Read: Student Essays

J.B. Schramm, founder and CEO of College Summit, has been blogging this week on Eduwonk. College Summit works to help build school infrastructures in order to increase their college-going populations.

Each day this week, Schramm has posted excerpts from student essays that are definitely worth reading. You can find the pieces on Eduwonk, or the full essays here: In Their Own Words: Ten Outstanding Student Essays.

Busing Crisis - In pictures

Eye opening: Slate's slide show essay detailing the Boston school busing controversy of the 70s. The Soiling of Old Glory, a photograph by Stanley Forman, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1977.

It's definitely worth reading the entire piece, but here is an excerpt:

In his recent speech on race, Barack Obama spoke about the legacy of racial hatred and resentment in America. One of the events he probably had in mind was the controversy over busing that erupted in Boston in the mid-1970s. A single photograph epitomized for Americans the meaning and horror of the crisis. On April 5, 1976, at an anti-busing rally at City Hall Plaza, Stanley Forman, a photographer for the Boston Herald-American, captured a teenager as he transformed the American flag into a weapon directed at the body of a black man. It is the ultimate act of desecration, performed in the year of the bicentennial and in the shadows of Boston's Old State House. Titled The Soiling of Old Glory, the photograph appeared in newspapers around the country and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1977. The image shattered the illusion that racial segregation and
hatred were strictly a Southern phenomenon. For many, Boston now seemed little
different than Birmingham.

In 2006, when Deval Patrick became the first black governor of Massachusetts, the Boston Globe expressed hope that his inauguration would "finally wash away the shameful stain of that day in 1976." Last June, however, a Supreme Court ruling forbade school districts from assigning students based on their race, and Patrick's administration has been forced to find ways to avoid dismantling desegregation programs throughout Massachusetts. The issue, and the photograph, continue to haunt Boston, and the nation.

Comparative Conflict Resolution and the Arts

More info on the Promises Project. Another trailer worth watching: Encounter Point.

What is the role of arts educators in healing and in social healing? Throughout both films, we pick up on shared words like grief, horror, anger, heroes, pain, cycles, enemies, trust, peace, fear, strangeness, and questions: Why not talk? Is there and can there be a better future?

The common words remind us that through two very different worlds and perspectives there is a shared human story. Applied Theatre can explore the places where these shared human stories and narratives intersect and where they differ. As one child says: "Peace between you and me is impossible unless we get to know one another." Yet, our actions continue to be driven by fear and the complications of risk. When one parent is hesitant of letting his son cross the checkpoint, another responds, "Our needs are our fears."

Applied Theatre exercises may help us unpick our fears, share narratives, and open up new possibilities that challenge the status quo.

Simnia Singer-Sayada, an Education Associate at the Culture Project, describes one Theatre of the Oppressed technique that is often used to explore connections:

One such technique, the “Columbian Hypnosis”, creates an opportunity to explore he effect our actions have on one other. In a group, a leader is selected who moves to the middle of the room. Gradually, the rest of the class joins in, one by one holding onto someone within the group by the head, arm, knee, nose, etc.... When everyone is joined to someone else, the leader begins to walk through the room, and the subtle repercussions of her/his actions ripples through the group, each member being moved and therefore moving those around them. The power of literally seeing and feeling the repercussions of subtle actions can lead to huge personal discoveries.

Though they are seemingly simple activities--interactive experiences and games like the one above can uncover safe spaces for conversations.

Here's another piece that focuses on music therapy and Palestinian children of the West Bank.

NYC Public School Theatre Education

I attended a panel yesterday that included Paul King, Director of Theatre Programs for the NYC Department of Education's Office of Arts and Special Projects, and four NYC public school theatre teachers. Two from elementary schools and two from screened high schools (meaning an audition is required).

There was a little bit of discussion surrounding the direction in which theatre and arts programs are headed in the District, the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts, the new comprehensive high school arts exam, the impact of high parental involvement in the elementary schools (which were located in Park Slope and Cobble Hill, Brooklyn), and the Annual Arts in Schools Report. These are worth unpacking at another time.

