed a uniform set of academic standards on Wednesday, laying out their vision for what all the nation’s public school children should learn in math and English...

The comments section of the article is already on fire and you might want to join in if you can stand the vitriol. The first reader calls for the abolition of the Teacher's union and the NEA, while the second insults the text-book writing skills of Texans.

Teaching Artists who would like to share their opinions on this matter may want to complete the official feedback form for the proposed set of Core Standards online.

On the Town

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's calls for accountability are always in style, mainly because someone has to take the fall. Still, last week's news that a Rhode Island town had decided to fire all 94 of the faculty and staff of the local high school because of poor student performance was kind of surprising. The Washington Post's blog,  Higher Education, calls it a "sad, desperate" decision--reporting that the "school committee in Central Falls, Rhode Island's smallest and poorest city", voted to fire all of the faculty members at local Central Falls High School as a response to scandalously low levels of student proficiency in core subjects. Among other statistical atrocities, in 2009, only 7 % of the town's 11th graders were proficient in math.

President Barack Obama threw his support behind  the vote to throw the teachers out, saying "If a school continues to fail its students year after year after year...then there’s got to be a sense of accountability...And that’s what happened in Rhode Island last week.” 

Also: A CNN opinion piece says the number of long-term discouraged job seekers is increasing.

Also: Pete Seeger - The Fox

Axis Mundi

Education Week reports on a new study that finds that "achievement gaps between students of different genders and racial, economic, and linguistic groups are large and persistent...even as they seem to be narrowing for K-12 students as a whole."

Also: An excerpt from How Do We Think About Our Craft?, an essay by Maxine Greene published by Teachers College, Columbia University.

"Gradually becoming aware of all this, we are beginning to recognize that every young person must be encountered as a center of consciousness, even as he or she is understood to be a participant in an identifiable social world. Each one may be encountered as a being who is at once a distinctive individual and someone whose consciousness opens out to the common, an intersubjective world in which he or she is inextricably involved."

Who Can Say?

Why School?, a provocatively titled work of non-fiction, is our book of the week. Author Mike Rose, who keeps a nice blog, examines the state of public education in our country, and finds it lacking. I am curious about what would happen if we all collectively, and authentically, paused to consider the possibility that maybe we've been going about this whole thing the wrong way.

Also: This week, Mike Rose will be interviewed by Krista Tippet on her show Speaking of Faith, which deals with religion and ethics, and which I've never tuned into. The interview will air on Public Radio, and be made available online as a podcast.

Check here for details in your area.

Also: Madness - Our House

Good Company

Common Ground, the annually exciting New York State arts-in-education conference will take place on March 24-26th, 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Albany, NY.

The website of the NYS Alliance for Arts Education promises "three days of policy setting, planning, exchange of skills and inspirational speakers." Teaching artists who are interested in things like "fresh curriculum design, school reform and new models for classroom learning" should definitely plan to attend.

Aside from the NYS Alliance for Arts Education, Common Ground is co-organized by a "who's who" of allies in the field, including Partners for Arts Education, the Empire State Partnerships, the NYS Department of Education, the BOCES Arts in Education Network, Capital Region BOCES, and the Association of Teaching Artists!

Common Ground is currently seeking workshop proposals in three areas:

• CORE KNOWLEDGE
  
  
• CURRICULUM and ASSESSMENT
  
  
• EDUCATION REFORM

Deadline for Submission - December 15, 2009

Presenters will receive a free single-day conference registration, which means you can totally afford it.

To read the RFP visit the NYSAAE website.

For information, contact: director@nysaae.org

Save the People

Yesterday, card-waving members of the Teaching Artist Union gathered for the regular monthly membership meeting and open-house, which is held on the 3rd Sunday of each month at the Teaching Artist Union Hall at 1079 Grand Avenue in Brooklyn.

TAU's co-founder, Cassie Thornton, presented the organization's beta mission statement, which reads, in part:

"The Teaching Artist Union is composed of New York City artists who teach as a part of their creative practice. With this union, we aim to define the role of the teaching artist through developing a supportive community, celebrating and exhibiting the work produced in teaching situations, and advocating for the rights and needs of the teaching artist."

TAU membership is free for artists who teach.

Hey, that's you!

Also: Laura Nyro - Save the Country

Schooled

A recent issue of Time Magazine reports that Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who has never been a regular classroom teacher or school principal, visited Columbia University Teachers College and gave a speech in which he said to the students in training "By almost any standard, many if not most of the nation's 1,450 schools, colleges and departments of education are doing a mediocre job of preparing teachers for the realities of the 21st century classroom."

TGIF: The Galaxy Song (Monty Python) and ATA is on Facebook.

Your Share

Over at Arts Ed 411, the blog of the Califonia Alliance for Arts Education, an article by Mark Slavkin of LA's Music Center blasts the "arts as charity model" and makes some other fine points. Mr. Slavkin says it's time to " embrace a vision for a “shared delivery model” in which classroom teachers, arts specialists, and community arts resources collaborate and coordinate their efforts so that kids gain access to a truly comprehensive program."

