Featured Guide

The Insider’s Guide to Arts Education Planning
The purpose of The Insider’s Guide to Arts Education Planning is to provide a hands-on, how-to planning process for schools, districts and counties. Field tested by experienced Arts Education Planning Coaches and Community Arts Teams, best practices, innovative ideas, templates and strategies are offered here as a guide to navigate the sometimes challenging terrain of arts education planning. CAAE is pleased to offer this guide as a tool and catalyst for strategic thinking and district wide planning throughout California. Click here

Additional Guides & Resources

Arts Education Program Toolkit: A Visual and Performing Arts Program Assessment Process
This toolkit provides school districts with a self-study and planning process for establishing quality, standards-based arts education programs for all students. The process creates dialogue, encourages investigation, and inspires actions that will result in meeting the goal of providing comprehensive and sequential arts education programs. Available from CDE Press at 800-995-4099.

Arts for All: The Los Angeles County Regional Blueprint for Arts Education
This publication presents a series of policy changes and educational initiatives to create systemic change and advance K-12 sequential arts education in the 82 school districts in Los Angeles County. The consensus of stakeholders that participated in the seven-month community-based strategic planning process, which resulted in Arts for All, was that in order to institutionalize arts education, policies would have to be enacted at the district level and changed at the state-level. Download this publication at:
http://www.lacountyarts.org.

This book provides an overview of current philosophies, theories and practices in early childhood arts education, with many examples of how children learn and how adults can enhance this learning. This book can be purchased at your local bookstore or from:
http://www.amazon.com.

This is a 10-page guide developed by a committee of the Consortium of Professional Arts Education Associations designed to assist and support educators in interdisciplinary work and to clarify how the arts can be taught with integrity through the interdisciplinary content standards. It has been prepared for teachers in all disciplines, teaching artists, administrators, teacher educators at the college level, and parents. Download a PDF of this document:
http://www.naea-reston.org/publications.html.

This publication is designed to help parents, local schools and school districts to work together to determine the current status of arts education. It will help provide communities with accurate information about arts education and enable parents to advocate for quality arts programs in their schools.
http://www.artsed411.org/participate/caep.aspx

The Model Arts Program Network (MAP) has compiled a compendium of success stories submitted from 30 participating school districts. Submissions are organized under nine topic areas: arts integration, funding, instruction and methodology, partnerships and collaborations, professional development, program administration and personnel, program evaluation, resources and facilities standards-based curriculum and student assessment. You may also access the submissions by district.
http://www.teachingarts.org/MAP/compendium

Creating Capacity: A Framework for Providing Professional Development Opportunities for Teaching Artists
This is a set of assessment and planning tools for a group of administrators and teaching artists engaged in designing a professional development program for their organization. The purpose of Creating Capacity is to focus artists and arts organizations on philosophy, rationale and guiding questions that can inform the design of professional development to enhance artists' knowledge, skills, and understandings of working in educational settings. View the full text online at:
http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/partners/creating_capacity3.html

This guide, produced by the Arts Education Partnership (AEP), can be used to design large-scale art assessment decisions and provides informational support and activities to be used as both a practical tool and reference. Available in print or as a PDF through the AEP web site:
http://www.aep-arts.org.

This is a planning workbook developed by the Minnesota Metropolitan Arts Council designed to be used as part of a facilitated workshop or self-guided team exercise to help groups build consensus as a team around marketing goals and strategies. This workbook can be ordered at:
http://www.mrac.org.

Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons Learned from School Districts that Value Arts is the first national study to examine the success strategies of school districts in building and sustaining strong district-wide arts education. The study represents 91 districts in 42 states with various population densities, total number of students, and funding levels per pupil. The profiles offer insights that could help any district in the country create and sustain arts education.
http://www.pcah.gov/gaa/index.html

This handbook consists of eighteen essays by artists and educators highlighting best practices and offering approaches from their own varied experiences in the development of arts-centered schools. The handbook was designed to guide organizations in essential issues, including curriculum and development, governance, funding, assessment, and community participation. Available from The Dana Press in print or PDF:
http://www.dana.org/books/press/artshandbook

An instructional program for four-, five- and six-year-olds that uses the arts to assist young children, including those with disabilities, in exploring themes commonly taught in early childhood classrooms.
http://www.vsarts.org/programs/swta/index.html

This toolkit is a resource for agencies and organizations developing arts programs for at-risk youth. It features a step-by-step handbook on program planning, team training, evaluation, resources, and advocacy; inspirational and "lessons learned" video supplements; and a diskette with sample contracts, evaluation forms, and other materials used by successful youth arts programs. Order this publication through the Americans from the Arts bookstore:
http://store.yahoo.com/americans4thearts/arts-education.html (Order #100054)