Most of the discussion centered around classroom management techniques, curriculum, etc.

What are the rewards of teaching theatre in the public schools?

One teacher said, "It's getting your students to stand in a circle at the beginning of class." (I can completely understand this.) Another recalled a time when one her fourth graders sang "I Sing the Body Electric" for an audition and she found herself in tears.

Jim Moody, of LaGuardia Arts High School, an accomplished film and TV actor (he appeared in the move Fame and on "Law and Order" several times), put it best: "The rewards are beyond 'thank you.' It's when they live it."

NYC Arts (Are Not) in Schools Report (a little late)

Here's the NYC DOE's First Annual Arts in Schools Report. This came out in early March, but I forgot to post.

Read the press release and then compare it to the shockingly low numbers that you see.

The "Next Steps" section doesn't seem to have much that is substantive yet, and vaguely touch on budget issues that are a major obstacle. However, the report is a first step in solving problems and does give some baseline info. Pretty interesting.

Just a quick summary of some points that I found interesting:

Elementary
By NY state standards, elementary school students are supposed to be exposed to all four arts disciplines each year. Only 4% of schools currently do this. 77% of schools directly interact with local arts and cultural institutions, and through this, raise their percentages. However, the quality of these experiences and the longevity of them is questionable. Along with the ability of students to build meaningful relationships with these arts educators. Will the exposure and ability of schools to partner with this plethora of cultural institutions continue to substitute the presence of arts specialists in schools? Particularly in dance and theatre?

Middle School
"Middle schoolers prefer active over passive learning experiences." (Really? Wow!) Only 17% of middle schools offer all 4 arts disciplines.

Secondary Ed
More secondary schools meet the standards. But that's because the standards are lower. High school students are only required to take 1 year of an arts discipline.

82% of schools have certified arts teachers. Breakdown of certified teachers (as a percentage of total arts teachers):

• 65% Visual Arts
• 42% Music Teachers
• 29% Theatre
• 20% Dance

The percentage of students who receive high school instruction in the arts in theatre and dance is about 2%. It's in the 20-30% range for visual arts and music.

14% of schools have certified Dance and Theatre teachers vs. Music (45%) and Visual Arts (61%).

Changing the Focus of NCLB to Inputs

In this Rethinking Schools article, Monty Neill talks about changing NCLB to focus on inputs (funding and improvement) rather than outputs (test scores) - or at least the outputs as we currently define them.

In terms of making changes, he suggests:

• Federal funding should be focused on school improvement. (Duh!) But very true. (As opposed to test-based accountability.)
• Funding to create communities of learners within schools- to focus on closing the educator achievement gap.
• Strengthening the capacity in which districts and states can help schools.

Worth noting:

"Further, study after study has made it clear that nonschool factors, poverty in particular, overwhelm what most schools can do. Michael Winerip summed up a recent Educational Testing Service study in his New York Times column: Just four family factors explain most of the difference in outcomes. They are the percentage of children living with one parent, the percentage of 8th graders absent from school at least three times a month, the percentage of children 5 or younger whose parents read to them daily, and the percentage of 8th graders who watch five or more hours of TV a day. A decade or so ago another study similarly found a handful of factors explained most of the state differences in NAEP results.

"Gloria Ladson-Billings uses the term "education debt" — the lack of adequate educational opportunity accumulating since slavery and segregation — rather than "achievement gap." The education debt includes the school-based debt. It also includes the housing debt (such as the racial covenants that ensured African Americans could not move to many suburbs after World War II), the medical care debt (pervasive historical and current unequal access to medical care by race and class), the employment debt (African American families earn three-fifths of what white families earn, while U.S. income inequality grows rapidly), and on and on."

Disturbing School Bulletin Boards

I was at an elementary school in Queens today. A very nice and new building and brightly decorated school. There are bulletin boards EVERYWHERE in the hallway. It makes the building look like a nice place to go to school.

Today, I took some time to actually look at the bulletin boards, and ended up being very disturbed.

