NEA Holds Summer Institute in Ohio
The arts can and should play an important and effective role in the results-oriented, accountability-driven arena of school improvement. That was the central statement when about 50 Ohio school leaders, as well as state and national policy makers and scholars, gathered this August. For two days, they pursued a stimulating, promising line of inquiry through presentations, breakout sessions, demonstrations, and Q&A sessions. Dr. David O'Fallon, president of the MacPhail Center for Music in Minnesota, was the Institute facilitator.
Preceding the two-day Institute was an evening reception. Attendees were welcomed by Mrs. Hope Taft, First Lady of Ohio; Susan Tave Zelman, Ohio's State Superintendent of Public Instruction; Wayne Lawson, OAC Executive Director; and, via videorecording, Dana Gioia, the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Also present were Ohio Senate President Doug White and leaders from NEA and other national and state arts and education organizations.
The two days of learning and dialogue were rich with ideas, but three themes continued to surface.
1) The arts are core subjects.
Dr. Susan Sclafani, Counselor to the U.S. Secretary of Education, focused her opening speech on the value of the fine arts for all children. She stated emphatically that her agency considers the fine arts to be an essential part of the core curriculum. A letter from U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige underscored her assertion. Dr. Sclafani said standardized test results will reflect excellent arts instruction. Dr. Zelman affirmed that belief, citing the arts as a factor in the achievements of Ohio's "Schools of Promise."
Feedback
Institute participants say—
"I'm feeling more comfortable looking at the other academics and enriching those areas through the arts thus giving our children learning experiences from the best of both worlds."
"Eric Booth's Evolving Role of the Arts in Education and Eileen Mason's Shakespeare in Our Time inspired us and showed us how we can implement this in our district."
"This institute reinforced my beliefs that the arts are essential to the total development of children and that we need to continue to seek opportunities to integrate the arts into all areas of the curriculum."
2) The arts are intrinsically valuable.
While research is revealing links between arts learning and achievement in other academic areas, presenters were clear in stating that arts education should not need to be justified by its impact on test scores. For example, Professor Howard Gardner, via videoconference link with Harvard, enumerated the abilities developed through arts learning: looking and listening carefully, giving and receiving criticism, conveying information clearly and attractively, dealing with multiplicity of meanings, thoughtfully improving a technique or work, and expressing powerful ideas.
3) Improving schools is an artistic process.
"Think of school reform as an artistic process," said Professor Jessica Hoffmann Davis, "not as a product-based approach that serves as an antidote for educational ineffectiveness." A cognitive psychologist and founding director of the Harvard School of Education's Arts in Education Program, Davis made the case that all schools would benefit from the themes she has observed in arts-focused schools-process and reflection, connection and community, difference and respect, and passion and industry.
Eric Booth, artistic director for The Juilliard School and author of The Everyday Work of Art, brought out the artist in everyone with an interactive demonstration. (See Volume I, Issue 2 for more of Eric's insights.) Further showing how the arts change perspectives were the Fitton Center's exhibits, student jazz and Shakespeare performances, and a reception at the Taft Museum.
The coming year is certain to offer unprecedented opportunity for school improvement in and through the arts. The learning and dialogue that started in August continues through professional development and technical assistance that will help schools make the most of Ohio's new academic content standards in the fine arts and the OAC's new guidelines for Arts Learning Grants.
See a list of participating school districts, presenters and sponsors
This article was published in November 2004, Volume I, No 1.
