Arts Education
Curriculum
Theater Educators Struggle to Keep Shows Going Amid COVID-19
Convinced that the show must go on, high school theater troupes are turning to livestreamed shows, outdoor performances, and radio plays.
Student Well-Being
Photos
A School Play in a COVID World
The Taipei American School’s performance of The Little Mermaid went on, despite coronavirus restrictions.
Science
Quiz
Quiz Yourself: How Much Do You Know About STEAM and Coding?
Quiz Yourself: How are schools infusing the arts into STEM education and how are students becoming interested in coding?
Every Student Succeeds Act
How Arts Teachers Are Strengthening Students' Social-Emotional Muscles
Arts experiences—like singing in a choir or drawing graffiti—can open students to new ways of thinking, and offer teachers powerful opportunities to develop students’ social and emotional skills.
Curriculum
Can Music Class Make Students Smarter in Other Subjects?
High schoolers who participate in music courses may score higher on exams in their academic subjects, according to a new study by Canadian researchers.
Student Well-Being
Bus Stops May Be as Good a Place as Any for a STEM Lesson
Researchers are using art installations at bus stops to spur impromptu science and math lessons for students and parents.
Curriculum
Video
Integrating Music, Dance, and Other Arts Education Into Instruction to Improve Student Achievement – Christie-Jo Adams
Christie-Jo Adams, fine arts instructional specialist for the Richmond school district in Virginia, shares her story about helping teachers weave the teaching of music, dance, and other visual and fine arts into instruction to help students enrich their learning and improve achievement.
Adams was recognized as a 2019 Leader To Learn From for her leadership in integrating arts instruction. This presentation took place at Education Week’s Leaders To Learn From event in Washington.
Read more about her work: https://leaders.edweek.org/profile/christie-jo-adams-fine-arts-instructional-specialist-integrating-arts-instruction/
School & District Management
An Experiment in Arts Education That Paid Off
A study of Houston schools finds that an influx of arts lessons led to reductions in disciplinary infractions, increased writing achievement, and strengthened student compassion.
Student Achievement
How Five District Leaders Reshaped Their Schools' Curricula
Five of the nine district-level educators named as Leaders to Learn From this year were singled out for their work in rethinking what's taught in schools.
Curriculum
Leader To Learn From
Elevating the Arts to Improve Student Achievement
"I believe this is the exit [from poverty] through the arts,"says fine arts instructional specialist Christie-Jo Adams of her efforts to use arts integration to help turn around three struggling schools.
Curriculum
Video
Elevating the Arts to Improve Student Achievement
Christie-Jo Adams, a violinist whose first learned to play an instrument in her public elementary school, is helping teachers weave the teaching of music, dance, and other visual and fine arts into their instruction to enrich student learning and improve achievement in the Richmond Public Schools in Richmond, Va. As the district’s fine arts instructional specialist, Adams is also working to expand students’ access to visual and fine arts courses across the city’s schools.
“There are some great boys and girls in Richmond Public Schools that have not been tapped,” says Adams. “It’s because they are growing up in a city, they don’t always get noticed.”
This video was produced as part of Education Week’s Leaders To Learn From project, recognizing outstanding school district leaders from around the country. Read more at https://leaders.edweek.org
Curriculum
Thousands of Copyrighted Works Will Now Be Freely Available to Teachers
Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and books by Edith Wharton, e.e. cummings, and Virginia Woolf have entered the public domain, almost 100 years after they were originally published.
Professional Development
Video
With ‘Solidarity Tour,’ Steven Van Zandt Gives Teachers PD and a Rock Concert
Steven Van Zandt, a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and actor from The Sopranos, is touring the country with his rock band to promote the use of music in classrooms and show solidarity with teachers. Teachers attend a professional-development workshop about arts integration, receive a curriculum to use in their classrooms, and get free tickets to a Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul concert. The nearly 30-stop tour will take the band to several states that saw widespread teacher protests, and aims to show unity with the teaching profession, which Van Zandt sees as “underappreciated.”
Curriculum
Video
Meet the Students Who Run Their Own In-School Record Label
Students in the Creative Musical Arts and Sciences program at Arcadia High School in Phoenix record and produce songs using technology tools found in the professional music industry. The program acts as a record label within a school, explains music teacher and program creator Richard Maxwell, who sees his role as “executive producer.” In addition to creating their own music, students learn about the many jobs associated with music recording and production in the real world.