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"No
Child Left Behind" vs. Arts in Education: Implications for
Workforce Development
| We would
like to say thank you to the more than 120 people who attended
our last forum on January 31, 2007. A Narrative Summary of the
discussion is posted below. |
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| Please
spread the word about the Press Coverage and Other Resources
listed below. It is the Arts Council's hope that the ideas and
connections you formed at the discussion will bolster your work
to further arts education in the region. The second forum in
this discussion is scheduled for early May. Be sure to check
back for details on continuing this important discussion! |
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| Narrative
Summary: |
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The business climate in the Pittsburgh region has
changed significantly over the past few decades, but the region's
educational systems have been slow to adapt in order to produce
qualified workers who possess a different skill set-and a
different mind set. On January 31, 2007, the Greater Pittsburgh
Arts Council called together Pittsburgh's arts and business
communities for a discussion entitled, "No child left
behind" vs. Arts in Education: The Implications for Workforce
Development, to examine the role of Arts Education in
the region's workforce development.
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The forum began with presentations by the three
panelists, and was followed by an extensive question and answer
session. Ms. Hartman provided the national context for workforce
development, highlighting trends in human resources across
the United States. Ms. Lund then addressed the changing face
of the local economy, citing specific trends in recruitment,
hiring and retention in the ongoing transition from an industrial
to an innovative economy. Dr. Tambucci concluded with a summary
of the effects that the "No Child Left Behind"
Act has had on arts education, both locally and nationally,
suggesting ways to use the legislation for the good of the
Pittsburgh region.
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Arts
education was clearly articulated as a priority for the Greater
Pittsburgh community last fall, when arts education advocates
made their voices heard at the Arts Council's Cultural Policy
forum. As thriving sectors of the local economy, both the
arts and educational communities have been instrumental in
the revitalization and development of the region. Pittsburgh
boasts world-class arts organizations such as the Pittsburgh
Symphony Orchestra and the Andy Warhol Museum, as well as
world-class educational institutions, like University of Pittsburgh
and Carnegie Mellon University. It has an active network of
artist residencies in schools, successful arts magnet schools
like CAPA and Rogers Middle School, and organizations like
Gateway to the Arts and the Arts Education Collaborative devoted
to furthering the arts in education. This region is poised
to become an arts education model for the entire country,
as it continues to cultivate and nurture creative individuals
who respond to the needs of the evolving economy.
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The local effort is not without roadblocks. Across
the United States, increased global competition, new technology,
and an aging workforce are driving the need to develop workers
who can remain competitive in the economy of the future. According
to a 2005 survey of employers , these changes will require
an increased focus on applied skills, with 73.6% of respondents
projecting "creativity/ innovation" as one of their
top needs in the next 5 years. In the Pittsburgh region, which
has struggled to diversify a formerly steel-based economy,
the need to create innovative workers takes on even more urgency.
Local employers, however, often have difficulty finding enough
workers with the skills they need, and the region is still
struggling to attract-and retain-creative people. The region
often fails to utilize its current workforce, with unusually
high unemployment among its college graduates, women, and
African Americans, even in a relatively strong national economy.
In this context, education needs to play a stronger role:
a disturbingly large percentage of the region's elementary
school students do not perform at grade level; 20% of high
school students-and fully 42% of African American students-will
not graduate from high school; and only half of the students
currently enrolled at local colleges and universities will
complete a degree after 6 years.
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Calling
on the value of arts education to help surmount these obstacles
requires a dedication to arts education research, to community
engagement, and to proper funding for school arts programs,
all of which require more widespread recognition of the value
of arts to the quality of life. Barry Nathan, Vice President
for Workforce Initiatives at Catalyst Connection, commented
that "Knowing what the researchers say about arts education
is very important for positioning. You have to speak about
the scientific underpinning." Further, keeping arts education
strong requires an engaged, knowledgeable community that is
willing to sit on school boards, write legislators, and work
with existing organizations to affect change. Finally, strong
arts education requires adequate funding. Linda Lewis, principal
at Rogers Middle School for the Creative and Performing Arts,
lamented her past experience leading a lower-achieving middle
school. "You have to make some tough choices. At one
point, to my great personal disappointment, I was forced to
cut a music teacher. I saw the need and how music could educate
these children, but the restrictions above me created limitations."
In schools that are understaffed and under-funded, the battle
to maintain the arts is increasingly difficult.
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Fortunately, Pittsburgh has a wealth of organizations
and individuals dedicated to arts education. Among the exemplars
cited were Gateway to the Arts, the Arts Education Collaborative,
Studio for Creative Inquiry, South Fayette School District,
Arts Alive, Shakespeare-in-the-Schools, and Project 720 Schools.
International models included Australia's "Rich Tasks
of Learning" and early childhood studies in Italy.
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Throughout
the discussion, attendees offered a number of ways to encourage
and support a more arts-rich educational system:
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- Teach
the arts within their cultural context, not just with
"arts facts."
- Look
at effective models for integrating disciplines, such
as the Center for Arts Management and Technology,
based at CMU.
- Focus
on art forms that are more relevant to underserved
or struggling demographics, which would provide diversified
exposure for many students and more effectively reach
the struggling ones.
- Use
students' success in their artistic endeavors to motivate
them in their other school subjects.
- Diminish
the dichotomy created by categorizing classes as either
artistic or academic.
- Ask
not IF there is a relationship between the arts and
education, but HOW to better it.
- Stop
asking permission to be invited to the table, and
instead, actively engage legislative and policy-making
institutions to affect pro-arts changes.
- Require
guidance counselors to retrain themselves about what
jobs are out there since they last went to school.
- Don't
rely only on superintendents who are managers; rather,
get on school boards, where policy is made.
- Get
the word out about philosophies from authors like
Dan Pink, which articulate clearly the benefits of
creative education across multiple sectors.
- Educate
the public about why the arts are important, both
for intrinsic and instrumental value
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| To conclude,
burgeoning industries such as healthcare, biology, robotics,
and technology are changing the way we work in Pittsburgh. This
clearly calls for a change in the way we prepare people to work,
moving away from industrial (and even agricultural!) education
models that still form the backbone of our educational system.
With a proper focus on arts education, we can develop creative
models that encourage students and workers to continue to grow
and adapt to the challenges we now face-and to those we have
not yet envisioned.
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Press
Coverage & Other Resources
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