We Are in This Together: A Survey of Community Arts Partners in LA County Public Schools

The Los Angeles County Arts Commission surveyed teaching artists and arts organizations to find out who provided arts education services to LA County's 2,198 public schools in 2012. This survey found 139 arts organizations and 46 teaching artists providing arts education during the school day in 98 percent of all school districts and 53 percent of all schools in the County. While this is certainly an undercount of the total number of such arts organizations and teaching artists serving local public schools, it is a first step toward establishing a comprehensive list, and is the best data we have to date about this group of providers. Among the high level findings: 57 percent of all arts education provided by community arts partners was in visual art (32 percent) and music/opera (25 percent).More than 77 percent of arts education provided by community arts partners occured in elementary (K-8) grades. Arts education from community arts partners peaked in grades 3 through 5, and peak years varied by arts discipline.The four community arts pertners providing the greatest amount of arts educatio in LA County were the Autry Museum, Broad Stage, Music Center and Skirball Cultural Center.Nearly half of all community arts partners charge schools for their services at least some of the time

Artful Citizenship Project- Year 3

Artful Citizenship is an arts-integrated social studies curriculum project designed to provide third- through fifth- grade students and teachers with the tools necessary to: * develop visual literacy skills; * implement social science content across academic content areas; * create opportunities for integrated artistic response. Artful Citizenship is a pilot educational program funded by the US Department of Education, Arts in Education, Model Development and Dissemination Grant Program. It was developed by The Wolfsonian-Florida International University (FIU) in partnership with Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS), Visual Understanding in Education (VUE), a non-profit organization that develops learner-centered methods that use art to teach critical thinking and visual literacy, faculty from the FIU College of Education, and a team of independent education researchers and evaluators from Curva and Associates, a private research and evaluation firm. The Wolfsonian and its partners recently completed the three years of funded activities that included development, field testing, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of Artful Citizenship as part of the core social studies and language arts curricula in the third, fourth and fifth grades at three Miami-Dade County public elementary schools. All three schools have high percentages of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds who are at risk of academic failure. An additional school with similar demographics was included to serve as a comparison group for evaluation purposes. The evaluation addresses the central objectives of the program: teaching visual literacy in order to influence children's character and social development, and, ultimately, to improve academic achievement, as measured through norm-referenced tests and criterion- referenced test (Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test). The psychosocial dimensions included in the evaluation were Art Self-Concept, Art Enjoyment, Academic Self-Concept, and School/Civic Orientatio

Public school art teacher autonomy in a segregated city: Affordances and contradictions

Over the past two decades, the Chicago Public Schools have seen a lot of change. First there was the opening of magnet schools, and other gestures at reform, followed by school closures and the flourishing of charter schools. In this essay, two former Chicago art teachers, one who taught in a prominent college prep magnet high school on the north side, and one who taught in an under-resourced neighborhood high school on the south side, examine the commonalities of their otherwise divergent experiences, particularly with regard to the freedom allotted to both them and their students by the administrative affordances in their respective situations. While the schools were starkly different in numerous respects, the surprising ability of both teachers to lead collaborative projects that they and their students found engaging, partly through reaching outside the bounds of the institution, may offer an example of teacher autonomy and emergent pedagogy that seems particularly relevant to the public school setting

That sh*t is rude! Religion, Picture Books, and Social Narratives in Middle School

While the U.S. has a divisive history around the separation of church and state in public school, current national and state teaching standards do include curricular objectives related to the study of religion. This paper focuses on the ways a diverse group of sixth-grade public schoolchildren engaged with religious content in their English Language Arts class. Specifically, it examines the kinds of narratives the children constructed in response to diverse works of public art and children’s picturebooks, including Mora’s (2012) The Beautiful Lady: Our Lady of Guadalupe / La hermosa señora: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Señora), and Garza’s (1996) In My Family. The children’s responses disrupt us/Other social narratives and demonstrate the importance of religious literacy in the space of public schools. They push against the notion that acknowledging religious perspectives that are not part of mainstream culture could be offensive to some children. This study reinforces that the interdisciplinary inclusion of religious content in public school not only supports state and national teaching standards, but also opens a space for children to understand the pluralistic society in which they live

Organic and conventional public food procurement for youth in Denmark

This report is the first mapping of the activities and state-of-the-art on public organic food procurement for youth. The report, on the Danish activities, comes together with similar reports from Finland, Italy and Norway. These four reports will inform a comparative analysis conducted by DTU in workpackage 2 of the iPOPY project. The major focus of the reports is school meals and the use of and potentials for organic products in this setting. But also other important settings than schools are included. The perspectives of the reports are on the policies and the policy processes influencing the extension of organic school meals. The report is produced within the project “innovative Public Organic food Procurement for Youth”, iPOPY, and will be updated and revised during the project period (2007-2010)

Battling the big one: LGBTQ inclusive art education during the Trump era

Recently, because of our new political atmosphere, there have been many attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer, or LGBTQ+, individuals and communities. Even though there have been positive developments in the past few years, homophobia is still a major concern for many people in the Unit- ed States. These issues often manifest themselves to a greater degree within the microcosm of public schools where LGBTQ+ students are forced to deal with hateful speech, heteronorma- tive environments, and rampant homophobia. These strugglescan have harmful e ects on the social and emotional develop- ment of queer youth. Progressive and inclusive art educationthat provides re ective and thoughtful creative projects may aidin identity development, increase self-esteem, and encourage activism, thus helping to improve the lives of LGBTQ+ youth and educators

