NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND: WE NEED RELIEF NOW!

Today, [my principal told me] that I can only teach reading and math during the school day in my sixth grade class.  Everyone is so scared to not make AYP, that this is the response that we are getting….I'm not allowed to teach science, social studies, and writing, [or] address the poverty students' needs or those who are neglected in some form or another.  Can I incorporate some of this into my reading and math?  Yes, I can do that because I'm a great teacher who cares about a well-rounded student.  But it won't be enough.  What do I tell my coworkers in middle school who teach these other subjects?  There are major flaws in NCLB and they need [to be] fixed now…. Please help!  – NEA Cyber-lobbyist, Wisconsin

Kansas Arts Agency Eliminated

May 28, 2011—In response to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback’s decision to veto funding for the Kansas Arts Commission, Robert L. Lynch, president and CEO of Americans for the Arts, issued the following statement:

Americans for the Arts is disappointed with Governor Sam Brownback’s decision to eliminate the Kansas Arts Commission (KAC) by vetoing the legislative branch’s budget for the agency. His action not only robs the citizens of his state of access to quality arts programming, but is also a direct affront to his campaign platform to create jobs and rebuild the state’s economy.  Kansas now holds the dubious distinction of being the only state without a functioning state agency in charge of promoting the arts and culture.

 
Further, the KAC received a matching grant of $778,200 from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in 2011 to support Kansas jobs, artists and cultural groups. That funding is now lost for 2012 with the elimination of the KAC, the only agency in Kansas that is eligible for the NEA’s matching grants. Kansas also loses the $437,767 the KAC brought in from its regional partner, the Mid-America Arts Alliance. This $1.2 million funding shortfall far exceeds the $689,000 KAC appropriation recommended by the Kansas legislature during budget negotiations.
 
We at Americans for the Arts understand that times are tough, and governors across the country are facing hard budget decisions. We further recognize that the arts will have to do their part to ensure state governments are able to make ends meet. So while some cuts to arts funding are expected, they should be proportional to those of other government services.  We all have to do our part. The arts alone should not be sacrificed as they have been in Kansas as the total elimination of the KAC does not substantially solve Kansas’s budget deficit but rather removes $1.2 million in federal money from Kansas’ economy—money that will now go to other states.

Teacher leaders recommend overhaul of evaluation and accountability

NEA focused squarely on student success and ‘true profession’ with highest standards

WASHINGTON - May 11, 2011 - Signaling a commitment to a new, more prestigious profession of teaching, the National Education Association (NEA) is calling on its members to set a course to overhaul teacher evaluation and accountability and advance student learning.

Based on recommendations of a workgroup of NEA leaders convened this spring by NEA President Dennis Van Roekel, the NEA Board of Directors has approved for final action a policy statement that revamps teacher evaluation and accountability. The statement reflects the first broad endorsement by NEA of the need for evaluation and accountability reform.

NAMM Honors NEA’s John Wilson with Support Music Award

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2011— The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) honored John Wilson, executive director of the National Education Association (NEA) with its prestigious Support Music Award at a dinner on Monday night. NAMM recognized Wilson for his long-held belief in a complete education for all children, one that includes music and the arts as core academic subjects.

“John Wilson is an education leader who truly understands that kids simply need music and the arts to keep them engaged at school,” said Joe Lamond, president and CEO, NAMM. “We recognize John as a defender of creativity, innovation and passion in America’s schools for more than a decade at the NEA.”

The NAMM dinner was a part of the association’s weeklong music education advocacy efforts in Washington including special events, meetings with key legislators and educational seminars.

ABOUT NAMM

NAMM is the not-for-profit association that unifies, leads and strengthens the $17 billion international musical instruments and products industry. NAMM’s activities and programs are designed to promote music making to people of all ages. NAMM is comprised of approximately 9,000 Member companies. For more information about NAMM or the proven benefits of making music, interested parties can visit http://www.blogger.com/ or call 800-767-NAMM (6266).

ABOUT NEA

The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers. Follow NEA on twitter: @NEAMedia. For more information, please visit http://www.blogger.com/

White House Panel Calls for 'Reinvesting' in Arts Education

by Erik Robelen  •  May 6, 2011

from EDUCATION WEEK

A presidential advisory panel today issued a report¹ that makes the case for expanding access to arts education in schools, arguing that the arts hold great potential to bolster student engagement and academic achievement. At the same time, the report laments that, if anything, the current trend is toward the erosion of the arts on campus.

