Read all the research, news, and policy in our arts education RECAP for March 2023.
Research
Women’s History Month: These Female Trailblazers Changed American Education For You and Your Kids. Do You Know Their Names? “Many female teachers have altered the lives of millions of students, but history has hardly remembered their names. That’s why, in honor of National Women’s History Month, The 74 created a special series profiling women who helped change the face of U.S. education.” The 74
Otis College Report on the Creative Economy “The report highlights five creative industries and eight regional snapshots with a spotlight on Los Angeles. The Otis College Report is an invaluable tool to assess the tremendous impact and influence of the creative sector on the state and regional economy.” Otis
New Research Sees Long-Term College Benefits from Oklahoma’s Universal Pre-K “In the latest study, published in January 2023, children who went to preschool were far more likely to go to college within a couple years of graduating high school.” KQED
10 Things to Know About How Social Media Affects Teens’ Brains “Prinstein’s 22-page testimony, along with dozens of useful footnotes, offers some much-needed clarity about the role social media may play in contributing to this teen mental health crisis. For you busy parents, caregivers and educators out there, we’ve distilled it down to 10 useful takeaways.” KQED
Equity
1.3 Million Los Angeles Students Could Soon Access Free Teletherapy “New partnership between Hazel Health and Los Angeles County Office of Education opens door for short-term mental health support at no cost to families.” The 74
‘It’s a Big Removal of a Barrier’: What Housing at California’s Community Colleges Looks Like “Busy dorms and student apartment complexes are hubs of campus life at four-year colleges throughout the state. Soon, residential campus life will be a reality at a growing number of California community college campuses as well. The state plans to spend $2.2 billion on student housing over three years, and a dozen community colleges have already been awarded construction grants totaling more than $500 million to build new dorms or expand existing ones.” Cal Matters
‘Revolutionary’ Housing: How Colleges Aim to Support Formerly Incarcerated Students “The vast majority of incarcerated people are currently ineligible to receive Pell Grants, federal financial aid for low-income students. But that decades-long ban will end this summer, thanks to legislation passed in 2020. Nicholas Turner, the president of the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit focused on criminal justice reform, estimates that more than 767,000 people will be able to apply for funds to pursue a credential or a degree through an in-prison education program. At least 95 percent of the people in American prisons are eventually released, with more than 600,000 released each year. These numbers make it clear that the United States will soon have many more people reentering society prepared to attend classes on a college campus.” Hechinger Report
Calls-to-Action
How to Engage in Arts, Culture, Creativity Month 2023 “Artists, arts workers, culture bearers, arts administrators, arts patrons, advocacy curious, policy wonks: the fifth annual Arts, Culture & Creativity Month (ACCM 2023) is your chance to activate as we celebrate and recognize the impact of our industry and workforce in the State of CA and build public will for the arts.” Wednesday, March 15, 2023 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM PT Californians for the Arts
Partnering for Success: Education Trends in Governors’ State of the State Addresses Webinar on March 15, 2023 from 1:00 PM-2:00 PM Education Commission
Advocacy
It’s Art Education Month! Join Us in Our Efforts to Advocate for Students, Inform Others and Fight for Equitable Arts Education for All Students. “Arts Education Month is a time to reflect on all the benefits that arts education can provide not only our students but also the communities around them. The arts and arts education provides us all with so much, we must provide those benefits to students and their school communities. They deserve it.” Create CA
Here’s a Great Way to Teach Kids About Climate Change: Start with the Food They Eat “Making the connection between food and climate change could reap huge benefits for our children — and for all of us. As more states and cities officially integrate climate change education into their school curricula, we urge them to include discussion of food systems and personal eating habits as essential parts of the climate story.” Hechinger Report
Policy
Arts Education Funding in California: How will Proposition 28 Roll Out? “Beutner, the former superintendent of LAUSD who spearheaded Proposition 28, recently talked with EdSource about how the groundbreaking arts education initiative will roll out and why this is such a game-changer for California public education. Proposition 28 creates a guaranteed annual funding stream for music and arts education that equals 1% of the state’s general fund. In 2023, that comes out to roughly $941 million.” EdSource
The U.S. Supreme Court Considers Student Debt Forgiveness “While we await the court’s decision later this year, it is worth considering the potential impacts of broad-based debt relief, especially given the unique economic conditions and pressures facing higher education.” EdNote
USDA Proposal Would Shift School Nutrition Standards Through 2029 “School nutrition standards could see a significant update to requirements on whole grains, sugar and sodium, made gradually between fall 2024 and fall 2029, under a proposal announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.” K-12 Dive
Will Arts Education Cuts in Proposed California Budget Have a Big Impact? “Amid looming economic uncertainty and fears of recession, the governor has proposed cutting $1.2 billion of one-time discretionary funding for arts and instructional materials in his pared-back 2023-24 state budget, which responds to a projected $22.5 billion budget shortfall. However, the loss of that block grant money can be largely offset with the nearly $1 billion earmarked for arts education through Proposition 28, many arts advocates say, softening the blow.” EdSource
Teacher Pay, School Choice, Literacy: Top Priorities for 39 Governors in 2023 “FutureEd analyzed 39 governors’ speeches and partnered with The 74 to convert our analysis into a series of interactive maps. We found that despite the academic gaps exposed in last year’s National Assessment for Educational Progress scores, there was surprisingly little talk of learning loss and efforts to catch students up. There was also little explicit “culture war” rhetoric around teaching racial history or banning books — and more lofty talk about the value of education.” The 74
Trove of L.A. Students’ Mental Health Records Posted to Dark Web After Cyber Hack “Detailed and highly sensitive mental health records of hundreds — and likely thousands — of former Los Angeles students were published online after the city’s school district fell victim to a massive ransomware attack last year, an investigation by The 74 has revealed.” The 74
University of California System Bans Fully Online Degrees “The 10-campus system closes a loophole that could have let undergraduates piece together a degree. Experts and some inside the system say that in justifying its decision, UC perpetuated outdated claims about online learning.” Inside Higher Ed
Thanks for reading our arts education RECAP for March 2023. View past RECAPS here.
