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Sonoma and Beyond with Karin Demarest

published by CAAEStaff on April 10, 2012 - 2:21pm

When the Local Advocacy Network was getting off the ground, Karin Demarest brought a passion for the arts, combined with a commitment to public education and forged a successful alliance within her community in Sonoma County.

Over the past three years she has expanded her understanding of what it means to support local advocacy as the Program Coordinator for the LAN network. She's been in the trenches and a relentless leader for our local organizers. Her wisdom and dedication has left its mark on our advocacy work.

We wish her all the best as she departs to become a program officer for the Community Education Foundation in Sonoma County.

Thank you, Karin!

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Local Advocacy in Stanislaus: Getting Parents Involved

published by CAAEStaff on March 20, 2012 - 3:28pm

The Challenge: How do you connect with parents across a large, rural county with twenty-three separate school districts?

The Strategy: Invite parents to an event featuring resources for advocacy and a free night of theater.

The Story: When the Stanislaus Alliance for Arts Education launched last fall, it was clear that parents were key to preserving or expanding arts education in Stanislaus schools.

“We saw right away that the districts that had arts programs were the ones where parents were involved -- through booster clubs, PTAs or education foundations,” says Patty Larrick, the local organizer for the Stanislaus Alliance. “Our challenge was to bring all these different groups together, in order to share best practices and coordinate efforts.”

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ALLIANCE PRESENTS SERIES OF REGIONAL CONVENINGS ON ARTS Education and TITLE I

published by CAAEStaff on February 27, 2014 - 5:49pm

The California Alliance is hosting regional convenings planned to help California schools and districts understand the appropriate use of arts strategies within the Title I program.

In the coming months, we will travel to Sonoma, Los Angeles, Alameda, and Sacramento to share strategies for increasing student engagement, academic achievement, parent involvement and other Title 1 goals through the arts. School principals, district administrators, financial officers, school site council members and categorical funding experts are invited to attend and will receive information on best practices and research that can be used to support these efforts including a step-by-step walkthrough of how arts strategies can be included in a school site plan.

The scheduled convenings are the following:

  1. Alameda: Friday, April 25, 2014 1-3p.m., Alameda County Office of Education, 313 W. Winton Ave, room L2 Hayward, CA 94544 Register. Event Flyer.
  2. Sacramento: Wednesday, May 21, 2014, Sacramento County Office of Education, 8:30 AM: Breakfast and Networking 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM: Meeting Register.

* The admission to all the listed events is FREE

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Arts Education and Title 1 Funding: What you can do

published by CAAEStaff on January 13, 2014 - 10:08am

A primary mission of the California Alliance for Arts Education is to ensure that every student, not just those who are fortunate to live in affluent communities, receives the benefits of arts education as a component of a comprehensive high-quality education. This commitment led to our involvement in Title I funding for public education. Read Story about Arts Education and Title 1 Funding: What you can do

Decision on Dance and Theatre Credential Postponed

published by CAAEStaff on September 16, 2013 - 2:34pm

In late September, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) will hold its next meeting where it was expected to render a decision about whether to add a single subject credential for dance and theater. That decision has been delayed until the Commission’s December meeting. Although the state's education code requires instruction in four artistic disciplines, California is currently one of only a handful states that does not offer a credential for dance and theater teachers. In June, the California Alliance and other organizations supporting the new credential sent letters of support to the Commission. We will report back on the results of these efforts after the December meeting.

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Speak Up about How the Local Control Funding Formula Gets Implemented

published by CAAEStaff on August 5, 2013 - 11:27am

Regional Meetings Held This & Next Week

In June, California passed historic reforms to our school financing system. In the coming months, the State Board of Education (SBE) and California Department of Education (CDE) will be formulating how the new Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) will be implemented at the district level. Community and stakeholder engagement is critical to this process.
Speak up at regional meetings about the positive impact of the arts on students, especially high needs students. The SBE and CDE are holding a series of regional meetings to gather stakeholder input and ideas to inform implementation of LCFF. Sessions begin at 9:30 AM and end at or before noon at each location.
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Advocates Make the Case for the Arts in New School Accountability Measures

published by CAAEStaff on July 8, 2013 - 4:46pm

In recent years, the Alliance has advocated to broaden the ways that school success is measured beyond standardized tests. Under No Child Left Behind, standardized tests are the only measure of achievement and are tied to high stakes accountability measures, giving schools an incentive to “teach to the test” and to ignore the broader spectrum of what it means to provide a complete education for the whole child.

