I can’t tell you how many times I have heard supporters of arts education say: “we need a research project that will prove beyond any doubt what we already know about the benefits of arts education. Then we will really make headway.” It’s the silver bullet theory. In this case, it’s the incontrovertible piece of…

Thanks to New York State politics, the cuts to NYSCA as proposed by Governor Patterson will not be taking place. Phew…. With state budget deficits growing, what happened here may be worth noting carefully, very carefully.It raises the question of exactly how prepared we all are to advocate during a period of budget reductions. In…

The budget for the State of New York has a big hole in it, this year and next. Governor David Patterson has proposed major cuts, some call it amputations, to the NYSCA budget. A cut of $2.6 million occurred just a short time ago. Now the Governor has proposed an additional cut of $7 million.…

Michelle Rhee, DC Schools Chancellor, has unveiled non-tenure track pilot program for teachers in the DC public school system. With the help of private foundations, Rhee will offer this non-tenure track for teachers, in exchange for significantly increased pay. Teacher tenure: it’s the boogie-man of school administrators and free marketeers. But you know, it’s like…

I bet this will be my most viewed blog.The big news here is that Gates, as many people already knew, will be moving away from its focus on the creation of small schools. It will be interesting to see what happens to the small school movement, particularly those districts that are in the middle or…

My colleague said to me that “the arts are a core subject in NCLB and that alerting policy makers of this can have a powerful positive affect.” It’s true, NCLB does include arts education as one of the 10 core subjects. In reality that’s a policy fantasy. “Follow the money,” said another colleague. Or, “the…

I thought about it yesterday, what music did I want to listen to, as I was sitting on the train thinking about the election. This morning, I turned to Aaron Copland and his Appalachian Spring, created in 1944 for Martha Graham, with an original set by Noguchi. It seemed just right for the moment. Our…

I used to love the old fashioned voting booth, where you pushed down a little thingamabob to your candidate’s name, and then when done, you would move the handle from one side to the other, which required a bit of muscle, and then you heard a thump, the sound of the machine registering your vote.…

Last week I was talking with a middle school principal in one of CAE’s programs. A network planning meeting was concluding and we got to talking about quality. At first, I thought he was asking about quality arts instruction, as in “how do you support and measure it?” It’s the sort of question you want…

I am in DC for a three-day  conference being held by the United States Department of Education for its arts education grantees. So, I am looking over the agenda, and lo and behold, I see a roundtable discussion titled: “Arts Education vs Arts Integration.” It’s the second time in the past six months I have…