Student work is displayed on each bulletin board. However, not all student work is displayed, only some. For each project, only about 6 examples of student work were displayed. It was pretty apparent that these were only the "best" examples.

Even worse, on each paper/poster/art project was a post-it with the students' grade - from 1 to 4, along with comments from the teacher. The only work that I saw displayed was at "Level 3." Oh, and if you don't know what Level 3 means - don't worry! There's a detailed rubric beside each bulletin board with the assessment criteria.

So what are we saying?
We only put up examples of completed work that fits the "standards" of our hegemonic system. You worked hard, but you didn't get at least a 3? Sorry, your work isn't important, because only the product matters -- not the process.

This made me very sad.

Who are these bulletin boards for?
Shouldn't bulletin boards be for students? I'm not sure what third grade student is going to sit and read the 1-4 rubric beside each board. And I'm pretty sure the students whose work is discarded and not worthy of the bulletin board won't have much interest.

It's great to show student work. But does the fact that we are afraid to show most student work tell us something about the school? And about how they perceive education?

Obama on Arts Education

Obama comments on arts education and NCLB on April 2 in Wallingford, PA.



I am tired of the rationale that "arts help kids do well in other subjects." That may be true, but why do the arts have to be secondary (even when we say they're not)? Arts make students do better in math, arts help students do better on tests... Why can't we value the arts on their own? You don't hear people saying that we teach math because students who take math do better at reading.

Obama redeems himself here when he says the "Arts Education teaches people to see each other through each other's eyes. It teaches us to respect and understand people who are not like us." Yes - with their storytelling capabilities, the arts -- visual, music, drama, dance -- have the potential to construct narratives to better understand ourselves and others.

Helen Nicholson, in Applied Drama, speaks about drama's power to tell alternative stories that push us to question the stories that are dominant in our society. Whose stories are we familiar with? Whose have been left out? Storytelling and narrative allow us to construct our identity in relationship to others and break down or "unfix" reality. Unfixing reality so that we are able to question and transform it. That being said, I think the arts have the potential to be a perfectly meaningful subject area in and of themselves...

Education Blogs - Best of 08

Jay Mathews of the Washington Post's Class Struggle lists the best education blogs of 2008.

Among them are:

• Bridging Differences (both bloggers are from the Steinhardt School of Education at NYU)
• Eduwonk (one of my favorites)
• Edwize (maintained by the United Federation of Teachers - contains policy and classroom content)
• Forum for Education and Democracy (on the democratic purpose of education)
• Joanne Jacobs (another one of my favorites)

Creative Industries - The Arts Provide Economic Value

A study from the Americans for the Arts, tracks arts-related business and employment through the country's 50 largest cities.

New York has the highest total of arts businesses and arts employees, but Seattle, San Francisco, and Atlanta come out on top for arts businesses and employees per capita.

The study reveals that arts-centric businesses represent 4.3 percent of all businesses and 2.2 percent of all jobs in the United States and that the arts are a robust and formidable economic growth sector:

• More than 612,000 arts-related businesses employ 2.98 million people nationwide.
• Arts-centric businesses grew 12 percent from 2007 compared to the growth of 10.7 percent for all U.S. businesses.
• Employment growth by arts-centric businesses since 2007 was 11.6 percent,more than four times the rise in the total number of U.S. employees of 2.4 percent.

NYU Hosts Career Fair for Partnership Schools

What: 2008 NYU Career Fair for Partnership Schools
Date: Monday, May 12
Time: 3:30pm-6:30pm
Location: Eisner & Lubin Auditorium (4th Floor) at the Kimmel Center for University Life, Washington Square South, on the corner of LaGuardia Place)

Public Hearing: State of Arts Ed in NYC Public Schools

On April 8, The New York City Council Committee on Education jointly with the Cultural Affairs Committee will be hosting an oversight committee on “The State of Arts Education in New York City Public Schools.” 10 a.m.Council Chambers, City Hall.

