District Administration - June 2011 - (Page 20)

Curriculum Education Reform Must Include the Arts ARTS EDUCATION IS BEING LEFT OUT OF THE national conversation about how to reform schools, according to a report released May 6 by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. e report acknowledges that tight budgets and highstakes testing has placed arts education on the back burner, but it aﬃrms that there are cost-eﬀective models to incorporate the arts across the curriculum that, when done properly, can raise student achievement, attendance rates and behavior. “Waiting for Superman, Race to the Top, i3 grants—we’ve seen all these solutions that have been charted as the magic bullet in education. It seemed to us that arts education is a solution that’s been hiding in plain sight,” says Rachel Goslins, executive director Students at Natomas (Calif.) Charter School in Sacramento perform of the President’s Committee. Arts curricula, says Goslins, helps not at an Autism Speaks fundraiser in December 2010. A new report says only art-savvy students, but particularly, at-risk students as well. arts education is needed to keep at-risk kids engaged in school. “It’s the only place they feel like a success. demonstrate linear equations. In Chicago, encourage more kids to come to school ere’s no right or wrong answer. It gives one dance instructor had students reciting and help counteract truancy. “ ere’s them a sense of connection with their physics terms, such as “momentum” and a diverse patchwork of approaches,” “center of gravity,” while learning diﬀerent says Goslins. “Diﬀerent communities school,” says Goslins. Cash-strapped states can ﬁnd ways to dances. A principal in the Bronx noticed can build diﬀerent models based on the incorporate the arts into their curriculum, such high levels of student engagement resources that are available to them.” To read the full report, visit www according to the report. One math teacher with the arts that he moved the school’s had students create mobiles to help art courses to Mondays and Fridays to .pcah.gov. BRIEFINGS Failure Is Not an Option in Mansﬁeld (Texas) ISD FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION IS NOT JUST THE TITLE OF A best-selling book; it’s a mantra for many high-performing districts. The Mansﬁeld (Texas) Independent School District adopted this motto in 2007 and hasn’t looked back. The district, which is the second-largest in Texas with over 35,000 students, was far from low-achieving, although it was experiencing rapid change with the addition of over 2,000 students each year. Located outside Dallas, Mansﬁeld has had to add a new school each year for the last 13 years to keep up with enrollment. It currently has 40 schools. While the district was far from fractured, says Area Superintendent Sarah Jandrucko, district leaders wanted to ﬁnd a way to keep up with its rapid growth. District leaders felt the growth could best be handled by an outside party, so the district partnered with the HOPE Foundation (Harnessing Optimism and Potential in Education). The HOPE Foundation’s president and founder, Alan Blankstein, is the author of Failure Is Not an Option, which offers six principles that, together, provide a comprehensive framework for creating a high-performing district. The principles are simple in theory and identify a direction most districts want to head in. The six principles are: (1) a common vision and goals throughout the district; (2) a comprehensive system for intervention and prevention with students; (3) collaborative teaming for teaching and learning; (4) data-driven decision making for continuous improvement; (5) engaging family and community members; and (6) building a sustainable leadership capacity. “The principles don’t act as independent units; they’re all interconnected,” says Blankstein. “This language articulates what they are doing and provides strategies for a reference and a real speciﬁcity around what it looks like. A report released by the American Institutes for Research and the HOPE Foundation found that, three years later, the district saw strong results in 34 out of 40 schools and had a high-rate of success among English language learner, minority and low-income students. According to the report, there is a correlation between organizational and structural district conditions, such as teacher collaboration. “We’re redeﬁning our culture,” says Jandrucko. “At-risk students are more engaged, including low-income and some minority students.” 20 June 2011 Bruce Patt Photography District Administration http://www.pcah.gov http://www.pcah.gov

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - June 2011

District Administration - June 2011
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Curriculum News
Sustainability News
Administrator Profile
District Profile
District-Level Downsizing
Lessons Learned from One-to-One
Partner for One-to-One Success
Pioneering States
The Changing Role of the CTO
New Directions for Special Ed
Problem/Solution
Books
Products
Student Counsel
Going Mobile
Professional Opinion

District Administration - June 2011