Art, Culture, and Identity: Picturing Cuba through the Perez Cuban Art Collection: A Summer Art Institute for K-12 Teachers (June 27-July 1, 2016)

The Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center and Miami-Dade County Public Schools, in partnership with the Cuban Research Institute at FIU, held the 2nd Annual Summer Cuban Art Institute for Teachers from June 27- July 1, 2016 at the Perez Art Museum Miami. This institute, led by renowned Latin American art historian and art curator Dr. Carol Damian, offers educators a unique opportunity to deepen their knowledge and appreciation of Cuban and Cuban-American art.https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/cri_events/1283/thumbnail.jp

Art Therapy Program Recommendations for Students from Non-Dominant Cultures in Schools

Public schools educate many students of various cultural backgrounds and often provide mental health services to meet the needs of these students. This mixed methods study is comprised of a systematic literature review and survey that inquired about how art therapists in schools meet the needs of students from non-dominant cultures. Historical and current data about how art therapists in schools meet the needs of students from non-dominant cultures supported recommendations for a culturally sensitive art therapy program in public schools. Students from non-dominant cultures are those who have cognitive or physical disabilities, belong to a race or ethnicity other than white or Caucasian, have religious beliefs other than Christianity, have low socioeconomic status, are LGBTQ, have indigenous heritage, and/or are female (Hays, 2016). Results from the research show a lack of concrete knowledge regarding funding for art therapy programs in schools, a need for cultural sensitivity training for art therapists that addresses assessments, material choice and development of interventions, and a wide range of needs and goals for this population. The program recommendations include suggestions for funding, therapist credentials, structure of programming, culturally competent art therapy practice, and suggestions for cultural training

The state of the art of english language teaching in three public schools in Pereira

El presente proyecto de investigación tiene como objetivo principal explorar las realidades de la enseñanza y aprendizaje del inglés en tres colegios públicos de la ciudad de Pereira. De igual forma, el estudio busca contribuir en un diagnóstico acerca de los métodos que los docentes de inglés utilizan dentro del aula de clase y cómo sus prácticas se relacionan con los principios establecidos por el Ministerio de Educación Nacional sobre la enseñanza del inglés en Colombia. Finalmente el estudio pretende identificar los factores que influyen en el proceso de aprendizaje de una segunda lengua. El proyecto se llevó a cabo con la participación de estudiantes de sexto a once grado elegidos aleatoriamente y seis profesores del área de inglés de tres colegios públicos de Pereira, entre ellos uno perteneciente a la zona rural. Para la recolección de información se utilizaron observaciones, notas de campo, cuestionarios y entrevistas. Los resultados de la presente investigación demuestran que algunas técnicas asociadas con el Método de Gramática y Traducción son utilizadas por los profesores de inglés participantes de este proyecto ya que las clases se enfocan en el estudio de estructuras gramaticales y en la traducción de textos de la lengua de estudio a la lengua materna. Igualmente se observó que la lengua extranjera no se utiliza para propósitos comunicativos sino en situaciones puntuales tales como: el uso de comandos cortos, presentación de reglas gramaticales, y en la pronunciación de palabras aisladas lo que limita la oportunidad de que los estudiantes desarrollen habilidades tanto receptivas como productivas en la segunda lengua. En las clases observadas y en las entrevistas a profesores y alumnos se hizo evidente que la carencia de un enfoque comunicativo en el que se practique la lengua en situaciones de la vida real afectó la motivación y el interés de los estudiantes por la clase de inglés. Los estudiantes expresaron el deseo de implementar clases más comunicativas con trabajo en equipo, juegos de rol y recursos didácticos. Por otra parte, los comentarios dados por los profesores de inglés revelaron que la falta de clases más comunicativas se debe a la escasez de recursos pedagógicos en las instituciones. La cantidad de estudiantes por salón es más alta a los recursos que se les facilita a los profesores.The present research project is intended to explore the realities of teaching and learning English in three public schools of Pereira city. The project also seeks to contribute to a diagnosis of the methods that English teachers use in class and the way in which their teaching practices correspond to the principles established by the National Ministry of Education with respect to the teaching of English in Colombia; and finally, to identify factors that influence the English learning process. The study was conducted with the participation of students from sixth to eleventh grade chosen randomly and six language teachers of three public schools in Pereira, one of them belonging to a rural zone. The instruments used to gather information were observations, field notes, interviews and questionnaires. The outcomes of the research indicate that some techniques associated with the Grammar Translation Method were used by the English teachers we observed since their classes were focused on the study of grammatical rules and the translation of texts from the target language to the mother tongue. Also, it was observed that the English language was not employed for communicative purposes but was only used in specific situations such as the practice of short commands, presentation of grammatical rules, and the pronunciation of isolated words which give few opportunities for students to develop receptive as well as productive skills. During the classroom observations and interviews of teachers and learners, it was evidenced that the need of a communicative approach to practice the target language based on real situations affected the students’ motivation for the English class. Learners expressed their desire to include more communicative activities with group work, role plays and didactic resources. On the other hand, the comments made by English teachers suggested that the lack of communicative activities was due to a shortage of pedagogical resources. Teachers said that the resources of the schools are not enough to the amount of students per class