Members of the public can sign up to testify at the hearing by filling out a request at the desk of the Sergeant of Arms which is located to the council’s left hand side of the dais at the time of the hearing. Testimony is limited to three (3) minutes. If you are able, the council requests that those testifying bring twenty (20) double-sided copies of their written testimony to the hearing HOWEVER, copies are not required in order to testify.

Participants can expect to be giving their testimony individually or as part of a panel directly to council members in attendance. The Department of Education is given the opportunity to testify first, followed by the principals and teachers union and then the general public. Council members may choose to ask questions of participants and often do.

NYC New Schools Initiatives Open House

The NYC Department of Education is holding a 2009 New School Development Open House Thursday, May 1st from 5:00-7:00PM at Murry Bergtraum High School for Business Careers (411 Pearl Street, New York, NY 10038). Register for the event here.

The event will focus on the city's "priorities" for new school creation and give information about the process for starting a new school, as well as partnership organizations that are supporting the new schools initiatives.

Reading of the Testimonies of Rwandan Genocide Survivors

Press Release:

NEW YORK STUDENTS UNITE ON 7th APRIL FOR READING OF THE TESTIMONIES NYC

www.survivors-fund.org

Students from across New York will unite on Monday 7th April from 10am to 2pm in Washington Square Park to read the testimonies of Rwandan survivors to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide.

Students from New York University, Columbia University, Yeshiva University, along with local high schools, will each read one of 100 testimonies of young survivors, to remember the 100 days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The testimonies will be supplemented by survivors including Jacqueline Murekatete, Marie-Claudine Mukamabano and Gasana Mutesi, who will speak on the importance of commemorating the genocide, and supporting young survivors in Rwanda.

Reading of the Testimonies NYC will specifically call on the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) to recognize HIV+ survivors of the genocide as an at-risk population for antiretroviral (ARV) treatment as part of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Despite the fact that many survivors are HIV+ today due to a systematic program of rape and deliberate infection during the genocide and are particularly vulnerable, PEPFAR currently does not recognize survivors as an at-risk population for HIV and AIDS counselling, testing and treatment.

Mary Kayitesi Blewitt OBE, Founder of SURF, who will lead the reading commented:

“There is a thread that runs through all the work of Survivors Fund, a motivation to ensure that the voice of survivors is heard, that the memory of the genocide is kept alive and that the victims are never forgotten. This Reading of the Testimonies is hugely important as it will demonstrate that the students of New York not only remember the one million Rwandans who died in 1994, but that they care about those still living with the legacy of the genocide.”

She added:

“There are thousands of HIV+ survivors in Rwanda dying from AIDS, with no help and no hope. The Reading of the Testimonies NYC is a call to action to ensure that these survivors are not ignored and abandoned by the international community for a second time. As well, in light of the ongoing genocide in Darfur, we hope that the event will raise awareness of the importance of acting to prevent atrocities – and the repercussions that result from inaction, as witnessed in Rwanda.”

The event is the first outdoor event to be held in New York commemorating the genocide. The event is staged in association with:

Jacqueline’s Human Rights Corner
Kuki Ndiho
Foundation Rwanda
Voices of Rwanda
Agahozo Shalom Youth Village
Amani Africa
Orphans of Rwanda
Wagner Student Alliance for Africa
Wagner International Public Service Association

The Reading of the Testimonies NYC is part of a two-day programme organized by Miracle Corners of the World which includes a commemoration in film and dialogue at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on Sunday 6th April from 4pm to 6pm; and a panel discussion on genocide at the Tishman Auditorium at NYU Law School on Monday 7th April from 2pm to 4pm. For more information visit www.miraclecorners.org.


For further information, please contact:
David Russell / Hope Tumukunde
New York University
david.russell@nyu.edu / ht504@nyu.edu

"The Classroom Is the Most Amazing Place in New York City"

Bronx High School of Performance and Stagecraft students discuss Obama's March 18 speech on race and reconciliation in the U.S.

The class wrote their own "Yes We Can" speeches.

Says one freshman, Anna:

People say that South Bronx kids will never amount to anything--but I say, Yes we can.

People think that those in our community can't live without the abusive boyfriends or husbands--yes we can.

