News:
 
July 19, 2006
Dear Russ,
Do you have an opinion on the No Child Left Behind Act? Are you concerned
with the state of arts education in America?
If so, your help is needed to ensure a place for the arts in every child's
education.
As you may know, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which authorizes
the U.S. Department of Education’s major programs for public schools,
is up for reauthorization next year.
Congress has recently begun preliminary hearings and will continue to
gather information and feedback through early next year, when an actual
drafting process will begin. As Congress starts this process, it is important
that arts advocates speak up and make their support for arts education
known.
Currently, the Commission on No Child Left Behind, a bipartisan independent
commission, is soliciting comments in all areas of K-12 education. The
Commission will make formal recommendations to Congress in early 2007.
Therefore, this is a key opportunity to offer constructive feedback on
the importance of the arts in the next version of NCLB.
To facilitate the collection of these comments, Americans for the Arts
has designed a webpage that will send your comments to both the Commission
and to your congressional delegation. With your action, we hope the Commission
will report to Congress that parents, teachers, students, artists, businesses
and advocates around the country are insisting on a stronger place for
the arts in NCLB and every child's education.
We encourage you to submit your personal comments about the importance
of arts education. Specifically, the Commission needs to hear firsthand
accounts of how NCLB has impacted arts education in your public schools.
Many parents feel that the arts have been pushed out of the way to make
room for a greater emphasis on math and reading – Have you experienced
that? Has the number of art teachers or the number of hours devoted to
arts education been reduced in your local schools? Please provide your
story to the Commission as well as any ideas that you may have to improve
the quality of arts education in your schools.
Please visit the Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy Center and send
your comments to the Commission on No Child Left Behind. Your action today
will help secure an integral place for the arts in schools tomorrow.
One of National School Boards special articles
on the arts from this month's issue
Drawing and the Brain
Visualizing information is a vital early step in learning to read
By Kenneth A. Wesson click here to download article
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Whereas school music programs enhance intellectual development
and enrich the academic environment for students
of all ages;
Whereas students who participate in school music programs
are less likely to be involved with drugs, gangs, or alcohol
and have better attendance in school;
download
the rest of the article here.
Want better test scores? Take band
By Leslie Scheuler
Monday, Apr. 10 2006
click here to read article
*new* NJ Protects Arts download
article here
*new* Schools Need the Arts download article here
ONLINE RESOURCE: COPYRIGHT AWARENESS WEEK – MENC is pleased to
support The Copyright Society of the USA for the fifth annual Copyright
Awareness Week (CAW) March 6-10, 2006. The goal of the event is to teach
students basic concepts about copyright to encourage greater appreciation
of the efforts of creative people and the protections the law affords
them. For more information including free resources for teachers, visit
http://www.menc.org/information/copyright/awarenessweek.html .
Dancer hopes to leap into governor's office
By Stuart Steers, Rocky Mountain News
February 10, 2006
Coloradans have wondered for months now who would jump into the race
for governor.
As one high-profile politician after another has declined to run, those
looking for an alternative to the current candidates haven't had one
- until now.
Paul Fiorino vows to leap into the governor's office with a campaign
based less on politics and more on soul. A veteran dance instructor who
has been involved in the local arts scene for three decades, Fiorino
says he will be an independent, nonpolitical candidate who can appeal
to those who long for something different.
"
This is a campaign of bringing forth life," said Fiorino, who filed
his intent to run with the Secretary of State's Office last month. "We
need inspiration."
For the past few years, Fiorino said, he has watched in distress as Colorado
slashed its arts budget to almost nothing and local schools eliminated
art and music classes.
"
We've not given value to creativity," said Fiorino. "How can
kids be inspired if they don't have the creative arts in their school?"
Fiorino, 51, grew up in Parker when it was a one-road town. He played
football and wrestled at Douglas County High School before discovering
the world of dance one magical day in the early 1970s.
"
My mom brought me to the Denver Civic Ballet and I didn't want to go
in," he said. "When I did, I saw men and women jumping around
and lifting each other and flying through the air. It was incredible.
