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Posted: Monday, 01-25-10, 01:01, PM
TITLE: Arts on Line Update - 01-25-2010
NEWS:
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Dear Arts Education Advocate:
As a new year begins it is an opportunity for us to look back over the years at the blessings in our lives. One of  my most memorable moments, a real life blessing, happened at the beginning of my teaching career. I've been an art educator for 36 years, so you'll quickly do the math and realize that this was some time ago. I didn't know it at the time, but I met the famous "Father of Art Education!" I can't recall if the workshop I attended was held at Youngstown State University or the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. I do remember however that this was the very first professional development of my career.
The room was packed and I could see a very tall, attractive man in a tan colored suite mingling among the crowd and talking with the educators in the room before he began his presentation. All of us in attendance received a book called "A Balanced Comprehensive Art Curriculum for Ohio's Schools." As a new teacher of six weeks, I couldn't wait to open the book to see what I was supposed to be teaching.
If you haven't guessed by now, the presenter in Youngstown, Ohio was our very own Jerry Tollifson, founder of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education. Mr. Tollifson was working as the visual art consultant for the Ohio Department of Education at that time. He provided a wonderful professional development experience, one for which I have never forgotten.
This past fall, I visited with Jerry at his new studio in Columbus and admired his current art projects. It was indeed an honor for me to be with Jerry back in 1974 as the "Father of Art Education" and at his studio in 2009 knowing that he influenced my teaching career from the very beginning.
It has been my privilege to know Jerry Tollifison and through this reflection I am able to once again thank him for influencing my life as an arts educator. May he continue to strive for excellence in his personal life, committees on which he serves, and community activities for years to come. I know many of you, as members of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education and Ohio Art Education Association, feel the same way. Kudos to you Jerry Tollifison! We love you!
Elayne Lowe
Elayne Lowe is a member of the Board of Directors at the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education. She is a visual art educator in the Beaver Local Schools. If you would like to contact Elayne about her reflections, please do so at: dalilowe@hotmail.com.
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| 128th Ohio General Assembly |
The Ohio House and Senate will hold committee hearings and sessions this week.
Governor Strickland will deliver the State of the State Address on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at noon to a joint session of the Ohio House and Senate.
Representative Tyrone Yates (33rd House District) has been appointed by Governor Strickland to the Hamilton County Municipal Court, and will resign from his House seat. With the resignation of Representative Yates and Representative Dolan last week, there will be temporarily two vacant seats in the Ohio House.
The Ohio Statehouse has planned a number of events to celebrate Black History Month throughout February 2010. Events include free concerts, displays, an exhibit of children's artwork in honor of Rosa Parks, and tours of the George Washington Williams Room at the Statehouse. George Washington Williams was Ohio's first African-American elected to office. He was elected in 1879.
In addition to these events, a painting by Columbus artist P. Tepper, entitled General Davis and His Redtails, will be rededicated and reinstalled in a public ceremony honoring the Tuskegee Airmen and their contributions during World War II on Tuesday, February 9, 2010 at 10:00 AM in the Statehouse Rotunda. More information is available.
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| This Week at the Statehouse |
The Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Cates, will meet on January 26, 2010 at 2:00 PM in the South Hearing Room. The Committee will hear testimony on SB102 (Turner) School Dropout Programs, which requires the State Board of Education to recommend performance standards for dropout programs operated by school districts; and SB192 (Cates) School Transportation, which permits non-Civil Service school district boards to terminate positions of
district transportation employees for reasons of economy and efficiency, and contract with independent agents to provide transportation services.
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| School Funding Advisory Council |
The second meeting of the School Funding Advisory Council (OSFAC) was held on January 19, 2010. Superintendent of Public Instruction, Deborah Delisle chaired the meeting, which addressed how the council would operate and make decisions, including how four subcommittees would be structured. The Council accepted the following subcommittee structure to address specific topics outlined in law:
Special Needs: This subcommittee will make recommendations due December 1, 2010 regarding the evidence-based model and its provisions for special education, gifted education, and limited-English proficiency. Members: Dayvenia Chesney, Robyn Essman, David Huelsman, Jan Kennedy, James McClure, and Representative Randy Gardner.
