< Action Agenda
What You Can Do
The arts belong to all of us. In the same way, anyone can act as a change agent to make sure that our students get the many benefits of a comprehensive arts education.
A single passionate and knowledgeable advocate can help to get arts education into the schools. Without systemic support, however, this can be a fragile foundation. Keeping the arts in the schools and helping them grow requires partners working together at multiple levels—at the school district level, in individual schools, and in the community. Parents, teachers, administrators, community artists, district heads and school boards, the Washington State Arts Commission, and Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction all have a vital role to play in building a sustainable approach to arts education.
Artists, parents, and community members as change agents. Engaged members of the community, especially artists and parents, can have a big impact on arts in the schools. Bill Wadlington, Principal at Cascade High School in Leavenworth, says, “I think the biggest change agent for arts education in our high school was our community. We have a large number of organized people and local artists who value the arts. I think that when you have a group of artists in a community and they start talking with their feet and hands, parents follow suit. And students do special things because of their parents. A culture of arts and appreciation is created…but it was initially instigated by the artists.”
Teachers with passion and persistence—and administrators’ support. Sometimes the change agent is a passionate arts teacher. In the Joel E. Ferris High School in Spokane, where music is now very much a priority for their second generation of students, one teacher’s desire and enthusiasm were essential in showing the way for others. “He (the predecessor in music) continually showed the administration and parents what the kids could do in music. Teachers who have passion are really critical, but the administrative support has also been essential. The arts teachers need this backing in order to succeed,” says Ben Brueggemeier, music teacher at Ferris High School.
Principals as key instructional leaders. Principals are uniquely positioned to influence the culture of the school, to ensure that the arts are built into school staffing and budgets, and to articulate the value of the arts to parents, school district, and school boards.
ArtsEd Washington’s Principals’ Arts Leadership Initiative works in-depth with school principals as they lead a school team to develop a multi-year arts plan. The plans, unique to each school, map out how the principal and school community will incrementally bridge the gap between the current status of arts instruction and 2009 when their students meet the state arts EALRs by succeeding in the classroom-based assessments. The 2005 pilot engaged principals from nine school districts. Many of these principals are now implementing their plans with continuing support from ArtsEd Washington, and a new group is embarking on the planning phase. As it progresses, the initiative will build the schools’ capacity to teach the arts while creating a network of committed principals supporting each other in their arts leadership. For more on this program, see www.artsedwashington.org.
School districts provide the structure. As Jon Ketler, Co-Director at Tacoma School of the Arts, explains, “Sustainability for the arts is a matter of changing institutional structure at the district as well as the school level, with new approaches to scheduling and sequencing, budgeting, and hiring.” School board members and school superintendents can set a supportive tone for the arts district-wide and take the practical steps that make solid arts instruction possible. Arts curriculum coordinators at the school district level can provide essential support and guidance to individual schools in the district, help to create district-wide systems for the arts, and serve as advocate and liaison between arts specialists, classroom teachers, and district superintendents for arts issues.
OSPI provides statewide leadership. Many local educators have acknowledged OSPI’s continuing leadership and direction in the form of School Improvement Plan requirements and the state’s continued emphasis on arts education as a priority. Robert Leslie, Principal, Sunnyslope Elementary School, Port Orchard says, “I think OSPI needs to continue to keep the emphasis on the arts…I think that’s why we’re moving forward right now, because Goal II (arts, social studies, science, math, health and fitness) is just as important as Goal I (reading, writing, and communication) with Dr. Bergeson (State Superintendent of Public Instruction). When we did our school improvement plan we wanted the arts to be emphasized. We just try to keep that in the forefront all the time.”
WSAC leverages local results. Through grants and other targeted activities, the Washington State Arts Commission encourages and supports communities in implementing the state’s Essential Academic Learning Requirements in the Arts in local public schools and other community facilities. WSAC supports partnerships among educators, artists, arts organizations and local arts agencies, parents, businesses, and other community members in developing strong and sustainable arts education programming that meets the specific needs of their local students. The Commission supports the training of local educators and teaching artists in creating and teaching arts lessons based on the EALRs, integrating the arts into other subject areas, and assessing student performance in the arts.
With a common vision for arts education, OSPI and WSAC work together to help communities bring high quality arts instruction to all Washington students.
Looking forward: A bright future for the arts. Providing comprehensive, sequential, standards-based K-12 arts education for every Washington student, as the legislature now requires, is a big challenge. But this exciting, transformative opportunity has enormous potential benefits for students, schools, and the wider community. The Arts Education Resources Initiative demonstrates how committed principals, teachers, schools and communities are meeting state standards with existing resources. Working together, partners in arts education across the state can create the systems and support that will give our children and youth the expressive voice, self-confidence, artistic tools and thinking skills that will serve them all the rest of their lives.