It was a moment . . . I'll never forget."
The group soon offered Fiorino a scholarship to study dance. Within a
few months he was on stage, dancing in the Nutcracker Suite.
"
Being a nonconformist, I found this dance thing and realized that was
what I was about," said Fiorino. "I found my niche."
A short time later, Fiorino ran into a guy he had wrestled against in
high school who had joined the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and
encouraged him to apply. Fiorino was invited to join the largely black
company as the sole white male dancer.
Parker Robinson remembers Fiorino as a passionate and competitive dancer
who loved helping to break down racial barriers.
"
He was in an African-American multicultural company and was so proud
of it," she said. "He was wonderful."
For the next several years, Fiorino led the itinerant life of a successful
dancer, joining companies in Israel and Dallas and working as a trainer
for the New York City Ballet.
In the late 1970s he married and eventually returned to Denver with his
wife, launching a career as a choreographer and instructor and running
the Ballet Arts Theatre.
In 1993 Fiorino faced his most difficult challenge after coming down
with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a viral disease that paralyzed him. After
months of treatment, he made a full recovery. "He had the determination
and courage to recreate his life," said Parker Robinson. "That
was amazing to me."
Fiorino now lives in the small community of Brookvale in Clear Creek
County, but he is still active in Denver's cultural community.
He was disheartened by a recent proposal to scale back electives such
as music and art in the Denver Public Schools and says that goes to the
heart of his campaign's message.
"
They're talking about taking out arts education in Denver," said
Fiorino. "If they do that, they might as well cut off their thumbs."
Copyright 2006, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
www.fiorinoforcolorado.com
Leadership Conversations In Music Education Update - February,
2006
It’s coming up on a year since our last Leadership Conversations
in Music Education meeting. One of the outcomes of the meeting
last March was the creation of a resolution of support for arts education
which was adopted by the Colorado State Board of Education in May, 2005. Many
thanks to all of you who contributed to
that work, and we are grateful to Randy DeHoff and Jared Polis
for taking the resolution forward to adoption. It’s available
on line at http://www.camci.net
The pre-collegiate curriculum requirement, as implemented by the Colorado
Commission for Higher Education continues on track, with fears about
the anticipated consequences for music education unabated. There
were meetings with Gully Standford, Pre-collegiate Curriculum Director,
and Matt Gianneschi, CCHE Chief Academic Officer about possible ways
of impacting the shape of this policy implementation which could ameliorate
the expected negative impact on the arts – music education in particular. As
a result of those meetings, several members from Leadership Conversations
attended the CCHE implementation committee meetings last spring for the
purpose of learning more about the pre-collegiate process. Leadership
Conversations members and members from CAMCI, the Colorado Association
for Music Curriculum and Instruction also met with Representative Michael
Merrifield to discuss possible ways that the arts education community
could support him in his legislative efforts to promote the cause of
arts education. Members of Leadership Conversations
also participated in a series of ongoing meetings with representatives
from the professional arts organizations, including the Colorado Council
for the Arts, as facilitated by the executive director of the Colorado
Alliance for Arts Education. Rep. Merrifield and the Colorado Council
for the Arts are working on creating legislation which will give additional
funding to the CCA for arts education programs, and will use that funding
to develop a model template for a synergistic cooperative effort between
public education and professional arts organizations. In the proposed
legislation, there will also be a request for funds to give statewide
acknowledgement to programs that will be identified as programs of excellence.
The Colorado Rural Schools Caucus, headed by Gerald Keefe and represented
by spokesperson Paul Stephenson, have been working with Senator Brophy
and Representative Merrifield to mount a legislative challenge to the
authority of CCHE to determine regulatory policy in isolation. The
bill Sen. Brophy introduced to the Senate Education Committee called
for postponement of phase two implementation of the pre-collegiate curriculum
requirement. That bill was killed by an action called “indefinitely
postponed”. Subsequent conversations between the rural schools
caucus and Rick O’Donnell, executive director of CCHE, have arrived
at a point of agreement that CCHE would show some flexibility on the
requirements, probably in the foreign language hours, in exchange for
the caucus not re-introducing legislation in a late bill sponsored by
Representative Merrifield. Discussions are continuing.
