« March 2006 | Main | May 2006 »

April 26, 2006

Stanford Prez: Arts a Priority

Looks like we are going to need a bigger bandwagon!

In his annual speech to the Academic Council last Thursday, President John Hennessy addressed the role of the arts at Stanford, including the goal of making the arts an integral component of the university's educational mission.

This is not because of some warm and fuzzy support for the arts. Nope... there is a method to this approach. One that focuses on the way the arts spur creativity and lead to innovation. Things one would hope our universities would see as valuable. Skills our business need in this new economy.

"I believe the arts offer an expanded tool set for learning and understanding, which can enhance creative thinking skills," Hennessy said. "But this will also require facilitating more cross-disciplinary collaboration between the arts and other fields."

In his remarks, Hennessy presented a mixed picture of the current state of arts education at Stanford. Although the arts and humanities have been an essential part of the university since its founding, and many outstanding arts programs exist on campus, Hennessy repeated an earlier assertion that the quantity and depth of the university's offerings in the arts "are not up to the level of a great university like Stanford."

The fact that the arts have lagged behind is "not the primary reason for us to seek to build stronger programs," the president said. "The primary reason is what such programs can do to enhance the ability of our students to think creatively and to contribute in novel ways."

For more context, check out my interview with Sir Ken Robinson(PDF File). Looks like the beginning of a trend!

Arts essential to multidisciplinary research, teaching

Posted by musicforall at 1:27 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2006

And the winner is….

Our good friends at Americans for the Arts (Thanks, John!) did a poll of their arts education network to see which blogs the community enjoyed visiting.

We are humbled by the results that the Blog of Music for All was the Number 1 choice. This was followed by my personal favorite, Andrew Taylor’s The Artful Manager. I personally think this is quite the achievement…. Not for us… but for Andrew.

Think about it for a moment. His blog was the #2 choice with the arts education crowd. Not bad at all!

Now ask yourself this: "Would the Blog of Music for All even register in a poll of the arts management types let alone come in second?

Me thinks not!

Happy to be in such good company. Have no illusions we are in the same league!

Posted by musicforall at 9:10 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2006

NJ Survey Hits the NY Times

As media coverage of our work has been building we welcome this new contribution courtesy of the New York Times. This is an excellent and thorough report on our work and what we hope to accomplish.

An excerpt:

AS fine arts supervisor for this large Ocean County school district, Kim Defibaugh is scrambling to complete 21 different versions of an eight-page survey aimed at sizing up the art, music, theater and dance programs at her schools.

She is not alone.

While school administrators and board of education candidates spent the last week fretting over the passage of budgets or getting elected, fine arts teachers at 2,408 schools throughout the state have had other concerns. The New Jersey Visual and Performing Arts Education Survey, begun earlier this month, is being described as the most comprehensive look at arts education ever done by a state.

The online surveys, which were mandated by the State Department of Education, must be completed by the end of the month. They come at a time when districts face leaner budgets and there is a new emphasis on test scores in major subject areas.

In the detailed survey, arts instructors and administrators are being asked such things as the number of students enrolled in classes like sculpture, photography, ballet or choir; what portion of the school's overall budget is allocated to the arts; the number of classrooms dedicated to the arts; incentives for teachers to pursue professional development; if the school has an artist-in-residence program, and how often students attend performances or exhibitions outside of school. The findings, which are expected to be made public in September, will gauge how well individual elementary, middle and high schools are adhering to a state mandate to provide a well-rounded arts education.

As the first step in the broader Arts Education Census Project, the survey will also serve as the basis for identifying model arts programs and establishing a clearinghouse on arts education where schools can share ideas.

"Many people believe arts are important, but nobody's actually measuring what's happening," said Robert Morrison, chairman of the Music for All Foundation, a national arts advocacy organization, based in Warren, that is spearheading the survey effort. "We want to know who has access and who doesn't. Where are the robust programs that others can learn from?"

Read the full storyHeading Off a Culture Clash - New York Times

Posted by musicforall at 9:44 PM | Comments (0)

April 18, 2006

No Child Left Behind: 2001-2007 R.I.P.

Five years ago I wrote a somewhat controversial essay called The Perfect Storm where I predicted that the combination of proposed federal laws, now known as No Child Left Behind, and an eroding economy meant we would face the loss of programs in the coming years. I am not happy that I was right… Nor am I happy for the pain and suffering this situation has caused many of our schools and many of our students. But I can tell you with all conviction that we now have the greatest opportunity in our history to advance music and arts education. And no I haven’t been drinking.

