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TEACHING CAPACITY

As in other subjects, high quality arts teaching and assessment happens in the classroom when teachers have the preparation, skills, and support they need. To meet existing requirements for comprehensive, sequential, standards-based arts instruction, Washington’s schools will need many more people who know how to teach and assess the arts effectively, especially in dance and theatre. This will involve hiring more certified arts specialists, building partnerships with teaching artists and arts organizations, and—especially at the elementary level—providing professional development and support to regular classroom teachers, many of whom are eager to build on an existing interest in the arts and bring instruction to their students. All these arts providers can benefit from professional development that deepens their understanding of the EALRs and outcomes associated with the arts, sequential arts curriculum development, methods of integrating arts instruction with other subjects, and how to work with students in assessing the arts.

There are many sources for professional development: OSPI, school districts, colleges and universities, nonprofit organizations, and formal or informal support and mentoring among classroom teachers, specialists, and teaching or resident artists, as well as state conferences and the Washington State Arts Commission. Effective professional development is sustained over a period of time, includes depth and breadth in content and is regionally located. Regarded as an opportunity to learn and grow, professional development in the arts can be revitalizing for teachers, helping them to infuse new teaching and assessment approaches through their whole educational program.

Ideas for Practice

Certified staff, and a stipend for an arts coordinator. At Central Valley High School in Spokane Valley, all arts teachers are certified, and a classroom teacher who heads the fine and performing arts departments serves as the school’s arts curriculum coordinator, receiving a yearly stipend. Budget items for the arts go through the curriculum coordinator.

Sharing arts specialists in small districts. In smaller districts, schools often share certified arts specialists. Many smaller school districts, for example, have part-time specialists in band, vocal music, dance, and visual arts. These specialists work at the high school part-time and at middle and elementary schools at other times.

Collaborative planning between classroom teachers and arts specialists. Joint planning time among arts teachers and classroom teachers can be a key factor in successful teaching. In the Richland School District, full-time arts teachers work with each other and with classroom teachers on Friday afternoons during the district’s early release for collaborative planning, part of a two-year planning pilot. The district is working to make sure that part-time arts specialists can also join in this process.

Teaching artists as mentors. Regularly scheduled sessions between teachers and with outside artist mentors in professional development programs can also help keep the arts a priority. Adams Elementary School in Seattle has used a Gates Foundation grant to train every teacher in the arts. Through the five-year grant, all teachers worked with either a scientific illustrator, a performing artist or a visual artist in order to teach their students academics in various media. This year, a collaboration with the school PTA is allowing the artists to mentor teachers with written academic lesson plans that incorporate art elements.

District arts coordinators. Arts coordinators working at the school district level can provide significant leadership and practical support. They can look for new arts opportunities, create a systemic approach to arts instruction district-wide, and provide professional development in all four arts disciplines as well as in curriculum writing, assessments, arts knowledge and skills, and the EALRs, helping classroom teachers to align traditional core subjects with the arts. They can also create regular lines of communication between arts specialists and teachers, and serve as a liaison between teaching staff and district personnel, superintendents, and boards. By networking with other professionals at the state and national level, they can provide informed leadership to the district’s arts efforts as a whole.

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