The report gives special attention to the practice of arts integration, where subjects such as math, science, and language arts are integrated with teaching arts disciplines. (I wrote about how dance² was used for that purpose last fall, including an example in Maryland where dance and science were brought together in elementary classrooms.)

NEA leaders ask members to consider Obama re-election

Mid-term elections provided “teachable moment,” says NEA President

WASHINGTON - May 06, 2011 - On Thursday, May 5, 2011, the National Education Association’s (NEA) Political Action Committee approved a recommendation to NEA’s highest governing body—the Representative Assembly—to support the re-election of President Barack Obama.

“This is the time to make decisions about the direction of our country, and we have real choices to make.  As activists, engaged educators, we should get involved now,” said NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.  “Will we allow Congress to gut Medicare, slash education and cut Social Security, and continue to make it just fine for hedge fund managers and corporations to sidestep paying taxes?  Or will we act and assert the real American values of hard work and responsibility, a commitment to a vibrant middle class, to college affordability, and the opportunity to reach the American Dream?  It is time to stand strong for what we believe in and what is right for students and families, schools and the nation.  President Barack Obama has proven he deserves a second term.” During its meeting on July 2-5 in Chicago, the NEA Representative Assembly will meet to act on the PAC’s recommendation.  The NEA PAC Council – the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education – includes every NEA state association president and representatives from NEA’s constituent caucuses.  The Council is charged with making a recommendation to the NEA Representative Assembly. 

Studio Thinking Framework: Eight Habits of Mind

Studio Thinking Framework Eight Habits of Mind
	Develop Craft Learning to use and care for tools (e.g., viewfinders, brushes), materials (e.g., charcoal, paint). Learning artistic conventions (e.g., perspective, color mixing).
	Engage & Persist Learning to embrace problems of relevance within the art world and/or of personal importance, to develop focus and other mental states conducive to working and persevering at art tasks.
	Envision Learning to picture mentally what cannot be directly observed and imagine possible next steps in making a piece.
	Express Learning to create works that convey an idea, a feeling, or a personal meaning.
	Observe Learning to attend to visual contexts more closely than ordinary "looking" requires, and thereby to see things that otherwise might not be seen.
	Reflect Question & Explain: Learning to think and talk with others about an aspect of one’s work or working process. Evaluate: Learning to judge one’s own work and working process and the work of others in relation to standards of the: field.
	Stretch & Explore Learning to reach beyond one's capacities, to explore playfully without a preconceived plan, and to embrace the opportunity to learn from mistakes and accidents.
	Understand Art World Domain: Learning about art history and current practice. Communities: Learning to interact as an artist with other artists (i.e., in classrooms, in local arts organizations, and across the art field) and within the broader society.

Steps to Art Early Childhood Arts Education Initiative

Fact Sheet About the Benefits of Arts Education for Children
Benefits of Arts Education
Source: Americans for the Arts, 2002

• Stimulates and develops the imagination and critical thinking, and refines cognitive and creative skills.
• Has a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and has proven to help level the "learning field" across socio-economic boundaries.
• Strengthens problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, adding to overall academic achievement and school success.
• Develops a sense of craftsmanship, quality task performance, and goal-setting—skills needed to succeed in the classroom and beyond.
• Teaches children life skills such as developing an informed perception; articulating a vision; learning to solve problems and make decisions; building self-confidence and self-discipline; developing the ability to imagine what might be; and accepting responsibility to complete tasks from start to finish.
• Nurtures important values, including team-building skills; respecting alternative viewpoints; and appreciating and being aware of different cultures and traditions.

National Endowment for the Arts News

This morning, the House Appropriations Committee publicly released the final budget agreement for FY 2011 negotiated by President Obama with House and Senate leaders, which includes $155 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This represents a cut of $12.5 million from the FY 2010 enacted level of $167.5 million, which is significantly better than the previous House-approved level of $124.4 million.  Also included in this bill is $25.5 million in funding for the Arts in Education programs at the U.S. Department of Education, which had been zeroed-out in a previous continuing resolution. This compromise legislation is set to go to the House floor later this week before moving on to the Senate for final approval.

STEM OR STEAM? THE ART OF SCIENCE LEARNING

Posted by Martin Storksdieck on April 1, 2011
from Science Blogs

Within certain education and policy circles the acronym STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, math) has become a common term, used frequently to be inclusive when referring to a broad area of scholarship and enterprise we deem particularly connected, i.e., those listed four subjects. How, or even whether the acronym is understood and fashionable outside these education “insider” groups is not well know. What is known, though, is that the acronym and associated term is not well defined even within groups that make heavy use of it.