Why, you may ask? Very simply… and you are the first to see me say this publicly…

No Child Left Behind - as we know it - is dead... and I might add… may it rest in peace! That is not to say that the effects will not linger. They will. But we are entering a new era where the testing frenzy and the fear that has gripped our classrooms has been recognized, the narrowing of the curriculum has been documented, and the public is now beginning to understand the suffering we, and more importantly their children have endured.

Here is my case:

A new report from the Center on Education Policy was released last month entitled From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 4 of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The report documents the fact that 71% of the school districts (11,000 school districts) in the US have “narrowed the curriculum” to focus on reading and math. This includes 22% (3,500 school districts) that have reduced or eliminated music instruction.

The report, first made public on the front page of the Sunday New York Times has set off a fire storm in policy circles, editorial board rooms, and in Washington DC.

Editorials in newspapers across the country are calling the narrowing of the curriculum a “national disgrace.” Congressmen on both sides of the aisle are writing op-eds urging reform. And in a letter to the editor of the New York Times Governor Mike Huckabee, chairman of the National Governor’s Association and also the Education Commission of the States wrote:

“Across the nation, schools are trimming back financing for music and the arts in the name of ‘efficiency’ and ‘core subjects.’ This is beyond short-sighted. It's stupid.”

The discussion no longer centers on if NCLB will be changed… it now centers on what the changes will be. Music and arts education will be the beneficiaries of this debate.

To add fuel to the fire a new National Commission on No Child Left Behind has been established. They are holding hearings on the law as I write this. In addition, they are accepting online comments about the problems with the law. I urge you to share your comments with the commission. This commission was appointed on the heals of a report released from Harvard University that documents how all the various state exemptions that have been granted regarding NCLB have made the whole idea of comparable information between the states no longer valid! Most importantly, the law is up for reauthorization in 2007 in what will be a brand new Congress. What has started out as a trickle of criticisms is now a full-fledged dam burst which will only increase over the next year.

To further illustrate the point - just today, as I am literally writing this, the Associated Press reported that more than 2 million minority students will be "Left Behind" because, get ready for this one - no one is going to count thier test scores!

In contrast to the impact of NCLB, Another report released last month came from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. This group, made up of prominent business leaders from Apple, Verizon, Microsoft and Ford Motor, to name a few released a report on High School Reform – speaking clearly about the skills our students to succeed in life – the skills they require are many of the same you produce in your students. This includes a direct request to Secretary of Education Spellings to use her clout to push for other subjects including the arts.

Beyond this … at the highest levels of education and public policy in this country… with our Governors, Commissioners of Education and the chairs of the education committees from the bicameral houses of government in most of our states… the discussion has started to change from testing to learning.

And this is all driven by one thing:

The Economy

What is driving our businesses and economy today is not the ability to fill in an oval neatly with a #2 pencil. And it is not even anything you can make or program a computer to do. Innovation is today’s capital of the realm. Innovation comes from only one place. Innovation comes from people. People who are CREATIVE.

In order for businesses to survive they must constantly innovate and change. Business themselves are not innovative. People are. Unleash the creativity of the individuals and you will unleash the creativity and innovation of a business.

Why is innovation so important? Here is one example:

In 1957, the S&P list of the top 500 corporations was first published. In 1997, 40 years later, only 74 of the original 500 were still on the list. Some experts believe that by 2020 about 75% of the S&P list will be made up of companies we don’t know today, some in forms of business that have yet to be invented. (Source: Out of Our Minds, Sir Ken Robinson)

Creativity is driving the global economy. And what is one of the best ways to unleash creativity?

Music and the Arts

A recent newspaper report showed how this is playing out in other parts of the world:

China's education system is currently undergoing the most massive transformation of any country in the world. China's leaders have come to see that a system that turns out students who can't think for themselves isn't going to help their quest to become a global economic power. In response, they're replacing the old system, dependent on rote memorization, with a new focus on communication skills, critical thinking, problem-solving and creativity.

In Singapore, There is now urgent concern that the old education system, and its relentless focus on examinations and grades, has bred all passion and conviction out of its students. (Editors Note: Sound Familiar?) Efforts to reduce this trend are extreme. Where you could once get arrested for spitting chewing gum, the government recently sponsored a graffiti contest allowing students to decorate city buses.

The Minister of Education sees awakening originality and ingenuity as the key to unlocking Singapore's economic potential. "We are redesigning our concept of meritocracy to include a broader range of merits, not just results in standardized exams, to help stimulate creativity and innovation. The arts are a big factor in this”

This new educational focus has given way to HUGE investments in arts education to stimulate creative thinking for them to compete in a global marketplace of ideas and innovation.

