SCHEDULING

Teaching and learning in the arts takes time. Educators need time for professional development, planning, and capacity-building in the arts; students need class time dedicated to the study of arts. Finding that time in a crowded schedule is one of the biggest challenges for principals and teachers dealing with demanding academic subjects mandated by state and local initiatives. But with commitment, planning, and creativity, even middle and high schools with their many credit demands have found ways to make the arts an integral part of the schedule.

Ideas for Practice

Rotating arts in the schedule. At Cascade High School, the arts are already a graduation requirement. So that students will not have to trade off their arts courses against college preparatory courses like advanced science, the school day is divided into four 90-minute periods. For arts and a few other courses, the first period of the day is an A/B split, which allows students to pursue their arts choice every other day all year round, within the regular school day. As a result, more than 80 percent of Cascade High’s students complete more than one arts course, and are able to focus on a specialty.

The Vancouver School for Arts and Academics in Vancouver has a similar approach, rotating the arts into a 6-period day with a block schedule. Every student takes two art classes in grades 6-12. Most courses are year-long, dedicating 250 minutes a week to the arts. While students have fewer choices this way, they gain more depth.

Faculty and student planning for arts time. At Joel E. Ferris High School in Spokane, the administrative team views the arts as a central part of a comprehensive high school education. The arts teachers and the administrative team work to ensure that all students who want to take a course in music, art, or drama are able to do so.  Department heads work together to avoid scheduling conflicts that would keep a student from taking one of the arts electives.  Once “singletons,” courses that are offered only once, have been scheduled, the faculty set the classes with two offerings, and so on.  Under this system, a number of students who plan carefully are able to design their schedule to participate in music for four years, and some add one or two community-based arts courses during the summer.

Finding shared concepts between the arts and other core disciplines. Integrating the arts with other subjects is a way to be more efficient with valuable class time, and can also be a powerful method of instruction. Vancouver School for Arts and Academics creates a “core course,” an interdisciplinary, project-based course taught as a stand-alone class. Students bring their academics into an art project in this class.