Education Linkages: This subcommittee will make recommendations due December 1, 2010 regarding the evidence-based model provisions for career-technical education and early college high schools, and also review funding for joint vocational school districts and compact and comprehensive career-technical schools. Members: Lynn Elfner, William Hiller, Kathryn Lorenz, Adrienne O'Neill, and Jack Pierson
Regional Variation: This subcommittee will make recommendations regarding open enrollment, Educational Service Centers, and regional service delivery systems. Members: Alan Hutchinson, JoAnn Johntony, Richard Murray, Senator Tom Sawyer, John Stanford, and George Wood.
Learning Environments: This subcommittee will make recommendations regarding the evidence-based model's provision for arts education and the compensation and retirement benefits for teachers, and ways to improve the connections between teacher compensation, teaching excellence, and higher levels of student learning. Members: Michael Dawson, Representative Stephen Dyer, Neil Gupta, William Leibensperger, Richard Petrick, and Sue Taylor.
The Council also agreed to form another subcommittee to coordinate the work of the statutory subcommittees and help focus on the broader goals of the new state school funding system. All Council members are eligible to join.
The Council then received a presentation on Ohio's new system of funding schools included in Am. Sub. HB1. The presentation included information about the state, federal, and local roles in funding Ohio's schools, and information about the components of the evidence-based model. The presentation will continue at the next meeting of the Council on February 4, 2010.
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| Race to the Top |
The Ohio Department of Education submitted Ohio's Race to the Top application to the U.S. Department of Education on January 19, 2010 requesting over $409 million. Race to the Top (RttT) is a $4,35 billion federal competitive grant program to improve student achievement in states. According to the U.S. DOE's web site 40 states and the District of Columbia submitted applications for Phase 1 of the grant program. State awards will be based on student population, and so Ohio is eligible for between $200 million to $400 million. The awards will be announced in April 2010. States that do not qualify for the awards in Phase 1 can re-submit in Phase 11.
A total of 479 school districts and schools submitted memorandums of understanding to participate in Ohio's RttT application. Participating schools and districts include five of Ohio's six largest districts, encompass 53 percent of Ohio's public schools, and serve nearly half of Ohio's 1.9 million K-12 students.
According to a summary of Ohio's RttT application, the theme of Ohio's proposal is "From Fifth to First", which represents Ohio's plan to move in four years to first place in Education Weeks' "Quality Counts" annual rating system. This effort is referred to in the application as the "5-1-4" strategy, and will be used in future ODE communications and presentations.
Ohio's RttT application responds to the following four "assurance areas" and also includes a focus on teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM):
Assurance 1: Standards and Assessments: Ohio plans to adopt the Common Core curriculum by June 8, 2010. The Common Core includes a set of academic content standards in English language arts and mathematics developed by a consortium of states with the support of the National Governor's Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, Achieve, ACT, and the College Board.
To create a seamless P-20 system, Ohio will expand its Kindergarten Readiness Assessment literacy to include other measures of school readiness, and the ODE's RttT implementation team and the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR), will "mobilize" the University System of Ohio, and private academic officers to "...ensure that all higher education institutions in Ohio are thoroughly aligning their entry level curricula and training their entry level faculty to the new standards so that Ohioans truly move seamlessly from high school to college."
Assurance 2: Statewide Longitudinal Data System: "Ohio's Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) currently meets nine of the America COMPETES Act elements. The state has a plan in place, with funding proposals pending and all legislative preconditions satisfied, to meet the remaining three elements by 2012."
Assurance 3: Great Teachers and Leaders: "Ohio's plan for improving teacher and principal effectiveness will ensure rigorous, fair, and transparent evaluation systems that incorporate measures of student growth. As a collective bargaining state, these evaluation systems will be memorialized in negotiated agreements between the participating LEA and the teachers' union. These comprehensive evaluation systems will provide constructive and timely feedback to teachers and principals and will serve as a guide to professional development and advanced opportunities for educators. Decisions regarding advanced licensure and removal of ineffective teachers and principals will also be based on the evaluation system."
