CFT Resolution to Promote Equity for Dance and Theatre Arts Educators Adopted at CFT Convention

2013 California Federation of Teachers (CFT) Convention

Resolution 11--Promote Equity for Dance and Theatre as Arts Education and Support Comprehensive Visual and Performing Arts Education

Submitted by United Teachers Los Angeles, AFT 1021.

The CFT Professional Issues EC/K-12 Committee recommended concurrence with this Resolution and was adopted unanimously by the body of elected delegates to the 2013 CFT Convention.

Whereas, all California students deserve equal access to a balanced, comprehensive, high-quality
education including a robust offering of curriculum, instruction, and courses in the Visual and Performing
Arts (VAPA): Dance, Music, Theatre, and the Visual Arts; and

Whereas, access to and participation in a Visual and Performing Arts Education is an integral part of
every students’ intellectual, physical, social, emotional, creative, cultural, and civic development; and


Whereas, robust Visual and Performing Arts Education Programs are instrumental in the mastery of “21st
Century Skills” and contributes to the development of the “Creative Economy”; and

Whereas, the Federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, designates the Arts as one of the “Core
Academic Subjects”, along with English, Math, Science, Foreign Languages and Social Studies; and

Whereas, the California State Education Code (Sections 51210 and 51220) mandates that the adopted
course of study for all pupils in grades 1–12 must include Visual and Performing Arts Education,
including instruction and courses in the subjects of Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts; and

Whereas, in 1994, the Federal Government adopted comprehensive and sequential National Standards
for Arts Education, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve in the disciplines of Dance, Music, Theatre and
Visual Arts which outline what every K-12 students should know and be able to do in the arts. The
National Standards have been adopted or adapted by forty-nine state departments of education, and have
become the benchmark document by which Visual and Performing arts learning is measured; and

Whereas, in 1996, the California State Board of Education adopted (and rewrote and readopted in 2004)
the Visual and Performing Arts Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade
Twelve which asks “that all education stakeholders—including families, artists, community groups, and
representatives of museums, galleries, colleges, and universities—collaborate with schools to ensure that
students have a variety of experiences for imagining, exploring, and creating the Visual and Performing
Arts”; and which “addresses the complexity of the content, and the purpose, design, delivery, and
evaluation of instruction in Dance, Music, Theatre, and the Visual Arts”; and

Whereas, in 2001, the California State Board of Education adopted sequential Visual and Performing
Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools, Pre-kindergarten through Grade Twelve, in the
discrete disciplines of Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts, which “reflect our belief that all children
should have access to challenging curriculum content, exhibit a high level of performance proficiency,
and be prepared for a world of tomorrow”; and

Whereas, in 2011, the CFT adopted a Resolution to Fully Implement the Visual and Performing Arts
Content Standards; and

Whereas, each arts discipline (Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts) is given equal weight in all of the
above codes and documents, with the intention of providing all students with a well-balanced,
comprehensive Visual and Performing Arts Program; and

Whereas, in order to maximize student achievement, the U.S. Department of Education mandates that all
teachers of NCLB “Core Academic Subjects” shall be “Highly-Qualified Teachers” (HQT) and California
requires all schools to be in compliance with this mandate. To be qualified as a HQT in California, each
teacher must hold full state certification and demonstrate subject matter competence equivalent to a major
in the “Core Academic Subject” taught; and

Whereas, many public and private California Colleges and Universities offer well-respected Degree
Programs leading to a BA, BFA, MA, MFA, and PhD in Dance and Theatre; however, only a very few
California Colleges and Universities offer Dance and Theatre Education Teacher Subject Matter
Preparation Programs, and those programs that do exist are not offered in the College or University’s
Performing Arts Departments, but instead through their Physical Education and English Departments; and

Whereas, in the 1960’s, many teachers were certified to teach Dance and Theatre in California under the
Fisher Act of 1961, and some teachers nearing retirement still hold Standard Secondary Credentials in
Dance and Theatre; however with the passage of the Ryan Act in 1970, the State of California’s
Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) neglected to offer Single Subject Credentials in Dance or
Theatre, contrary to the intent of Congressman Leo Ryan; and

