Sarah Collins
In my previous post, I cited the dog-eared pages of my composition notebooks as the source of inspiration for my list of essential readings for 2010.
Each comp book is a creative space to pose tough questions and big dreams for my development as an arts education action agent.
And so I just came across a page from a late night brainstorm in February: ideas for the blog I never got around to writing. The ideas were actually just titles for prospective posts such as “The Art of Multivariate Regression Analysis,” “The Rebel Teacher as an American Folk Hero,” and my personal favorite “Jane Remer is Trying to Break My Heart.” While I don’t quite remember what Jane Remer had done to cause such heartache, the post-that-never-was provides a convenient (if not humorous) transition to my first entry in the second installment of my essential arts education reading list for 2010.
From Lessons Learned to Local Action: Building Your Own Policies for Effective Arts Education, by Jane Remer. In the January 2010 issue of Arts Education Policy Review, Jane Remer unwraps over 40 years of experience to take a fresh look at the possible futures for arts education policy. While acknowledging the increasing federal and state role in our education system, Remer’s focus is on invention and implementation that are spurred by grassroots leadership. Based on lessons learned about effective arts education programs, we find an intellectual framework and action agenda for developing local policy at the classroom, school, or district level. While the article generated a number of questions for me, my reflections aren’t half as provocative as the questions Remer poses to her audience. Definitely an essential read.
Beaverton School District’s Investing in Innovation (i3) Application Narrative. A little confession: I yelped with joy when I saw that Beaverton School District was selected as an i3 finalist. Another little confession: I double-yelped with joy when I read an i3 reviewer’s comment that the Beaverton proposal should stand as a model for future i3 proposals. Taking my cue from that anonymous reviewer, I offer Beaverton School District’s i3 Application Narrative as a very essential reading for 2010. The narrative lays out the district’s plan to partner with Young Audiences of Oregon to implement the Arts 4 Learning Project, an academic program integrating text-based content and arts strategies to improve student achievement in literacy and life skills. So here are my two takeaway lessons. First, the demonstrated need for the Arts 4 Learning Project is situated squarely within the larger educational goals of the Beaverton School District and not within the narrow goals of arts education. Second, the proposal’s research framework is a picture perfect example of the rigor that is so critical to advancing our collective understanding of the impact of learning in and through the arts.
The Oregon Arts Commission’s Arts Education Forum. For the past year, I have worked with the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies to document the dynamic range of arts education programs administered by state arts agencies. One of the trends emerging out of my research is the use of new media to build networks of knowledge among arts education stakeholders, and one of the best examples of these new knowledge networks (I am proud to say) is the Oregon Arts Commission’s Arts Education Forum. With four expert moderators and over 100 participants, the Forum supports discussions around some of the most critical issues facing arts education in Oregon. Yet new knowledge networks such as the Oregon Forum, the #artsed group on Twitter, and even this very blog salon are faced with some critical questions.
Who moderates the conversation, and how, or should we? Who is participating? Are we engaging the necessary diversity of stakeholders from the arts, education, and the general public? Finally, and perhaps most importantly, how do we transform networks of knowledge into communities of action?
Postscript: An abridged version of what could have been part three of my essential readings for 2010…
Qualities of Quality, by Steve Siedel, et. al. Because it reads like a love letter to the field of program evaluation.
The Death and Life of the Great American School System, by Diane Ravitch. Because it makes for good fodder at dinner parties and op-ed columns. In my view: right cure, wrong diagnosis. What do you think?
Dewey 21C, an ARTSJOURNAL weblog. Because Richard Kessler is on the guest list for my make-believe arts education dinner party. He’d be seated between Sarah Cunningham and Joan Weber.
The #artsed hashtag on Twitter. Because I learn something new every day from this amazing little community in the twitterverse.
The Results from the USDOE 2009-2010 Arts in Education Fast Response Survey. Okay, so the results won’t be published until 2011, but I am so frickin’ excited. And I am such a frickin’ nerd.
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