National Arts and Humanities Youth Program

Awards program

2017 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards
Applications Now Open!

Sphinx Organization’s Perfect Fourth quartet performs at the
2016 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards Ceremony
Photo: Steven Purcell

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, is accepting applications for the 2017 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards.

The twelve award-winning programs this year will each receive $10,000 and an invitation to accept their award at a ceremony at the White House.

After-school and out-of-school-time arts and humanities programs, also known as Creative Youth Development programs, are encouraged to apply. Please click the following link to access the online National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards Application: www.nahyp.org/how-to-apply/

Completed applications will only be accepted via the online process.  Application deadline: Wednesday, February 8, 2017, 5:00 PM PST.

Turnaround Arts

Report released

The President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities program, Turnaround Arts Initiative, engaged external researchers to track metrics for school improvement. The report was just released and shows broad improvements across several areas of students’ academic and performance, including surges in reading and math scores, an increase in attendance and a decrease in suspensions.

The eight schools that participated in the pilot phase of the Turnaround Arts Initiative were evaluated by researcher Sara Ray Stoelinga of the Urban Education Institute at the University of Chicago, Yael Silk of Silk Strategic Arts, and a team at Booz Allen Hamilton.

The researchers found between 2011 and 2014, students at Turnaround Arts schools demonstrated significant progress in student achievement. Of the eight observed schools, seven improved their overall reading proficiency rates and six improved their math proficiency rates. All eight schools improved in at least math or reading. Half of the observed schools improved their attendance rates significantly. And more than half of the schools dramatically reduced suspensions. The schools performed materially better in math and reading scores than comparable schools in their state or district going through a turnaround process but not using the arts.

The report also reviews the quality and depth of each school’s comprehensive, arts-based intervention program and describes both general and exemplary implementation practices across the 8 Turnaround Arts Pillars.

A summary of the report is located at http://pcah.gov/sites/default/files/Turnaround%20Arts%20Phase%201%20Final%20Evaluation_Summary.pdf

The full report is located at http://pcah.gov/sites/default/files/Turnaround%20Arts%20Phase%201%20Final%20Evaluation_Full%20Report.pdf

Summer Reading, Watching, Listening, and Learning

Points of interest wrapped up in one blog post

The information in this blog has come across my desk from a variety of sources and people. I have rolled it into one post to make reference easier for you… I am guessing there is at least one story here that will peak your interest.

• A 5 minute+ film about John Baldessari created by Tom Waits. He is recognized for his height 6′ 7″ and his white beard and hair.  He is been called the Godfather of conceptual artist, surrealistic for the digital age. He has had over 200 solo shows, and 1000 group shows and has received many awards. You can learn more about him and watch the entertaining 5 minutes and 55 second video by clicking here. John has a great website as well – http://www.baldessari.org/.
• While looking at the Baldessari film I discovered the website called Short of the Week which contains links to short videos. The topics are varied. This might come in useful as a resource for you and/or your students.
• Thanks to MAAI teacher leader, music teacher at Aetna-Dixmont Jen Nash who sent me this info. I talked to Kern Kelley, who is the technology integrator for us. He shared this blogspot link with me and in her words: “The students picked a piece of art and had to put a video together. They had to talk about the different aspects of the piece of artwork and incorporate music. I thought that this would be neat to share.”
• Will Richardson is one of those people who I find very interesting. He encourages me to think differently about school. This is a TEDx where he talks about young people and learning and starts out by referencing his daughter playing the piano.     
• Eight schools across the country were selected to receive over $14.7 over a three year period to integrate dance, music, theater, and visual arts into the curricula. The President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities working with the US Department of Education hopes to prove that failing schools can be impacted by encouraging the expansion of creative expression. Public Radio has an interview that you can listen to by clicking here. And you can read more about the Turnaround Arts Initiative.
• Not to long after I posted Eagles Have Landed about Suzanne Goulet’s art classroom at Waterville High School being the center of the viewing stage for the new born eagles someone sent me this video of young robins.
• Mystery of a Masterpiece was aired on Public Television in January 2012 and tells the story of a painting that was sold for $20,000 in October of 2007 and now is thought to be a Leonardo da Vinci worth more than $100 million. Cutting-edge imaging analysis solves the mystery. You can watch the 52 min. program by clicking here. Thanks to Wiscasset Middle School art teacher Molly Carlson for sharing this information.
• Playing for Change Day – changing the world through music. All over the world on September 22nd there will be people collaborating to inspire people to support music education. Portland is one of the locations, planned by the Maine Academy for Modern Music, and it will happen at 8:00-11:30 PM.
• The photographs are amazing! Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography at the Bates College Museum of Art provides local teachers a FREE resource to explore a meeting point of art and science. 36 photographers from around the world are included in one of the very first exhibitions to examine astrophotography as a fine art genre. Starstruck opened June 8 and will be on view through December 15, offering ample opportunity for science and art teachers to plug in. Companion shows at the Bates planetarium are an option. To learn more or to schedule a tour, contact ashostak@bates.edu or cjones5@bates.edu. A full color catalogue with essays by the jurors is available.