In the midst of an economic crisis that has devasted school budgets in California, and the rest of the country, sharing does seem to be the best course of action.

Quick, someone tell the Lords of Equity. Maybe they can be convinced to give back some significant portion of their recent astronomical earnings?

New Money

Over at Arts Journal, Richard Kessler reports on U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan's announcement of a $650 million dollar Investing in Innovation Fund.

Bloomberg.com says that "School districts and nonprofit groups would have to team up with private-sector organizations to qualify for $650 million in stimulus grants..."

It appears that the administration of Nobel Peace Prize Winner, President Barack Obama is looking to solve the most intractable problems of our broken school system, once and for all. Mr. Duncan describes the kind of innovators our new leaders are looking to invest in:

"Some will find ways to establish a network of new schools or develop models that turn around low performing schools. Others will find new ways to use technology. Others might explore how to engage children in the arts to help them improve. We want the best ideas to move us forward. We will be investing in great work to scale up existing programs that have already shown success, can validate ones that need to establish evidence of their success or to develop new ideas to determine their potential."

Also: 16-year-old Derrion Albert's beating death was captured on video last week.

And: Eurythmics - I Saved the World Today

Say Something

I know I've told you this before, but I worry. Recently, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governor’s Association (NGA) Center for Best Practices released the first official draft of the college- and career-readiness standards.

Comments on the draft are only being accepted until October 21, 2009.

I hope you've told them how you feel.

To learn more about the common core standards initiative and provide feedback, please visit the Common Core Standards website at http://www.corestandards.org/.

Let's Start

Last night, in Tribeca, Urban Arts Partnership hosted an event called The Promise of Arts Education, a panel featuring Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, Arnold Aprill of CAPE, High School Principals Scott Conti of New Design, and Gillian Smith of Facing History, along with Paul King of DOE---who apparently has our back. The event addressed questions on how the arts can drive innovation in public education, and did I mention the snacks? Below, I have posted what I can decipher from my notes.

These are the things I heard panelists say in response to questions--"quotes." I should tell you that I scribbled these notes in the dark, while using my phone as a flashlight, and devouring canapes.

"Call to action."

"Future."

"Accountability."

"Diversity."

"Art is the fabric..."

"Employer'

"Workplace"

"Economy"

"Empathy"

"...different curriculum organizers..."

"...new paradigm..."

"Good art programs are, first of all, good for kids."

"Transformation"

"...students have made choices, and can talk about them."

'...traditional education doesn't work for many kids...."

"...redefining our relationship to the local community..."

"We have to start developing different metrics for testing the arts..."

"Crisis"*

"Space race"

"Violence"

"Poverty"

"Disconnected youth..."

"What does art do to ameliorate...?"

"...arts integration?"

"...direct instruction?"

"...both."

"...student engagement..."

"Thank you."

Also: Fela Kuti - Let's Start

*That was me.

A Bite

Hey, there's this cool panel on Wednesday, and I think we should all go.

The Promise of Arts Education:
A Panel on How the Arts Can Drive Innovation in Public Education

Wednesday, September 23, 2009
92Y Tribeca
200 Hudson, NY, NY

6:30: Cocktails & Networking

7:15: Panel and Q&A

This event is free, by invitation.

RSVP required. rsvp@urbanarts.org.

Get more information: www.urbanarts.org

I have heard from good authority that there will be decent snacks--which either means the recession is over, or the funders are coming.

Now or Never

A special report at Edutopia lays out the case for saving Arts Education.

I found out on Twitter.

Of Teaching

The New York Times reports that New York State has a brand-new state education commissioner, courtesy of the New York State Board of Regents under the leadership of the fabulously wealthy and well-connected, Merryl H. Tisch.

Ms. Tisch says she hopes Dr. Steiner will continue to build on the work he has done at Hunter College where, she says, he “has pushed the envelope, challenged orthodoxy and developed rigorous evidence-based approaches that help prepare and support teachers in a diverse range of settings to lead their students to remarkable gains in achievement.”


Ms. Tisch used to be a first-grade teacher, whereas Mr. Steiner has taught only at the university level. His response when asked about this:

“I have had the pleasure of teaching about 2,000 students in the last quarter of a century,” he said of his time in universities. “Of course I have spent a lot of time in schools and I look forward to doing ever more of that. There are certain truths of teaching — some that transcend age, and some that are lost.”

Also: J.R.R. Tolkien - Ring Verse.

Working Vacation

Time Magazine reports on the end of summer.

Summer School is the new trend.

“It's a strategy supported by both President Barack Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan, and cities and states are experimenting with various approaches. Cincinnati, Ohio, for example, in June started giving students in the city's 13 most persistently failing public schools the option of an extra month…”

Perhaps this thinking will create more summer jobs for teaching artists.