Those narrow test-related expectations fail to encompass the responsibility our public schools have to prepare students to meet the challenges and expectations of the workforce of the 21st century. As we have moved into an economy driven by ideas and innovation, our schools must respond by providing all our students with the opportunity to develop creative skills. For this reason, the Alliance has made this issue a priority in recent years, sponsoring legislation to create a Creativity Index for schools and most recently, mobilizing advocates to weigh in on new accountability measures being considered by the California Department of Education (CDE).
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U.S. Dept of Ed Says Arts Education belongs in Title 1 Program

published by CAAEStaff on June 10, 2013 - 4:16pm

On June 6, 2013, the California Alliance received a copy of a letter addressed to Title I State Coordinators from Dr. Monique Chism, Director, Student Achievement and School Accountability Programs at the Department of Education. In it, Dr. Chism addresses inquiries she's received about the role of arts education within the Title I, Part A program.

The letter says it loud and clear: "Activities that support the arts, in conjunction with other activities, can form an important part of an LEA's Title I program."

The California Alliance, with Arts for LA and others around the country, have asked for clarification and have encouraged the U.S. Department of Education to help clarify some of the confusion that exists around Title I programs that has prevented schools and districts from implementing arts education strategies to achieve Title I goals.

The letter goes on to explain the specific requirements of Title I funding, that the "activities must help facilitate Title I's overall purpose of improving the achievement of students who are failing or most at risk of failing, to meet the academic content and achievement standards developed by the State, and that "using funds for arts education also must be consistent with other applicable requirements" that determine eligibility.

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CTC considers Dance and Theater Credential

published by CAAEStaff on June 10, 2013 - 2:55pm
On June 13, 2013, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) heard a series of action items that included the Teacher Advisory Panel (TAP) recommendations on how to update and improve teacher preparation in California, one of which was for the creation of a single subject credential in the areas of theatre and dance.
The TAP provided a strong rational for creating these new credentials including distinct subject-specific standards within the Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards, and highlighting the intentional differences between the VAPA Dance/Physical Education and VAPA Theatre/English Language Arts standards.
Multiple documents supporting the TAP recommendation from state and national dance and theatre organizations were entered into evidence. Survey data from statewide survey on the TAP recommendations also indicated strong support for immediate action on the credential recommendation. And numerous organizations sent letters of support, inclduing the California Alliance, urging their support for this simple and powerful step. It was an encouraging showing of support for the Theatre and Dance credential. The general agreement among the commissioners, the strong public support indicated by the survey responses, the national, state, and organizational support, especially that of CFT, all point to a positive outcome by the Commission.
Further action may be taken on this issue when the CTC meets again in August.

According to the California Dance Education Association, without such credentials and adequate teacher prep programs in Dance and Theatre, California school districts “are hard-pressed to recruit, contract and retain” highly-qualified dance and theater teacher, and thus, “sustain robust Dance and Theatre programs and fully implement the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Framework and Standards for all students in all arts disciplines.” In an Op-Ed penned by CREATE California legacy members Malissa Feruzzi-Shriver and Amy Shimshon-Santo, Ph.D., this change would “improve learning outcomes for California students, especially for the underprivileged,” whose “lack of access to instruction in arts . . . is exacerbated by unclear arts teacher preparation and certification pathways in higher education.”
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Response to the Governor's Revised Budget

published by CAAEStaff on May 17, 2013 - 12:05pm


We applaud the Governor’s commitment to restoring vital funding for our schools. The past few years have been devastating and have taken a huge toll on our state’ ability to deliver a well-rounded curriculum.

We understand the Governor’s goal to shift away from the many categorical funding streams that have characterized school finance. We agree local school districts should be held accountable for student results, with less focus on compliance with a myriad of complex separate funding sources.
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