Discusses the purpose and accomplishments of the Arts Education Partnership and its more than 100 national arts, education, business and philanthropic organizations. Provides guidance on how to join the Partnership

Sara Goldhawk

English

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GOOD SCHOOLS REQUIRE THE ARTSA R T S  E D U C A T I O N  P A R T N E R S H I P PARTNERSHIPA R T S  E D U C A T I O N  P A R T N E R S H I PThe Arts Education Partnership(formerly known as the Goals2000 Arts EducationPartnership) is a private,nonprofit coalition ofeducation, arts, business,philanthropic, and governmentorganizations thatdemonstrates and promotes theessential role of arts educationin enabling all students tosucceed in school, life, andwork.The Partnership is administeredby the Council of Chief StateSchool Officers and theNational Assembly of State ArtsAgencies, which represent statedepartments of education andstate arts agencies in the 56states and extra-statejurisdictions. The Partnership issupported by a cooperativeagreement with the NationalEndowment for the Arts andthe U.S. Department ofEducation and by thecontributions of itsparticipating organizations.For a directory of organizationsparticipating in the Partnership,visit our Web site athttp://aep-arts.org“The process of studying and creating art in all of itsdistinct forms defines those qualities that are at theheart of education reform in the 1990’s—creativity,perseverance, a sense of standards, and above all, astriving for excellence.”-U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. RileyIs there evidence that artseducation helps studentssucceed in school and life?The Partnership identifies and distributesimportant research on the role of the arts inlearning and development. As recommended in its1997 report Priorities for Arts Education Research,the Partnership is working with the NationalEndowment for the Arts and the U.S. Departmentof Education on a new compilation of artseducation research to follow up on Schools,Communities and the Arts: A Research Compendiumreleased in 1995. Eloquent Evidence, a brochurecreated and distributed for the Partnership by theNational Assembly of State Arts Agencies,summarizes some key findings in the ResearchCompendium.In cooperation with the American EducationalResearch Association and private and corporatefunders, the Partnership will convene scholars andresearchers to review and evaluate research findingsthat demonstrate the importance of the arts.Partnership organizations as wide ranging as theNational Alliance of Business, the nationalassociations of elementary and secondary schoolprincipals, the National PTA, the AmericanEducational Research Association, and the GE Fundbelieve that the content and skills learned in thestudy of the arts are critical to a young person’spersonal, academic, and career development.Looking for answersaboutarts education?The Arts Education Partnership answers and actson questions such as:CREATIVITYHow well are the artsbeing taught?Partnership organizations, in cooperation with theNational Assessment Governing Board, theNational Center forEducation Statistics,and the EducationalTesting Service,have designed newmethods fordetermining ifstudents arelearning to createoriginal works ofart; perform worksof music, dance,and theater; andrespondintelligently andcritically to allforms of art.Through theNationalAssessment ofEducationalProgress (NAEP), asample of eighth grade students from across thecountry was assessed in 1997 using thesemethods. The results, released in fall 1998, giveobjective information on how well we arenurturing the creative and artistic potential of allstudents. Partnership organizations are making theresults of the NAEP Arts Assessment known to thepublic and to policy makers.A consortium of state departments of educationconvened by the Council of Chief State SchoolOfficers is exploring how the new assessmentmethods can improve arts instruction inclassrooms.The Partnership is working with the NationalEndowment for the Arts and the National Centerfor Education Statistics of the U.S. Department ofEducation to produce a new version of the 1995statistical report Arts Education in Public Elementaryand Secondary Schools. The new report, plannedfor release in 1999, will allow an analysis of trendsin the conditions of arts teaching and learning. Where are the best artseducation programs?Partnership organizations including the U.S.Department of Education, the NationalEndowment for the Arts, the National SchoolBoards Association, and the Kennedy CenterAlliance for Arts Education Network systematicallyidentify school districts and schools that havestrong arts programs.A 1998 report of the Partnership, in cooperationwith the President’s Committee on the Arts andthe Humanities, examines school districts acrossthe country with effective arts programs for allstudents. The report gives guidance to localschool boards and superintendents on how tocreate and maintain comprehensive programs intheir districts.The Blue Ribbon Schools program of the U.S.Department of Education, in cooperation with thePartnership and the National Endowment for theArts, has developed a set of criteria definingexcellence in arts education programs. Schoolsmeeting the criteria are being honored by thePresident of the United States and the Secretary ofEducation in 1998 and 1999.Formal evaluations commissioned by Partnershiporganizations such as the Getty Education Institutefor the Arts, the Lincoln Center Institute and theThomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts identify thecharacteristics of effective programs in the schoolsand communities with which they work.Information on effective programs is shared by thePartnership through its meetings, publicationsand Web site.Are the arts important in thelearning and