Our nation, because of competition, will soon embrace this path.

Thomas Friedman in his New York Times column discussed the global focus on getting the right educational balance:

Innovation is often a synthesis of art and science, and the best innovators often combine the two. The Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, in his compelling Stanford commencement address last year, recalled how he dropped out of college but stuck around campus and took a calligraphy course, where he learned about the artistry of great typography.

“None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life,” he recalled. “But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography.”

A friend of mine, and an advisor to our board, Sir Ken Robinson has been a leading thinker in this area and has been advising the Singapore government and has been an adviser to several other nations on this topic. He has been invited to present to all of our nation’s Governors this summer his thinking on where we as a nation need to go in this new economic environment, and strategies for how our schools may better prepare our students for this new world.

I mention this to you because it is within the realm of music and the arts to unleash the creativity of our students. It is through the work that you do that we create the kind of citizens we will need to lead this evolution based on creativity and innovation. Making your contribution to education our children much more valued in our society in the future than it has been in the past.

The darkest days of No Child Left Behind are now behind us. We are about to reach the dawning of a new era.

For me, it cannot come fast enough!

All of the documents in this report and things you can do are available at http://music-for-all.org/nclbinfo.html

Posted by musicforall at 7:20 AM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2006

Swimming Against the Tide

A great story about the music program in Lynn, MA and how the school district is bucking the "narrowing of the curriculum trend!

What Lynn is getting is one of the most integrated performing and visual arts curriculums in the state. What Lynn is doing is swimming against the tide.

According to a nationwide survey released last month by the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy, the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has pushed state and local policymakers to divert funding to reading and math, the two subjects with the strictest testing and accountability provisions.

The practice, called ''narrowing curriculum," is widespread. The Center on Education Policy survey reported that 71 percent of the nation's 15,000 school districts have trimmed hours of instruction in history, music, and other subjects since the law's passage.

But not in Lynn. The city's school district remains firmly entrenched within that 29 percent that hasn't budged. Rather than downsize, the district has built upon the arts.

The required and student-elective performing and visual arts curriculum accessible to the 15,000 students in Lynn's public school system isn't merely ambitious; it's also comprehensive.

Let's hope this becomes the rule and not the exception in the future!

Something to sing about - The Boston Globe

Posted by musicforall at 11:55 AM

MUSIC EDUCATION RESOLUTION PASSED BY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Another arrow in our quiver to use to help advance the role of music in our schools

Members of Congress voiced their support for school music today as the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Concurrent Resolution 355 that recognizes the benefits and importance of school-based music education. The Resolution was debated on the floor of the House on April 4 and passed unanimously.

NAMM, the International Music Products Association, led the effort to secure the Resolution, providing research and materials for Reps. Jim Cooper (D-TN) and Jon Porter (R-NV), who initiated the bi-partisan resolution that has the support of over 30 Congressional cosponsors. The resolution states that music enhances intellectual development, enriches the academic environment, promotes good attendance and helps students develop a variety of essential skills, in addition to a myriad of other benefits.

"This Resolution demonstrates Congressional support for music education in school, its importance in a quality education for all children and the benefits of music making," said Mary Luehrsen, director of public affairs and government relations, NAMM. "State and local governing bodies and music advocates can leverage this federal level endorsement as they plan and set educational policies. It is also our hope that local advocates can use this support to demonstrate the benefits of music in the lives of every student."

Read the full article:
NAMM > Press Room

Posted by musicforall at 9:07 AM

April 4, 2006

Podcast and Media Coverage of our Announcement

We have posted a podcast of the press conference with Secretary of State Wells and Acting Commisioner of Education Davy regarding the launch of the New Jersey Visual and Performing Arts Education Survey. Great, passionate comments by all. Includes the Question and Answer session with the members of the media. To listen it go to: http://music-for-all.org/FromtheTrenchesPodcast.html and click on the file under "This Weeks Show."

Additional print media coverage after the link!

How's your child's art study?
Asbury Park Press, NJ

A determination to protect arts in New Jersey schools
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA

State orders arts education survey to ID, fix inequities
Newsday, NY

State surveying schools on arts education
Asbury Park Press, NJ

State launches arts education survey
New Brunswick Home News Tribune, NJ

Boosting the arts in public schools
NorthJersey.com, NJ

NJ moves to protect the arts from school budget cutbacks
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA

NJ to conduct statewide arts education study
Dailyrecord.com, NJ

Posted by musicforall at 6:25 PM | Comments (0)

April 3, 2006

SECRETARY OF STATE WELLS AND ACTING COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION DAVY ANNOUNCE STATEWIDE ARTS EDUCATION SURVEY

Trenton - New Jersey Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells and Acting Commissioner of Education Lucille E. Davy announced today the launch of a month-long online survey to evaluate the status of arts education in every public school in New Jersey.

