Read all the research, news, and policy in our arts education RECAP for August 2020.
Research
Survey Reveals Stark Rich-Poor Divide in How U.S. Children Were Taught Remotely During the Spring School Closures “Instead of hours per day, the survey revealed that it was how students were being taught that clearly varied by income. Low-income schools spent considerably more time reviewing old content. Wealthier schools were more likely to teach new material.” The Hechinger Report
Equity
Improving Teacher Workforce Diversity “All students benefit from having a teacher of color, but research shows that the impact is especially powerful for students of color. When taught by a teacher of color, students of color have improved academic performance and social emotional learning.” EdNote
Cutting Arts a Bad Trend “Evidence shows that students with arts ed are five times less likely to drop out of school, four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement and three times more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree. This is an issue of basic equity.” The Camarillo Acorn
How Designing Accessible Curriculum For All Can Help Make Online Learning More Equitable “Some educators who want to make online learning more engaging and accessible are exploring the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework. UDL…supports special education students, but its flexibility, technology guidelines and aim to individualize learning are best practices that can serve every student.” KQED
New York City’s 2021 Budget Slashes Already Modest Funding for Public-School Arts Education by 70 Percent “Arts education is a right for all New York City students, especially students who are Black, indigenous, or people of color…these cuts would deprive students of an equitable education.” Artnet News
Calls-to-Action
The Arts & SEL: A Synergistic Pairing “State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education cordially invites you to attend a virtual summit, to be streamed on Friday, September 25. This half-day afternoon event will explore the synergistic relationships between the arts and Social and Emotional Learning.” SEADAE
Urge Support for the Arts in COVID-19 Relief Legislation “Americans for the Arts and dozens of national arts organizations and state arts alliances, have signed a joint statement outlining a set of policy asks that we are taking to every member of Congress.” Americans for the Arts
Advocacy
Educators Rally on National Day of Action as School Reopening Debate Continues “Though educators have held protests in recent weeks, Monday’s event marked the first unified show of force as teachers and their unions continue to play an increasingly vocal role in the debate over when and how schools should reopen.” Chalkbeat
Teachers Unions Historically Supported Campus Cops. George Floyd’s Death — and a Wave of ‘Militant’ Educator Activists — Forced Them to Reconsider “Defunding school police, union leaders argue, would allow districts to invest more in services that could improve learning conditions for students, such as social workers and nurses.” The 74
Policy
LAUSD Expanding Community-Centered Education Model Districtwide “The Los Angeles Unified School District announced Monday, July 20, that it’s continuing an effort to put local leaders at the heart of education in each of the 40 communities which it serves.” Los Angeles Daily News
Reopening America’s Schools Is Way Harder Than It Should Be, So Is Leaving Them Closed. Now What? From childcare to meal services and social connections this article reviews the role schools play beyond education and the pros and cons of reopening them. Chalkbeat
School Police Give Way to More Counselors in California Districts as Demands Grow for Reform “Some districts, like Stockton Unified, San Francisco Unified and Los Angeles Unified, have begun seeing drops in suspension rates as they’ve adopted alternative discipline policies and emphasized student wellness, partially as a result of the state’s ban on suspensions for willful defiance — defying teachers or disrupting school activities — in elementary and middle schools.” EdSource
New Jersey First in Nation to Provide Educators with Social and Emotional Framework Tied to Arts Education “New Jersey is now the first state in the nation to provide a formal roadmap illustrating how the arts foster, and often amplify SEL components, and more importantly, how educators can effectively embed SEL into their arts curriculum.” PRWeb
