News
Shining the Light on What Works
Posted Aug 7, 10:56 AM
_By Doug Herbert, Special Assistant, Office of Innovation and Improvement U.S. Department of Education Washington D.C. _
A first impression that has stayed with me since the forum in New Orleans is how fortunate we are to have Sandra Ruppert and her team at the helm of the Partnership as it begins a new chapter in its history. What began in 1994 in response to the Goals 2000: Educate America Act has adjusted course with the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, and now the Partnership is poised to help us all navigate another new and exciting era of school improvement. And judging from the high caliber of the speakers and presenters, as well as the depth of our engagement with such issues as 21st century skills, reform of the American high school, and others central to the Forum’s agenda, Sandra and her team have put us on a good course to begin the latest journey.
While I was inspired by the thoughts and eloquence with which they were delivered by many of the forum’s presenters, the session that provoked the most thought for me was the breakout in which Jean Hendrickson of the Oklahoma A+ Schools and Judi Holifield of Mississippi’s Whole Schools Initiative shared their impressive stories of success and the strategies of arts instruction and arts integration that the schools in their networks have used to make the arts part of a complete education. I, like many others, have watched these two statewide networks, along with others like them in other states like North Carolina, where the A+ schools network is in its 14th year, successfully weather the comings and goings of school reform eforts, staying the course and adhering to their core principles – maintaining the integrity of the arts disciplines as well as providing meaningful, cross- disciplinary connections with the other core academic subjects. And, instilling a commitment to that principle and insuring its accomplishment through high-quality professional development and other services for teachers that enables them to do their best for students in and through the arts.
As I listened to Jean and Judi talk about their reform models and their successes, I wondered why it’s taking so long to make their and others’ experiences with the arts as a strategy for whole school reform more widely recognized and replicated in more places. Just before and since our gathering in New Orleans, several important, national-level organizations that are influential in school improvement have focused special attention on arts education and arts integration. The January/February issue of Principal, the journal of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, was devoted almost completely to arts education, as was the February issue of Middle Ground from the National Middle School Association. ASCD’s March “Education Update,” contains a major article on arts integration, featuring North Carolina’s A+ Schools. And February’s Edutopia, from the George Lucas Educational Foundation, titles its edition, “Why the Arts Must be Saved,” and answers that with an excellent set of articles, one about the Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in Bartlesville, Okla., an Oklahoma A+ School. Quite an impressive afrmation of the critical role of the arts in a complete education!
Shortly before our forum in New Orleans, the staff of the Department of Education met and heard from our new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. Among the things he told us is that, as a nation, we need to identify the things that work for schools and students, shine a light on them, and then scale them up so that more students can benefit from them. I was thinking about these words from the new Secretary as I listened to Jean and Judi in their breakout session. Before and since then, as I’ve read the above affirmations of the role of the arts in school improvement, I’ve thought about what an auspicious time this is right now for us to shine that light on the efforts in Oklahoma, Mississippi, North Carolina and many other places where the arts are at the center, rather than the margins, of making schools successful and helping all children to achieve. In fact, we at the Department “shone the light” on arts integration on March 26th, when our Education Policy Briefing series features the Comprehensive Education Through the Arts program of the Kennedy Center.
Together, with the continuing efforts of the Arts Education Partnership, let’s be sure that, as our country invests anew in public education with federal stimulus funds, the light shines brighter and brighter on the arts, allowing them to be a more integral part of the solution for American education.
