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  • “Good Schools Have the Arts” — What We Want For All of Our Kids

    …we seek leadership that understands fully that subjects like the arts are overwhelmed by an accountability system build on test scores in reading and math, and that in order to buoy the arts, tools such as categorical funding are a necessity. Here’s a guest editorial that I did for Education Update, a really terrific local…

  • Read All About It: President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities Releases Arts Ed Report

    That’s right, just released this Friday afternoon May 6th, is Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools. I love that title, and can only wish their words to Arne Duncan, all the chief state school officers, all the school superintendents, and all the school principal’s ears… I am a big fan of…

  • The Teaching Artist: A Leg of the Arts Education Table

    In 2011, there are those who are suspect of the teaching artist field. Some who still see teaching artists as an easy way for schools to outsource arts education, bypassing professional arts educators and the costs associated with certified arts teachers. And, as in any field of endeavor, there are those who complain about the…

  • Rememberg Max Matthews, The Father of Computer Music

    “What we have to learn is what the human brain and ear thinks is beautiful,” Mr. Mathews told Wired magazine in January. “What do we love about music? What about the acoustic sounds, rhythms and harmony do we love? When we find that out it will be easy to make music with a computer.” He’s…

  • Waiting For Godot: If You Test it They Will Come

    Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot): “But that is not the question. Why are we here, that is the question. And we are blessed in this, that we happen to know the answer. Yes, in this immense confusion one thing alone is clear. We are waiting for Godot to come.” Margaret Spellings: “We measure what we…

  • What Does President Obama Want For His Kids?

    A few weeks ago, President Obama offered some inspiring remarks about what he wants for his kids, the sort of remarks we heard on during the ’08 primaries, but sadly, not much since. Nevertheless, I am glad to see this voice return on this, and other important issues such as the social safety net. Maybe…

  • The Swirling Questions of Relevance

    Relevance. It’s quite the loaded term in the arts and arts education fields, don’t you think? I was once talking with two colleagues and the topic of jazz came up. One friend said that she didn’t think that jazz was relevant. The other friend had a cow, as the saying goes, wondering exactly how such…

  • Outgoing NY State Education Commissioner: What’s Really Wrong with Education

    Directly from the New York State United Teachers Conference, is a somewhat startling video, for its honesty, caring, and content devoid of caustic political rhetoric. “…committed to deepening and broadening the educational options for children, and stopping this class system of subjects, which is only ours, and no where else I know of.” And of…

  • Federal USDOE Arts Education Funding Cut, but Not Eliminated

    There are many people across the country who have been waiting on tenterhooks to find out whether or not arts education funding at the United States Department of Education would be zeroed out. It includes funding for the Kennedy Center, VSA Arts, and the competitive grant programs: Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination and Professional…

  • Worth The Time: A 1999 Conversation with Maxine Greene

    From the December edition of NewMusicBox.org, comes “An Arts Education Symposium,” with the great Maxine Greene, Hollis Headrick, Polly Kahn, Frank Oteri, and me. For those who don’t know Polly, she’s the former education director at The New York Philharmonic, the 92nd Street Y, and other organizations. Today, she is the vice president for learning…