"For teachers in non-tested grades and subject areas, other measures of student achievement gains will be used to determine levels of teacher effectiveness, such as gains on literacy levels, supplemental tests, and performance-based assessments. ODE will work with LEAs, teachers unions, and other stakeholders to develop these measures with the guidance of national experts. In addition, formative assessments and performance-based assessments developed in Ohio's other RttT-funded projects will be utilized as part of a series of measures to document student growth."
Assurance 4: Turning Around Lowest Achieving Schools: "In partnership with LEAs, ODE promises the citizens of Ohio that school transformation will be an absolute imperative and together we will dramatically increase the quality of education for the 37,051 students in the State's 69 persistently lowest-achieving schools. Building this capacity is central to Ohio's reform agenda and especially to the attainment of our aggressive achievement gap targets."
For more information about Ohio's RttT application please visit the ODE webpage.
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| State of Poverty in Ohio |
The Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies released on January 22, 2010 its annual report
entitled "The State of Poverty in Ohio, Building a Foundation for Prosperity" prepared by Community Research Partners.
The report notes that poverty continued to rise in 2008 to a rate of 13.7 percent of all Ohioans. These rates do not reflect the deterioration of the economy in late 2008 or in 2009. In June 2009, for example, the percent of the population receiving food stamps reached 12.5 percent.
According to the report's summary, "Poverty was rising before the economic downturn, but now higher unemployment appears to be accelerating the number of Ohioans moving into poverty."
The report includes information about the effects of the recession and recovery efforts in Ohio. It provides information on the number of working poor who are now unemployed; the demographics of poverty in Ohio; and the geography of poverty. It also includes information about specific communities in Ohio and how they are addressing the impact of the recession through innovative programs sponsored by Community Action Agencies and other stakeholders.
The report is organized around the following five themes, four of which were outlined by the Ohio Anti-Poverty Task Force in a report issued in June 2009:
- The need for jobs that pay well and provide benefits
- The need for lifelong learning opportunities
- The need for affordable housing
- The need for reliable transportation options
- The need for stable social and household safety nets.
For each theme the report provides Ohio Facts and Figures; observations from regional conversations; and examples of efforts in Ohio to address the issues of poverty in Ohio communities.
According to the report, "Together, these five themes represent a foundation for all Ohioans to move out of poverty and toward self-sufficiency and prosperity."
The authors recommend that Ohio General Assembly construct a statewide response to eliminate poverty based on the themes.The report is available. |
| Ed Trust Releases Gaps Analysis |
The Education Trust, Kati Haycock president, released on January 7, 2010 a report entitled "Gauging the Gaps, A Deeper Look at Student Achievement" by Anna Habash Rowan, Daria Hall, and Kati Haycock.
The report provides a more comprehensive way to assess state progress in narrowing the achievement gaps among groups of students (African American, White, Native American, Latino, Low Income, High Income) by analyzing student achievement data on the National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) in math and reading at grades 4 and 8 using the following multiple perspectives:
- Simple Gap Narrowing: Have absolute gaps in mean performance between groups decreased over time?
- Progress for All: Have all groups of students gained over time?
- Gap Size: What is the current size of the gap between groups?
- Group Comparisons Across Districts: How does each group of students currently perform compared with their counterparts in other jurisdictions?
The report includes a review of state NAEP data across all groups, subjects, and grades since 2003 based on the four perspectives with the following results:
SIMPLE GAP NARROWING: More achievement gaps were narrowed in Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, and West Virginia. Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, and Washington experienced more gap widening compared to other states.
PROGRESS FOR ALL: Student groups in Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, and the District of Columbia were more likely to have improved than their peers in other states. Student groups in Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, and West Virginia were more likely to have declined.
GAP SIZE: Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming have smaller-than-average gaps, while California, Connecticut, Illinois, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia have much wider gaps between student groups than the national average.
GROUP COMPARISON ACROSS JURISDICTIONS: Low-income and minority students in Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, and Vermont perform higher than their peers in other states. Low-income students and students of color in Arizona, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Nevada typically perform below their peers.
