A New Canvas for Education
Governor Seeking Renaissance in Ohio Schools; Arts Advocates Seize Opportunity
Governor Ted Strickland asked educators and citizens to "think boldly about transforming our schools" as he conducted a series of late summer conversations on education. "We're not looking at an almost finished painting," he said. "We are artists looking at a blank canvas and asking 'What is the best thing we can create here?'"
Although the canvas was blank, the Governor did provide a palette for educational transformation—six guiding principles that included the importance of developing creativity and the need to make learning opportunities both more "hands on" and more diverse.
Among the participants were a number of arts advocates who were quick to point out the connections between those principles and arts learning. At each of the gatherings, held in locations all around the state, arts educators described powerful arts learning experiences in their schools.
The Governor's support for arts learning was evident: "If we're going to have an appropriate curriculum, it must include the arts and the humanities," he told participants in Youngstown. "No two students are alike, so we must have a curriculum that is robust enough to meet the needs and the interests of all of our students."
At one site, he listened to a description of an arts integrated project and pronounced it to be a good example of the changes that need to occur in Ohio's classrooms.
The Governor's Roadmap for Education Reform, a summary of the ideas offered in the first round of meetings, refers to "educating the whole child, including wellness, physical education, emotional development, behavioral development, academic development, art and music."
The Governor's Education Reform and Funding Plan was released in late January 2009 after additional public forums on school funding and meetings with associations, organizations and businesses that have an interest in education reform.
Those meetings included staff from the Ohio Arts Council. The Governor's plan lists creativity and innovation among the skills that will "prepare Ohio students to thrive in the 21st century." It calls for an extended school calendar, an Academic Olympics to celebrate achievement in subject areas (including the arts) and the use of "interdisciplinary methods, projectbased learning, real world lessons and service learning."
This article was published in April 2008, Volume 5, No 1.
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