Issues Facing Education and Educators Today

Margo Dupre

EDGR 602 Contemporary Educational Thought

Dr. Carla PostellConcordia University – Portland, Oregon

August 30 , 2014

Top Ten Issues in American EducationWhat is the role of the arts in the public school system?

The effect of Common Core State Standards on the arts curriculum : Fact or Fiction

The impact of poverty on student’s ability to learn

Collaborative opportunities for teachers focused on closing the achievement gap

Zero Tolerance in the public school system

Will Common Core change the educational responsibilities of nation and state in the minds of the citizens?

Job preparation for the non-college bound student in public school

The impact of teacher expectations on student achievement

The consequences of states who opt out of Common Core Standards

Will the Common Core standards effect college admittance requirements?

Key IssueWhat is the role of the arts in the public school system?

The Arts Action Fund supports the Partnership for 21st Century Skills argument that “the arts are among society’s most compelling and effective paths for developing 21st Century Skills in our students” (2013).

Hand holding antique key (Clip art by Fotolia , n.d.)

1870

1873

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Moving from an agriculture to an industrial society , Massachusetts becomes the first state to make industrial drawing a requirement of public school education.

Boston Board of Education invites Englishman Walter Smith to America to set up a drawing curriculum. The strongest supporters of this curriculum were the business men focused on the drafting skill needed in their factories.

Smith trains teachers as masters of industrial drawing focused on teaching manual arts in the public school , creating draftsmen and woodshop workers to transform raw material into finished products in factories across America.

The art curriculum was developed and confirmed as a utilitarian value for industrial evolution in the public school

Dobbs, S. M. (1971). The Paradox of Art Education in the Public Schools: A Brief History of Influences

Business men at construction site (Clip art by Fotolia , n.d.)

Industrial Factory (Clip art by Fotolia , n.d.)

Major Challenges

Art advocates say public schools are cutting time on other subjects to dedicate to math and reading (DeLisio, 2008). Although we are a private school, the elementary program has dropped visual arts and art specialist position this year in favor of Spanish as a language class because administrators could not fit it into the schedule.

Budgeting for supplies, tools, materials, class space and certified specialists that are unique to the arts programs. Space is premium in our school and the elementary art class is now used for student interactive activities in social engagement therapy. At the beginning of the school year, each teacher gets a check for purchasing materials, so far this year funds have not been distributed.

Major risks and/or threats

Arguments presented by art advocates for keeping the arts in public school are unrealistic. The arts need to establish their own intrinsic reasons by clearly establishing the role they serve in education (Winner pp. 17 -24 , 2000).

The art curriculum has exhausted its original purpose as a tool to fulfill the needs of educating citizens for the workforce.

America has never incorporated the teaching of art in public schools for the sake of art.

The art curriculum continuously remakes its importance in public education based on the cultural, educational and industrial needs of the current generation.

Major Benefits

Students develop strategies for solving problems using their own innovative approaches to learning. The West Texas community is comprised of three main employers: independent small business owners (ranchers), post-secondary institutions and the science/medical field (research) placing high value on creative problem solving. The creative arts is strongly supported here with seasonal and annual events. Students are celebrated for their artistic accomplishment. Public art abounds on college campuses and city streets. Many well-known artists make this area their home.

Per study by Winner and Hetland of Project Zero, concluded that the visual arts has a broad indirect benefit to education in areas of critical observation, visualization and the perception of errors as opportunities to learn (Pogrebin, 2007).

Eisner concludes that the actual work of educators should be viewed as an art form because of how it is practiced (Eisner, 2002).

Major Drawbacks

Professionals in art education continue to identify its value by pointing to the advancement of issues that are not directly related to the field.

Conflictual research puts into question a direct effect that the arts program has on the student’s cognitive ability.

Art programs can not survive in a system whose policy emphasizes quantifiable measures (Winner and Hetland, 2007).

Research outcomes: What has most influenced art education in public schools?

Findings in a 10-year (1999 – 2009) comparative survey performed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2012) presented the following:

Public school initiative to retain music instruction and the visual arts were directly linked to the percentage of poverty in secondary schools (NCES, 2012). On average 80% of secondary schools with the highest level of poverty offered music and visual arts. However, on average 95% of secondary schools with the lowest poverty levels experienced music instruction and visual arts.

Other supporting sources:

1. Schools with high poverty percentages are perceived to need more remedial class work, therefore reducing enrichment activities. As described by Hirsch, most schools that are poverty-stricken are limited to remedial activities (Hirsch Jr., 1993).

2. United State education policy steers academically weak students into remedial courses instead of the arts (Winner, section 2 pp. 17 – 29, 2000).

3. Tight school budgets as well as policy mandates over the past 30 years has created a generation of current parents, teachers and administrators who lacked public education opportunities in the arts. This lack of experience has lessened the value and desire of advocating for it now (Smith, 2009).

References

Dobbs, S.M. (1971). The paradox of art education in the public schools: a brief history of the influences. Pages 1 -5 . ERIC Database. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED049196.pdf

Eisner, E. W. (2002). What can education learn from the arts about the practice of education? the encyclopedia of informal education. Retrieved from http://www.infed.org/biblio/eisner_arts_and_the_practice_of_education.htm

Hirsch, E. D. Jr. (1993). The core knowledge curriculum – what’s behind its success? [pdf] The Changing Curriculum Pages 23-30. Retrieved from http:// www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may93/vol50/num08/The-Core-Knowledge-Curriculum—What%27s-Behind-Its- Success¢.aspx

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (2012). Arts education in public elementary and secondary schools, FRSS 101. 2009 - 10. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012014_2.pdf

Ozlu, N. (2008). An e-interview with Nina Ozlu/Interviewer: Ellen R. DeLisio. Keeping art alive under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Education World: Wire Side Chat. Retrieved from

http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/chat/chat190.shtml

Smith, F. (2009). Why arts education is crucial, and who’s doing it best. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/arts-music-curriculum-child-development

Pogrebin, R. (2007, August 4). Book tackles old debate: role of art in schools. Arts Education. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/arts/design/04stud.html?_r=0

Winner, E. (2000). Beyond the soundbite: arts education and academic outcomes. The relationship between arts and academic achievement: no evidence (yet) for a casual relationship. A summary of a meta-analytical study [pdf]. Section 2 pp. 17 – 29. Retrieved from

http://www.getty.edu/foundation/pdfs/soundbite.pdf#page=8&zoom=auto,-58,436