According to an Ed Trust analysis of the four perspectives combined, the states of Delaware, Florida, Massachusetts, and Texas are making the most progress in closing achievement gaps.
The analysis for Ohio showed "no change/at national average" for most of the elements compared, and statistically significant increases in 4th grade reading for White and Latino students; in 4th grade math for African American, White, Latino, and high income students; and in 8th grade math for White, Latino, and high income students.
The report is available.
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| Head Start Report |
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sibelius Secretary, submitted to Congress on January 13, 2010 a Congressionally mandated report on the impact of the 2002-2003 Head Start program entitled "Head Start Research: Head Start Impact Study Final Report January 2010."
Head Start was established by Congress in 1965 as a component of President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty. Head Start promotes school readiness for children in low income families by enhancing their social and cognitive development through educational, nutritional, health, social and other services. Head Start and Early Head Start have provided services to 25 million children, and currently serve nearly a million children each year.
In 1998 Congress reauthorized Head Start and mandated that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services determine the impact of Head Start on the children it serves. The impact study that resulted measured the "...cognitive and social/emotional development, health status, and behavior of approximately five thousand 3 and 4 year olds who were randomly assigned to either a control group or a group that had access to a Head Start program."
The results of the study showed that providing access to Head Start has a positive impact on children's preschool experiences, and has positive impacts on several aspects of children's school readiness during their time in the program.
The report also notes, "However, the advantages children gained during their Head Start and age 4 years yielded only a few statistically significant differences in outcomes at the end of 1st grade for the sample as a whole."
As a result of the study, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced plans to strengthen and improve the quality and effectiveness of the Head Start and Early Head Start programs in order to close achievement gaps, promote early learning through the first eight years of life, and help families and communities break the cycles of poverty.
In order to strengthen the impact of Head Start, the Department of Health and Human Services will do the following:
- raise program performance standards
- increase program accountability by only renewing grants for high-quality, constantly improving programs
- improve classroom practices by providing higher quality training for classroom teachers, staff, and program directors, and improving technical assistance
- convene a research advisory committee to gather insights from the Head Start Impact Study and other relevant research
- partner with the Department of Education to collaborate with early childhood education and ensuring continuity of quality programs
One of the strategies that the Obama Administration will consider to improve the quality and effectiveness of Head Start involves the Early Learning Challenge Grant program now under consideration in Congress. The program would require states to develop innovative models that promote high standards of quality in all early childhood settings including Head Start, child care centers, and public and private preschools. Funds would be granted to states already making progress, allowing them to bring their models to scale. Grants would also be made to other states that show promise, but need additional assistance to create a standards-based, outcomes-driven system.
Read more about the Head Start impact study.
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| Bills Introduced |
HB407 (Zehringer) School Calamity Days: Allows school districts and STEM schools to make up excess calamity days by requiring students to complete lessons posted online.
SB224 (Coughlin) Lottery and Turnpike Agreements: Establishes the Ohio Promise Scholarship Program; authorizes the Department of Administrative Services to negotiate the sale or lease of the right to manage and operate the State Lottery; authorizes the Department to negotiate a public-private lease agreement for the operation of the Ohio Turnpike; requires the proceeds from the Lottery and Turnpike agreements to be paid into the Ohio Promise Scholarship Program Fund; abolishes the Ohio Turnpike Commission upon the transfer of control of the Ohio Turnpike to a private entity.
SJR9 (Coughlin) State Lottery: Authorizes the state lottery to be operated by a private entity and authorizes the net profit of the state lottery to be used for scholarships for Ohio residents who are students at institutions of higher education located in Ohio in addition to the current use of the net profit for the support of elementary, secondary, vocational, and special education programs.
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| FYI ARTS |
NEA Project: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Learning in the Arts for Children and Youth program funds projects that help children and youth acquire appreciation, knowledge, and understanding of and skills in the arts. Projects must provide participatory learning and engagement of students with skilled artists and teachers, and ensure that the program will apply national, state, or local arts education standards. The maximum award is $150,000, and the application deadline is June 10, 2010. More information is available.