During the news conference held at the Mott Elementary School in Trenton, Secretary Wells and Commissioner Davy joined representatives from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and its planning partners to outline the New Jersey Visual and Performing Arts Survey (NJVPAE). The survey is part of a broader Arts Education Census Project, a collaborative partnership with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the New Jersey Department of Education, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and the Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey, spearheaded by the Music for All Foundation.

“We are thrilled to have achieved this milepost together and are proud to note that it is the result of true collaboration both between departments of state government and with leadership from the private sector as well,” said Secretary Wells, as she addressed more than 100 of the school’s third and fourth graders gathered for the assembly. “We expect the findings to provide us with the most comprehensive picture ever of how arts education is carried out in New Jersey public schools, and with that map we will be able to more clearly identify where resources are required to ensure a quality education for all children,” she added.

Acting Commissioner Davy said the survey marks the first time the Department of Education has collected information about the implementation of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards (CCCS) for visual and performing Arts. Last year, the department conducted a survey on the implementation of the world languages CCCS. Future surveys are planned on health and physical education.

“This survey is evidence of the high value we place on the arts as an important part of a good education,” said acting Commissioner Davy. “We know that quality programs in the visual arts, music, theater and dance challenge our students to be self-confident, creative thinkers. Exposure to the arts will enrich them for the rest of their lives.”

During the news conference, state officials and arts representatives were treated to performances by the school’s Praise Dancers, Mustang Chimers and the Mott Chorale and the Blue Drummers.

The survey is available online at http://homeroom.state.nj.us and must be completed and submitted online by every district in the state. The survey asks for information on programs in each school in the district. It will collect data from elementary and secondary schools that measures arts education courses, student participation, resources, instructional support and community resources in New Jersey schools. Surveys must be completed by April 30th and the results will be released in a final report in September of 2006.

Officials from the Department of Education said the partnership will provide schools, policymakers, and community leaders with an analysis of arts education while at the same time providing schools and communities with tools and resources to strengthen student learning in the arts. “An in-depth analysis of the school data will help the Department of Education and its project partners understand the level of student involvement with the arts, help to identify model programs across the state, and facilitate the alignment of resources to strengthen student learning of New Jersey’s visual and performing arts CCCS,” said David Miller, Executive Director of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

The New Jersey Arts Education Census Project is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding has been provided by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, NAMM International Music Products Association, the D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts, David Bryan of Bon Jovi, and the Music for All Foundation.

Posted by musicforall at 6:38 PM | Comments (0)

April 2, 2006

Gov. Huckabee on the Narrowing of the Curriculum: "It's Stupid"

Our champion lends his voice to the national debate on NCLB. The end of the first paragraph is my favorite quote on this issue ever made by an elected leader!

Schools Need the Arts

Published: April 2, 2006

To the Editor:

Re "Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math" (front page, March 26):

Across the nation, schools are trimming back financing for music and the arts in the name of "efficiency" and "core subjects." This is beyond short-sighted. It's stupid.

In the name of No Child Left Behind, we are going to leave some of our brightest students totally behind by never touching their talents to sing, paint, act, dance or play an instrument. While experts and futurists warn that the future economy will be driven by the "creative class," there are determined efforts to diminish the value of the arts.

Numerous studies affirm that a student schooled in music improves his or her SAT and ACT scores in math, foreign language or creative writing. Creative students are better problem solvers; that is a trait the business world begs for in its work force.

While the No Child Left Behind standards mandate arts as part of the core curriculum (which is an admirable first at the federal level), many school districts see the arts as expendable, extraneous or extracurricular. They are essential.

Nine out of 10 parents surveyed opposed cuts to the arts in our schools, yet many policy makers seem tone-deaf to this critical part of educating our children. In my state, we by law now insist that every child receive music and art instruction by a certified teacher. It's time that America force the issue and finance it fully. No child should be left behind!

Mike Huckabee
Little Rock, Ark., March 31, 2006
The writer is the governor of Arkansas and chairman of both the Education Commission of the States and the National Governors Association.

Schools Need the Arts - New York Times

Posted by musicforall at 12:05 PM