ARTICLES

• How and why a middle school teacher approached collaborative learning in his classroom from Education Week, May 30, 2012, written by Rob Kriete called No More Whack-A-Mole: My Conversion to Collaborative Learning.
• How are you doing incorporating technology into the arts classroom? This is an article on how one teacher tried twitter and facebook and what they found. Published online in Education Week, May 30, 2012, written by Paul Barnwell called Why Twitter and Facebook Are Not Good Instructional Tools.
• If you are out traveling this summer and happen to be in Kansas you might want to drop by the National Teachers Hall of Fame. Read about the recent inductees (5 each year) in this Ed Week article from May 14, 2012 written by John Wilson called National Teachers Hall of Fame is a Gift.
• Grade the Work, Not the Behavior. Not sure if that is language you’ve been hearing or not in your school but it is being discussed across the state in many schools. And that is what this article with that title is all about. From Education Week, May 8, 2012, written by Cindi Rigsbee.
• This article called Curriculum the Missing Ingredient in School Reform, Book Says reviews a book just out argues that the part that is being left out of the reform conversation these days is the curriculum. The book called Tyranny of the Textbook: An Insider Exposes How Educational Material Undermine Reforms written by Beverlee Jobrack. Missing Piece published in Education Week, June 14, 2012 and written by Erik Robelen.
• Read about what teachers are saying on specific topics for professional development in the Education Week article called Roundup Post: Characteristics of Meaningful PD, June 4, 2012, written by Leanne Link. Be sure and check out the discussion topics on the right side of the webpage that has the article.
• Travels in Education
• Study: Teacher PD Needs More on Emotions
• Shifting Assumptions About Teacher Evaluation and Professional Learning
• Let Teachers Take Charge of Their Learning

Professional Development Opportunities in the Arts

Join in live or listen to archived webinars

Regional Workshops:                                                                                                                 The Arts Assessment Iniative continues to offer opportunities around the state. The list of Regional Workshops being provided by the initiatives 18 Teachers Leaders are listed at http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/vpa/assessment.html.

Maine Assessment Webinars:                                                                                                The Leadership and the Arts webinar, facilitated by Rob Westerberg and Catherine Ring, was held on February 1, 2012 and explored:

• The Role of Teachers
• The Role of Administrators
• The Role of the greater Community

If you were not one of the 35 participants, or if you wish to hear it again, you can go to the archive at http://stateofmaine.adobeconnect.com/p3yj73w4iaf/. Along with the archive there is a meeting plan located at http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/vpa/assessment.html. I suggest that you use the meeting plan on a school workshop day with your colleagues. Please take the time to read the plan to help you decide how to use this  valuable document. And by all means invite your administrators to participate.

There was a glitch in taping the January elementary assessment webinar that took place so it has been re-scheduled for March 14th, 3:30-4:30. You can access the link to join in at http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/vpa/assessment.html.

The Arts, Common Core, and 21st Century Connections:                                              On January 17, 2012 Joyce Huser, Kansas Department of Education, Fine Arts Consultant facilitated a webinar for my colleagues from throughout the country. Joyce created documents that I am certain you will find helpful in your work at the local level. You can access the recording at http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/vpa/eor.html. Joyce includes the direct correlation between dance, music, theatre, and visual art to the Common Core State Standards, and the 21st Century Arts Skills Map. At the above page you will find the presentation Power Point, the P21 Arts Skills Map, and an ELA Strand Organizer (Joyce and her ELA partners created). Most interesting to me is a graph in the Power Point that exhibits the skill demands for arts related careers for 2008 – 2018 which shows the skills taught in arts education classes. There is a link on the webpage is the sources for the work force data in the graph.

President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities Report:                                Last week while I attended the Maine Art Education Association board meeting Rob Westerberg attended a webinar that provided information on the recently released report by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Rob was kind enough send his “take-aways” from the webinar “Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools.” The report is posted at http://www.pcah.gov/. The culmination of 18 months of research, meetings with stakeholders, and site visits all over the country, this report represents an in-depth review of the current condition of arts education, including an update of the current research base about arts education outcomes, and an analysis of the challenges and opportunities in the field that have emerged over the past decade. It also includes a set of recommendations to federal, state and local policymakers.

In Rob’s words: A good webinar today… it hit on key components of an effective integrative strategy at the elementary and middle school levels.

• A few quotes: “Arts Education is a flower AND a wrench” (a tool for development of creativity in the curriculum… I LOVE the analogy!)
• “Having a good music program isn’t enough”.
•  “Wow, schools are the ones where Arts teachers were given liscence to craft the vision for their school; were the chief creative officers for their schools.”

Rob was able to ask this question of the moderator: “How do the findings of this report tie into standards based assessment in the arts? Do they?”

Rachel Goslins response: “The report does not get into either standards or assessment… too big and messy.”

She then went on to mention the development of the national standards as the primary focal point of that discussion. In other words, it was not within the scope and sequence of this report to dive into the realm of standards or assessment.

For her final thoughts, she mentioned that “for the arts moving forward, (and I’m paraphrasing here), they must be integrated in a meaningful way, led by valued and empowered arts specialists.”

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to Rob for sharing your notes with the blog. If you’d like to listen to the webinar please go to the archived at http://advocacy.nafme.org/page/webinars-2.