People say that the color of our skin can prevent us from getting far in life. Are you trying to tell me that I can't get far in life? Well, sorry to disappoint you because, I can.

Teens think that they have gone so deep into gangs that they can't get out, but we need to help them say--Yes We Can.

Yes we can change our community.

Yes we can improve our society.

Yes we can.

Another student, Nelson:

Yes I can fight my fears.

Yes I can be a leader for those who need to be led.

Yes I can release my pain in a positive way.

Yes I can be more dependable.

Yes I can be more responsible.

Yes I can make all this happen even though I have all this on my shoulders, I can move forward in this world no matter what happens.

Yes I can.

Here's an interesting blog post on Queerty linking Obama's speech to Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed--that the struggle to break free from oppression is a collective one.

Americans for the Arts 2008 Annual Convention

Americans for the Arts is holding their 2008 Annual Convention in Philadelphia, June 20-22. This year's theme will be about providing quality arts education and access to it. Sessions will focus on NCLB, research on urban systems and quality of arts education, and special seminars for teaching artists, among others.

Closing the Achievement Gap - Freakonomics Discussion

Freakonomics features a discussion on closing the achievement gap. Caroline Hoxby, Daniel Hurley, Richard J. Murnane, and Andrew Rotherham comment on the solution.

Of course, as Caroline Hoxby comments, we need to focus on teachers. Recruiting great teachers, making places where these great teachers will want to work and continue to work, and rewarding teachers for their work.

I like what Daniel Hurley, director of state relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, says about enhancing visibility of the problem. This is a huge issue, we need to bring this education crisis- a civil rights issue - the the forefront of our politics.

To close the achievement gap, we need to close the gaps in our schools--by desegregating them. Richard J. Murnane, professor of education and society at Harvard comments on focusing on the reversal of Supreme Court decisions that have maintained the segregation of American schools. Jonathan Kozol's Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America is a great read that talks about the need for a movement to desegregate our schools.

At the same time, we need to acknowledge that improving our education system is not going to be easy. We're not going to improve achievement, increase graduation rates, and encourage students to go on to higher education by simply testing them twice as much, or by simply doubling the salaries of our teachers.

We've got to realize that these are complicated issues. We must create schools that are student-focused, putting transformation and problem-posing at the center of education rather than continuing the banking model that is so widely unquestioned and accepted. We now focus on student "achievement." What if we changed this to "continued curiousity" or "knowledge seeking" or "meaning making." We can't be afraid for our students to ask questions about the injustices and gaps that exists, for them to get angry, and for them to make changes. This is how real change will happen- that is how we will close the gap.

New M.A. in Applied Theatre Program at CUNY

CUNY has introduced a new M.A. program in Applied Theatre, accepting students for Fall 2008 (Applications due April 21). The Applied Theatre program focuses on applying theatre as a social and educational tool in various communities and settings. CUNY works predominantly with artists and leaders from the Creative Arts Team. A new competitor to the NYU Educational Theatre Program's Applied Theatre track.

I took an excellent Theatre of the Oppressed course with Chris Vine, Artistic & Education Director of CAT.

The Creative Arts Team emerged at NYU in the 1970s and was housed as a part of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study. In 2004, the Team transitioned into a partnership with CUNY. Since then many NYU Ed Theatre students have taken M.A. courses through the CUNY CAT team--particularly on the subject of Theatre of the Oppressed. It appears as though this will no longer be an option for NYU students.

Education is Ethical - AZ Principal Takes a Stance on Immigration

Proving that educators do have responsibilities outside of the classroom. Arizona principal Yvonne Watterson of GateWay Early College High School took action when she saw students dropping out of school due to a new illegal immigration law.

NY Times quotes one student from the school:

"I don’t wake up every day to steal purses,” said Noemi Ariza, a 17-year-old student at GateWay. “I wake up to try my hardest to succeed. And for people to despise me, to tell me I have no right to be here, to look at me like a murderer — it’s so dehumanizing. All I’m trying to do is make something of myself."