The Colorado Rural Schools Caucus will be making a
presentation at the March 2nd meeting of the CCHE Board of Commissioners. They
have been given 15 minutes for Paula Stephenson to make a case for why
the requirements as currently mandated can and do place an undue hardship
on rural districts, and included in that presentation will be arguments
voicing concern over the ramifications of the pre-collegiate curriculum
requirement upon the ability of school districts to offer classes in
the arts. The meeting will be at 10 AM at the University of Denver. The
Colorado Rural Schools Caucus is asking for a show of audience support
so that the Commissioners can see first hand that many sectors of the
community, and the education community are concerned over the impact
of this regulation. Directions to the meeting as well as agenda
items will be available soon (we hope) at http://www.state.co.us/cche/agenda/current.html After
seeing the direction this meeting takes, we’ll be looking toward
an opportunity to dialogue with some of the people mentioned in this
update for the purpose of strategizing a plan, acceptable to most of
the constituent groups who are willing to take actions which could
contribute to a friendly arts education public policy environment in
Colorado.
At the end of 2005, Governor Owens announced that, through executive
proclamation, he was forming the Colorado Education Alignment Council. They
are charged with the task of designing policy recommendations to assist
in developing the necessary K-16 alignment for implementing all phases
of the CCHE pre-collegiate curriculum requirement after reviewing Colorado’s
high school and higher education academic standards by examining high
school graduation requirements and studying how well Colorado high schools
and universities prepare students with the skills employers expect. There
are approximately 30 appointees on this committee, and it is being administered
by Daniel Furman from the Fund for Colorado’s Future. You
can find the list of members at http://www.fund4colorado.org/fund_board.html. If
you have an affinity toward any of these members, please consider contacting
them with your concerns about the marginalization of the arts and humanities
as a result of high-stakes testing, and increased academic requirements
at the high school level. Rep. Nancy Todd has already spoken of
her concern on this issue and may be one of the better members to contact
with your concerns.
At this year’s CMEA clinic/conference, there was a session presented
called Marketing for Music Educators 101. The session was the idea
of Lorne Hammond, VH1 Program Manager for the purpose of giving educators
some new ideas for program promotion in this era of high-stakes testing. Lorne
took a job with Winston Instruments one week before CMEA and so the panel
was redone with Colorado talent from the marketing field. One of
the panel members is Russ Ahrens, owner of several marketing agencies. He
has been the statewide director for DARE and the executive director of
the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities. After listening to the
various situations as described by teachers from across Colorado, he
volunteered to work pro-bono on a marketing campaign for CMEA to promote
music education in this era of high-stakes testing. Also on that
panel was Dr. Roland Pitts, a lead scientist at the National Renewable
Energy Laboratories, and president of the Wheat Ridge High School Band
booster’s organization. A very knowledgeable advocate of
music education, he too has made himself available to speak anywhere
on behalf of music education. VH1 has some interest in Colorado
this year as they have chosen Denver Public Schools as one of the 5 cities
in which they will make a substantial contribution of musical instruments. VH1
has also selected Dr. John Lange, Superintendent of Adams County School
District 14 in Commerce City as their Superintendent of the Year. Because
of those two in-state connections with VH1, there may be a possibility
that VH1 would choose to focus additional attention in Colorado, and
that suggestion has been presented, particularly in terms of supporting
efforts, legislative or otherwise, for supporting music education programs
in the state.
Lastly, Governor Owens and Rick O’Donnell in the name of the Colorado
Commission on Higher Education are hosting a meeting with The Honorable
Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education on high school reform. It
is a Town Hall Meeting and open to you. Please consider attending
with constructive prepared remarks that you could contribute to the discussion
if the opportunity arises. Click Here for the details. |