When we say STEM, do we simply mean any of the four subjects or do we mean those areas in which some of the four, ideally all four, overlap? My sense is that most people simply mean Science OR Technology OR Engineering OR Mathematics when referring to STEM, though there are some efforts under way, including some at the National Academies, that mean to explore whether education can benefit, just as research already does, when the four are somehow linked.

Federal: Tell Congress to Support Arts in Education

http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=13158246

Reflections of a Dance School Dropout

By Cindi Rigsbee
Published Online Education Week Teacher

March 16, 2011

At the beginning of a new calendar year, everyone resolves to get healthy, eat better, and exercise more. I myself know my limitations when it comes to exercise. I’m limited in that I don’t like it. I also have an aversion to sweat.

So this past January I decided to get creative. I thought about what type of exercise I would most enjoy. I wanted to try an activity that wouldn’t seem like exercise at all. Then remembered my teen years and how much I loved my dance classes. I could again be a dancer, exercising in a way that would be fun and calorie- burning at the same time.

Arts Education for Minority Children Drops



Art-Less Generation A new survey finds

that 18- to 24-year-olds received significantly less

arts education that did the previous

generation of young people. 

Note: Numbers are rounded.
SOURCE: National Endowment for the Arts



by Erik W. Robelen  •  Education WeekPublished Online: March 8, 2011

Published in Print: March 9, 2011

 
Fewer children are getting access to arts education, whether at school or elsewhere, according to a new analysis¹ of federal data issued by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Especially alarming is that the overall decline in recent decades is coupled with a big drop for African-American and Hispanic youths.

The research, part of a broader look² at arts participation by U.S. adults, finds that fewer 18-year-olds surveyed in 2008 reported having received any arts education in childhood than did those surveyed in 1982, dropping from about 65 percent to 50 percent. The report also contains survey data in 1992 and 2002, and each successive time, the overall figure was lower.

We need to Join Education Votes

In 30 minutes on March 9, Wisconsin Republicans shredded 50 years of labor peace, bipartisanship, and Wisconsin's democratic process by ramming through an unpopular bill to silence the voice of state workers. Their actions sparked outrage in Madison Wednesday night and sent shockwaves across the country. Republicans in Idaho and Ohio have already voted for similar anti-worker bills like the one in Wisconsin -- and attacks are being waged in other states. In Iowa - Florida - Indiana - Michigan - Tennessee - from Alabama to Arizona, our members are fighting to retain their voice in the workplace...fighting for students...fighting for public schools.

We do not run away from a fight! Brad Lutes, a WEAC member from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, says it best: "We can't be defeated. There's not really an alternative. You can take away my collective bargaining rights. You can take away my pension and some of my health care, but the one thing you can't take away from me is my vote. I think that's how a large majority of Wisconsinites and Americans feel right now."

Now is the time for every NEA member to stand up and stand together...to fight for what we know is right, what is fair, and for what we all deserve. Go to Education Votes to get involved and stay informed.

Arts Education Funding Cut in Two-Week Budget Fix

March 03, 2011—Although Congress quickly avoided a government shutdown this week, arts education funding somehow managed to get caught up in the two-week continuing resolution Band-Aid that was passed by both the House and Senate yesterday.

While the Continuing Resolution (CR) keeps the government running for another two weeks, it also makes a $4 billion cut in domestic spending, including a number of federal education programs.
Among the programs designated for cuts is the total elimination of funding for the Department of Education’s $40 million Arts in Education program. This program funds a large number of arts education activities across in the country, including the Kennedy Center’s arts education efforts and VSA, the international organization on arts and disability.

It is unclear at the moment of how a short-term CR might impact a program that currently has over 50 active multi-year grants in place around the country. However, this can be fixed in the upcoming long-term CR that Congress and the White House are currently negotiating.

It is vitally important that the arts community mobilizes to restore this important Arts in Education program, as well as restore the cuts previously made in the House to the National Endowment for the Arts, as the final FY 2011 CR budget is considered in the coming days.

