Tag: arts education

  • Arts Education and School Reform: An Unlikely Duo

    I cannot tell you how many times I have heard people from the arts education field say that arts ed needs to become part of school reform. And, this is not a new chorus, but a rather old one, going back at least 15 years. Granted, 15 years ago, when people spoke of school reform,…

  • The Challenges and Just A Bit Of Irony: Bloomberg’s Gun Control Advocacy Finds a Hard Sell by Those in Power

    Now this is a particularly interesting article. Bloomberg’s Gun-Limits Coalition Grows, but Finds a Hard Sell in Washington, Elizabeth A. Harris, The New York Times, January 26, 2010 But despite the coalition’s size, its deep pockets and its muscular public relations operation, Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign has failed to force major strengthening of federal gun control…

  • I Will See You One Waiting for Superman and Raise You One Race to Nowhere

    Okay, bear in mind this movie does not have what Waiting for Superman had: the millions in foundation funding to support its promotion, nor a major broadcast network that devoted a week about K-12 education centered around it. But hey, how many documentary films gets a $2 million foundation grant for its promotion? (The answer…

  • The Arts Education Canary in the Coal Mine?

    I think that a lot of people don’t realize that the past decade has seen historic increases to funding for public education. Some school districts, like the New York City public schools had an increase of 80% or more. It is a tough pill to swallow, once you realize that the historic increases to funding…

  • Seattle Mayor and Public School Chief Academic Officer Host Arts Education Forum

    This one is in the pretty cool category. I don’t think it’s all that often that a big city mayor and a the chief instructional administrator of a school district host and directly participate in an arts education forum. What you usually get, at most, is a proxy for the mayor, or perhaps a very…

  • Bringing Arts Education to The Huffington Post

    I am really pleased to be able to share with the readers of Dewey21C the news that I am now blogging for the new education section of The Huffington Post. Click here to read: Waiting for All The Superheroes.  I expect to post entries there somewhere between two to four times a month. It presents…

  • Pitting Arts Versus Sports

    From today’s Huffington Post comes a blog by George Heymont titled More Funding for School Arts Programs, Less for Sports. While Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, is working to address the overwhelming problems facing America’s schools, I’ve got one suggestion that is long overdue: Let’s reverse the priorities previously given to sports activities and…

  • An Important Arts Education Advocacy Win in Cali

    As announced in the San Jose Mercury News, Gov. Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill that would have waived high school graduation requirements for arts education (and foreign languages), allowing students to opt for credits in career and technical education coursework instead. The real kicker here would have been the creation of a de facto caste…

  • I Support Choice–Choice in Opinions About Schools!

    Well, it’s already late day Wednesday, and I am a bit behind in posting my blog entries this week. That’s what happens, I suppose, when you’re a blogger with a board meeting (yesterday). Even with my board meeting over, I’ve been slammed with meetings. That being said, I am very happy to support choice when…

  • Forget Waiting for Superman. Read This Instead

    There are two things people have asked me to blog about: Common Core Standards and Waiting for Superman. I am preparing an overview blog on the Common Core standards, that will look at why, how, when, and potential impact for arts education. That’s on the worktable, so to speak. As for Waiting for Superman, rather…