Whereas, Dance and Theatre are the only two “Core Academic Subjects” with discrete Federal and State
Content Standards that do not have corresponding California Single Subject Credentials; and

Whereas, without Single Subject Credentials and adequate Teacher Subject Matter Preparation Programs
in Dance and Theatre, California school districts are hard-pressed to recruit, contract, and retain “Highly-
Qualified Teachers” specifically trained and expert in Dance and Theatre, sustain robust Dance and
Theatre Programs, and fully implement the Visual and Performing Arts Framework and Content
Standards for all students in all Arts disciplines; and

Whereas, misplaced economic priorities; mandates from and implementation of NCLB; and the lack of
Teacher Subject Matter Preparation Programs and Single Subject Credentials in Dance and Theatre have
led to an erosion and elimination of Arts Education in California public schools, leaving many students
without an equal opportunity to experience a wide array of Visual and Performing Arts courses; and

Whereas, when reductions or eliminations of public school Visual and Performing Arts Programs/courses
transpire, the Programs/courses that are eliminated are disproportionately in Dance and Theatre, resulting
in Arts Programs that are dominated by Music and the Visual Arts; and

Whereas, a disproportionate number of students who have been denied access to Visual and Performing
Arts courses and instruction are English Language Learners, minority students, students with disabilities,
and those from economically disadvantaged families, resulting in an inequity in public school Arts
Education offerings and a denial of a high-quality, well-rounded, comprehensive education that all
students deserve; and

Whereas, due to the efforts of parents who value Arts Education, privately funded Arts Programs have
been maintained in wealthier public school districts and neighborhoods, but often the Arts Programs at
those schools only consist of Music and Visual Arts (and not Dance and Theatre) instruction which is
more often than not provided by non-credentialed, non-union, non-public school teachers; and

Whereas, equal access to high quality, comprehensive, and sequential Arts Education in all Arts
disciplines should not be predicated by where children happen to live, by their socio-economic status, by
their ethnicity, gender, home language or ability/disability; or because public school boards of education,
superintendents, district administrators, and/or school principals have not given equal weight to all
subjects and disciplines mandated by the California State Education Code (Sections 51210 and 51220); and

Whereas, supporting and advocating for all arts disciplines (Dance, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts)
equitably at the state and local levels is critical to ensuring equitable access to a high-quality,
comprehensive, and balanced Visual and Performing Arts Education for all students; and

Therefore, be it resolved that the California Federation of Teachers join with the California Teachers
Association to seek legislation to require the State of California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing to
develop two Single Subject Credentials, one in Dance and one in Theatre, with grandfathering clauses; and

Be it further resolved that the CFT will work with the CTA to lobby for and support Colleges and
Universities in the development of high-quality Dance and Theatre Education Teacher Subject Matter
Preparation Programs leading to Single Subject Credentials in Dance and Theatre; and

Be it further resolved that the CFT will support, lobby for, and encourage its locals to work with Local
Educational Agencies and their school districts to ensure that standards-based curriculum, discrete
instruction, and courses in the Visual and Performing Arts shall be delivered by: professional “Highly-
Qualified Teachers” who have developed their own artistic skills and knowledge and are experts in their
field; hold an academic degree, or degree equivalent, from an accredited College or University in a
specific Arts discipline; have been specifically trained in Arts Education and fully-credentialed; and are
contracted by their districts; in each and every one of the discrete Arts disciplines: Dance, Music, Theatre,
and Visual Arts; and

Be it further resolved that the CFT will always use the phrase “Visual and Performing Arts” when
advocating for Arts Education to its own members and to the public in spoken word, print, online, and in
various forms of media, rather than the exclusionary, misleading, and inadequate phrases “Art and Music”
or “Arts and Music”; and

Be it finally resolved that the CFT will recommit its lobbying effort, support, and encouragement of its
locals to work with Local Educational Agencies and their school districts for the full implementation of
the Visual and Performing Arts Content Standards, by following the 2004 Visual and Performing Arts
Framework for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve, and offering a
comprehensive, sequential, and balanced course of study in all discrete Visual and Performing Arts
disciplines, including Dance and Theatre, as an essential part of the core curriculum for all students, in all
California public schools, as required by the California State Education Code (Section 51210 and 51220).