Tim Mikulski, ArtsBlog

NEA Fine Arts Task Force Final Recommendations 2/22/2011

MEMO

TO:              Dennis Van Roekel, President

                        National Education Association

FROM:           Princess Moss, NEA Executive Committee

                        Fine Arts Task Force Co-Chair

                        Greg Johnson, NEA Executive Committee

                        Fine Arts Task Force Co-Chair

DATE:         February 22, 2011

RE:             Fine Arts Task Force Proposed Recommendations—New Business Item 2010-86

The NEA president established a Fine Arts Task Force in response to NBI 2010-86—adopted by the 2010 NEA Representative Assembly (RA)—which provides as follows:

NEA Fine Arts Task Force Meeting Minutes—Webcast –February 9, 2011

NEA Fine Arts Task Force Meeting—Webcast –February 9, 2011

The meeting was called to order at 6:02 p.m. ET

Meeting Participants: (2-Absences: Andrew Corbin, Derrick Johnson)

·         Princess Moss (Co-Chair)- NEA Exec. Committee, elementary school music teacher

·         Greg Johnson  (Co-Chair)- NEA Exec. Committee, high school choir director

·         Tom McLaughlin- a high school drama teacher

·         Jennifer Roberts- a high school art teacher

·         Christopher Thomas, NEA Staff Liaison

·         Aaron Muhammad- Manager, Governance and Policy

Your Voice Matters!

Please join--and contribute--to our sister organization who is doing more than anyone in the nation to advocate for our cause... 

The arts enrich our lives. From the high school musical that attracts an entire town to the regional theater that brings groundbreaking new plays to life, the arts make us smarter, increase our happiness, and connect us more deeply to each other.

Quite simply, the arts are essential to the proper functioning of American society. Among other crucial benefits, the arts:

NEA FUNDING: Watch the Debate

NEA Funding: Amendment Number 196 from Americans for the Arts on Vimeo.

Cutting Funding to the NEA

8 votes. That was the narrow vote margin of 217 to 209 by which the House approved Rep. Tim Walberg’s amendment to cut an additional $20.5 million from the already reduced budget of the National Endowment for the Arts. We were so close. All but 3 Democrats voted against the arts funding cut, but only 22 out of 241 Republicans voted against the cut. You can see how your Representative voted and watch the video excerpts from the floor debate.

Axe to the Arts?

We need your help.

The new majority in power in the U.S. House of Representatives is taking an axe to the current 2011 federal budget in an attempt to bring it down to levels from three years ago. That alone would cut irreplaceable National Endowment for the Arts funding to state and local nonprofit arts groups by at least $27 million immediately.

The Skills Connection Between the Arts and 21st-Century Learning

Arts Education and 21st-Century Skills
By Bruce D. Taylor of Education Week
Published in Print: February 2, 2011, as Not for Art's Sake Only

Few of us could disagree that today’s students must be taught the necessary skills to function in an increasingly complex, conceptual, and globalized 21st-century society and economy. Students have to acquire so-called “habits of mind” that will enable them to develop the skills of creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. In addition, they must be able to communicate effectively, collaborate with people different from themselves, exercise initiative, and be self-directed.

NEA FAC Midwest Regional Minutes 1/15/2011

IN ATTENDANCE: Tom McLaughlin (IA), NEA FAC Chair; George Affeldt (WI); Linda Atwood (IN); Barbara Lex (IA); Michael D. Deatz (IA); Karen Hartlep (IA);  Megan Russo (IA); Nancy Notton-Stumpff (IA); Maggie Parks (IA); Scott Reiker (IA); Sue Williams (IA).

The meeting began informally with caucus attendees visiting over breakfast.  The meeting was called to order at 7:12 am.

INTRODUCTIONS

Those in attendance were asked to introduce themselves, tell what they teach and share stories that outlined how the economy has affected arts education in their school district and

NEA Fine Arts Caucus Agenda & Minutes 1/13/2011

Thursday, January, 13 2011 7:00 PM CST * 5:00 PST * 8:00 EST

Conference Dial-in Number: 605.475.4000

Participant Access Code: 604735#

The meeting was called to order at 7:04 CST

I. Roll Call

Members present included: Tom McLaughlin (IA), Deb Turrici (PA), Pam Gibberman (CA), Oscar Forseman (IL), Charlie Fry (PA), Rich Nicklay (IA)

II. Adoption/modification of Agenda

Adopted without objection.

Study: Love music? Thank a substance in your brain

By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer – Sun Jan 9, 1:23 pm ET

NEW YORK – Whether it's the Beatles or Beethoven, people like music for the same reason they like eating or having sex: It makes the brain release a chemical that gives pleasure, a new study says.
The brain substance is involved both in anticipating a particularly thrilling musical moment and in feeling the rush from it, researchers found.

Previous work had already suggested a role for dopamine, a substance brain cells release to communicate with each other. But the new work, which scanned people's brains as they listened to music, shows it happening directly.