Impact of Arts Work GrantsPrior to 1998, when the Arts Work grant program was initiated, there was little or no guidance in developing the content of arts courses, no accountability for student achievement, and no monitoring for teacher preparation or professional development in the arts. Even though Education Code 51210 and 51220 specify the arts as a required course of study for grades one through twelve, many school districts have been unable to provide students with comprehensive, sequential instruction in dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts.
Arts Work grants have played a vital role in helping districts develop new or extend existing programs that align with the standards. Specifically, the grants have been instrumental in:
- Aiding districts in strategic planning for standards implementation
- Development assessment tools
- Creating a statewide online curriculum resource
- Providing much-needed professional development for teachers
- Enabling partnerships with arts and cultural institutions
Working with relatively modest grants of $25,000, districts have made enormous strides toward implementation of the standards. Over the four years of the grant program:
- $21,000,000 has been awarded to districts
- 3,000,000 students were served
- 48,000 teachers received professional development
- 751 grants were awarded serving 255 districts (Some districts were awarded more than one grant.)
- 1 out of every 5 schools and 47 of the 58 counties in California benefited from the program
A sampling of impact statements by Arts Work grantees reveals the following implementation strategies, made possible in whole or in part by the Arts Work funds:
- Of a school district's 476 elementary schools, 154 were voluntarily designated as arts prototype schools and students receive standards-based instruction by credentialed teachers in each of the arts for twelve weeks.
- Elementary schools are piloting an "arts team" concept where a team of one credentialed teacher and three community artists in dance, drama, music and visual art release one grade level per day for and entire day of arts instruction. The arts team is at the school for 6 days per month to provide one "arts" day for each grade level, K-5.
- Monthly professional development in the arts is provided for all teachers in this small rural school district. Some of the teachers team with artists to create and implement standards-based arts units.
- The school district formed partnerships with the local community college for teacher workshops on instructing students to play a recorder and read music. Other professional development included music integration, English Language development through music, and a math through music workshop.
- A large urban school district works with three hundred arts agencies to provide standards-based arts programs in collaboration with school district teachers to augment the arts program. Monies are allocated by school sites or through distribution of monies from per pupil allocations in the arts from the general fund.
- The school district teachers wrote and published a "Model Integrated Tasks with Examples and Rubrics" curriculum guide for visual arts. The guide contains standards-based lessons for middle school students.
- A Visual and Performing Arts Instructional Improvement Committee in collaboration with the local CSU camps and The California Arts Project developed model lessons focused on the content standards in music, visual arts and theatre.
- This small rural school district has had arts content standards in place in the four arts disciplines since 1998. Each year the district focuses on one discipline for professional development. All elementary teachers and selected middle school teachers participate in a minimum of eight hours of arts professional development. The district adopted music and visual arts textbooks for all elementary schools.
- Dance and theatre academies are provided in the middle schools in partnership with the county office of education and two local theatre groups.
- The goal for arts education is part of the school district's overall five year goal to develop "Power Standards" in all subjects including the arts so that teachers can implement multidisciplinary instruction and assessment. Power standards are identified by their endurance - value beyond a single test date, leverage, knowledge and skills that will be of value in multiple disciplines and prepare students for the next level of instruction.
- Over 110 elementary school teachers in this district of 28 elementary schools have been trained as teacher leaders in music, theatre, or visual arts in grades 2, 3, and 4.
- All middle and secondary art, music and theatre teachers in this district have taken part in the development of local content standards and grade level indicators in alignment with the state content standards. The standards work provided high level professional development and buy-in for the standards and took two years. Teachers completed the process through a series of after school and Saturday workshops in combination with two district staff development days. Course descriptions have been revised as necessary to reflect the standards. All secondary arts electives are now yearlong courses and meet the CSU/UC requirement.
- Centralized coordination and communication among the school sites and with the many local arts providers has been established is this district. This prepared the way for comprehensive planning, professional development and mutual accountability for curriculum implementation.
- A school district Arts Assessment Cadre, consisting of district arts teachers, community artists and a university arts professor, was formed to lead the district in all areas related to arts assessment. They developed a K-3 arts assessment tool for elementary classroom teachers.
- This district adopted arts content standards K-8 and completed a district baseline assessment of visual arts and music for grades 4 and 8. The information from the assessment will be use to inform program improvement.
If funding for Arts Work is eliminated, California is likely to see:
- A return to scattershot arts programs, benefiting primarily wealthy districts
- Loss of momentum and extended delays in standards implementation
- Possible elimination of vital partnerships between districts, higher education and community arts resources
- A threat to the preparation of UC/CSU-qualified students
- Reduction in availability of online curriculum resources
- Delay in development of arts assessment tools
- Loss of highly leveraged matching funding from private sources
- Destruction of efforts to build instructional delivery infrastructure
- Loss of jobs for teachers and administrators
- Loss of valued networks and infrastructure support mechanisms
For information on how you can advocate to maintain the Arts Work program, see Action Alert and Budget Update for Jan. 29, 2003
Send your comments or questions to [email protected]