development ofyoung children?In 1998, the Partnership released Young Childrenand the Arts: Making Creative Connections, thereport of its Task Force on Children’s Learning andthe Arts: Birth to Age Eight. The reportsummarizes the importance of the arts in thelearning and development of young children andprovides guidance on how to provide appropriatearts experiences for children from birth to ageeight. Resources and information about programsexemplifying appropriate practice are beingcollected into a database accessible through theInternet for use by schools, parents andcare givers.Partnership organizations such as the NationalAssociation for the Education of Young Children,the National Institute on Early ChildhoodDevelopment and Education of the U.S.Department of Education, the Wolf TrapFoundation for the Performing Arts, the AmericanLibrary Association and the National Association ofElementary School Principals are identifying theresearch and practices that show how artsexperiences are essential in nurturing the fulldevelopment of a child from birth through theearly school years.ASSESSMENTNew knowledge on the importance of stories,music, movement, and color to the developmentof a healthy brain in young children is being usedby Partnership organizations, such as Head Start,the National Dance Association, the MusicEducators National Conference, and Very SpecialArts to develop new video, audio, and printmaterials for instructional use with young children.Is there funding supportfor arts education?The Partnership provides help in trackinggovernment funding opportunities at the federaland state levels. The Partnership cooperates withthe National Conference of State Legislatures(NCSL) in maintaining a database of artseducation legislation and policies in every state.Information for the database is developed throughsurveys conducted by NCSL, the Council of ChiefState School Officers, the National Art EducationAssociation, the American Music Conference, andthe Partnership staff. The Partnership monitors how each state isimplementing the federal Goals 2000: EducateAmerica Act, which defines the arts as part of thecore school curriculum. Partnership organizationshave helped local school districts obtain millionsof dollars in grants to include arts education intheir school improvement plans and programs.The Partnership distributes reports on thefunding opportunities for arts education infederal legislation supporting elementary andsecondary education.The Impact of thePartnershipThrough their cooperative actions, Partnershiporganizations have had the following impact:• Forty-seven states have adopted new standardsfor what students should know and be able todo in dance, music, theater, and the visual arts.• In 1997, a national assessment of arepresentative sample of eighth graders wasconducted to measure how well schools areteaching our young people to create, performand respond to works of art. A report of theresults will be published in 1998. The arts arenow at the leading edge of thinking on howbest to assess student achievement. Anincreasing number of states are consideringdeveloping assessments keyed to theirarts standards.• Support for arts education among policymakers in Congress and at the state andfederal levels is growing as research on thevalue of the arts is made more widely available.The Partnership has stimulated new researchefforts by publishing its Priorities for ArtsEducation Research, which cites the effects ofarts learning on human development,academic achievement and workforce skills. • Millions of dollars in Goals 2000 money havebeen awarded in support of arts educationprojects as states recognize the role of the artsin improving schools and helping all students. • A Partnership team is at work in every statepromoting arts education. A state teamincludes representatives from statedepartments of education, state arts councils,and state alliances for arts education as well asthe state and local affiliates of otherPartnership organizations.• Advocates in every state are using thePartnership video featuring Meryl Streep, TheArts and Children: A Success Story, and therelated research materials to make the case forthe arts in education. The Partnership Web siteprovides a summary of and access to the bestin advocacy materials currently available.• The role of the arts in the learning anddevelopment of young children has been thework of the Partnership’s Task Force onChildren’s Learning and the Arts: Birth to AgeEight. As a result, the Partnership iscooperating with the national Head Startprogram to produce new materials for childrenand care givers on using the arts to help everychild achieve their highest potential. RESEARCHHow Doesthe Partnership Work?The Partnership adopts an annual action agenda tofocus the collective efforts of its participatingorganizations on targets of opportunity forpromoting and improving arts education. Theagenda focuses on needs and issues at the nationaland state levels and is posted on the PartnershipWeb site.Task Forces of participating organizations areformed to respond to critical national needs andissues. Current task forces include the following:The Advocacy Task Force develops themesand strategies for collective action at thenational, state, and local levels. The PartnershipWeb site lists current advocacy materialsavailable from Partnership organizations. Amajor Partnership theme has been to show therole of arts education in preparing students forthe 21st Century workforce.The Research Task Force identifiespriorities for arts education research, reviewsresearch reports, and convenes arts andeducation researchers. The Task Force isadvising the federal government on newsurveys and reports on the status of artseducation in America’s schools.The Assessment Task Forcesupports the arts assessments inthe National Assessment ofEducational Progress, “TheNation’s Report Card,” andpromotes the use of appropriatearts assessments by states, schooldistricts, and schools. ThePartnership is cooperating innational public awarenesscampaigns using the results of the1997 national arts assessment ofeighth graders.The Task Force on Children’s Learningand the Arts: Birth to Age Eight issued areport with guidelines to assist organizations indeveloping new materials for schools, parentsand care givers to create appropriate artsexperiences for children from birth throughage eight. The Task Force also is developing adatabase of research and effective programsand resources.State departments of education, arts agencies, andthe arts education alliances affiliated with the JohnF. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts formthe core of Partnership State Teams. The nationalPartnership staff is a “switchboard” enablingnational organizations and state teams to shareinformation and resources to advance artseducation in states and local communities.The Partnership holds quarterly meetings open toall participating organizations to report onprogress in the annual action agenda and thework of the Task Forces. The Partnershipcommunicates regularly through its Web site, e-mail, listserv and fax system.How Do I Join?The Partnership is a coalition of organizations thathave national scope and impact. The CEO orappropriate senior staff member should contactthe Partnership office to express a desire for theorganization to participate.Participating organizations are asked to:• support the Partnership action agenda andcommunicate Partnership information regularlyto their constituents and affiliates;• send senior staff to Partnership quarterlymeetings;• assign senior staff to task forces of particularconcern to their organization;• maintain active communication with thePartnership and its participating organizationsthrough its Web site, listserv, and fax system;and• submit an organization profile and provideaccess to its directory of state affiliates orchapters.ADVOCACYArts Education PartnershipSteering Committee MembersAmerican Association of MuseumsAmerican Association of School AdministratorsAmerican Federation of TeachersAmerican Symphony Orchestra LeagueAmericans for the ArtsBinney and Smith, Inc.Brigham Young UniversityChildren, Youth and Family Consortium of the University of Minnesota*The Coca-Cola FoundationCouncil of Chief State School OfficersEducational Research Service*Galef InstituteGetty Education Institute for the Arts *Interlochen Center for the ArtsInternational Council of Fine Arts DeansJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing ArtsLincoln Center InstituteMinnesota Center for Arts EducationMusic Educators National ConferenceNational Alliance of Business *National Art Education AssociationNational Assembly of State Arts AgenciesNational Association of Elementary School PrincipalsNational Association of Secondary School PrincipalsNational Conference of State LegislaturesNational Council of State Arts Education ConsultantsNational Endowment for the ArtsNational Foundation for the Improvement of EducationNational School Boards AssociationNational Task Force on Folk Arts in EducationOPERA AmericaThomas S. Kenan Institute for the ArtsU.S. Department of EducationUniversity of Michigan, School of Music *Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts *Young Audiences* Task Force ChairsFor a full list of organizations participating in the Partnership, visit ourWeb site.Arts Education Partnership StaffRichard J. Deasy, DirectorSara Goldhawk, Senior Project AssociateAlesha Pulsinelli, Project AssistantOne Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Suite 700Washington, DC 20001-1431202/326-8693 information line202/408-8076 faxemail: aep@ccsso.orghttp://aep-arts.orgThis publication is made possible through thegenerosity of the GE Fund. CreditsFront cover photograph by Susie Fitzhugh. All other photographs provided by Young Audiences andInterlochen Center for the Arts. Brochure designed byFrost Associates Ltd.How Do I Find OutMore About thePartnership?Visit the Partnership Web site athttp://aep-arts.orgDiscover arts education resources available forpractitioners and policy makers. • arts education advocacy resources• tips on securing Goals 2000 and other federalfunds for arts education• contact information for participatingorganizations and State Partnership Teams• highlights of joint Partnership projects• reports and news updates generated by thePartnership and participating organizations• instructions to subscribe to our listservThe Arts & Children: A Success StoryThe Partnership’s 12-minute video featuring MerylStreep, demonstrates the impact of quality artseducation on student success. The Arts & Children:A Success Story is a powerful tool for promotinginclusion of the arts as a core content area in stateand local curricula. By weaving together research,conversations with business and academicprofessionals, and scenes of elementary andsecondary school students engaged in the arts,the video is a compelling testimonial to thestrong, positive relationship between artseducation, student performance, workplace skillsand preparation for college.To order the video and kit containing reproduciblehandouts, please contact our distributors:Americans for the Arts at 800/321-4510 ext. 241and the National Assembly of State Arts Agenciesat 202/347-6352.Publications AvailableThe Arts and Education: Partners in Achieving OurNational Education Goals. (1995)Priorities for Arts Education Research. (1997)Young Children and the Arts: Making CreativeConnections. (1998)

Good Schools Require the Arts

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Good Schools Require the Arts

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