Report on K-12 Arts Education in Washington State: The Washington State Arts Commission released on January 21, 2010 a new publication, "K-12 Arts Education: Every Student, Every School, Every Year." According to the report, less time and attention are given to the arts compared to other core subjects, and support and resources for teaching the arts varies widely from district to district and from school to school.
The report is based on a survey of K-12 principals conducted during the 2008-2009 school year. Principals responded in 37 out of 39 Washington counties, and from schools representing 25 percent of the state's student population. Their answers provide information on the frequency of arts instruction, who is providing instruction, varying levels of arts curriculum development, statistics on arts assessments, and more. Researchers followed up with site visits to selected schools throughout the state to learn more about schools' successes and challenges.
According to the survey:
- 63 percent of principals are dissatisfied with the quantity of arts education in their schools
- 33 percent of elementary students receive less than one hour per week of arts instruction
- 34 percent of 8th graders attend a school where there is no instruction in visual art
The report is available.
National Arts Index: Americans for the Arts released the "National Arts Index" on January 20, 2010. The National Arts Index is an annual measure of the health and vitality of arts in the U.S. using 76 equal-weighted, national-level indicators of arts activity. This report covers an 11-year period, from 1998 to 2008. The Index is set to a base score of 100 in 2003. Every point difference represents one percent change. Another name for this report could be "everything you wanted to know about the status of the arts in the U.S."!!
According to this year's report, the 2008 National Arts Index score is 98.4, a decline of 4.2 points from a score in 2007 of 102.6 (2003=100). The following trends were also observed:
- The arts follow the business cycle. The arts respond to the booms and busts of the nation's economy. Based on past patterns, the authors of the report estimate that an arts rebound will begin in 2011.
- Demand for the arts lags supply. "Between 1998 and 2008, there was a steady increase in the number of artists, arts organizations, and arts-related employment. Nonprofit arts organizations alone grew in number from 73,000 to 104,000 during this span of time. That one out of three failed to achieve a balanced budget even during the strongest economic years of this decade suggests that sustaining this capacity is a growing challenge, and these gains are at risk."
- How the public participates in and consumes the arts is expanding. "Tens of millions of people attend concerts, plays, opera, and museum exhibitions, yet the percentage of the U.S. population attending these arts events is shrinking, and the decline is noticeable. On the increase, however, is the percentage of the American public personally creating art (e.g., music making, and drawing). Technology is changing how Americans experience the arts and consumption via technology and social media is also up."
- The competitiveness of the arts is slipping. "The arts, in many ways, are not stacking up well against other uses of audience members' time, donor and funder commitment, or spending when compared to non-arts sectors."
In the area of arts education the report identifies a "....clear increase in demand among college-bound high school seniors-the 1.5 million students who take the SAT 1 Reasoning Tests. Data from The College Board, which administers the test, show an unmistakable upward trend in the percentage taking four years of arts and music classes while in high school, and even an increase in the percentage who intend to pursue an arts-related degree in college."
Researchers found, for example,
- The percentage of all SAT test takers with 4 years of arts and/or music increased from 15.4 to 20.2 percent, between 1998 and 2009.
- Between 1998 and 2007, there was annual growth in the number of college arts degrees conferred annually (75,000 to 120,000) as well as growth in the share of arts degrees as a percentage of all degrees conferred (3.9 to 4.1 percent).
- The percentage of SAT test takers intending to pursue a college degree in the arts increased from 6.4 to 7.1 percent (1998-2008).
- Students taking four years of courses in art and music have higher SAT scores than those of students taking fewer years.
The report is available.
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This update is written weekly by Joan Platz, Information Coordinator for the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education. The purpose of the update is to keep arts education advocates informed about issues dealing with the arts, education, policy, research, and opportunities. The distribution of this information is made possible through the generous support of the Ohio Music Education Association (www.omea-ohio.org), Ohio Art Education Association (www.oaea.org), Ohio Educational Theatre Association (www.Ohioedta.org); OhioDance (www.ohiodance.org), and the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education (www.OAAE.net).
Donna S. Collins
Executive Director
77 South High Street, 2nd floor
Columbus, Ohio 43215-6108
614.224.1060 dcollins@oaae.net
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