This article utilizes the story of an art studio project involving 2nd-grade students in a new urban elementary school as they explored and engaged with architectural spaces in their community during their yearlong study of the theme of "Community." The purpose of this writing is to theorize and codify some major tenets of a narrative…

The "Framing Student Success: Connecting Rigorous Visual Arts, Math and Literacy Learning" experimental demonstration project was designed to develop and test an instructional program integrating high-quality, standards-based instruction in the visual arts, math, and literacy. Developed and implemented by arts-in-education organization…

In this article, the author talks about innovative high school curricula that engage students through the study of visual art in conjunction with critical study of history and social movements. Just as historians place a premium on locating and interpreting events in time, the visual arts are centered on getting an idea across in a visual form,…

At the James Weldon Johnson Leadership Academy in East Harlem, New York, administrators, teachers, students, families, and community-based artists worked together to create a visually explosive environment that reflected enriched learning experiences based on their multidisciplinary study of New York's history. The Mano a Mano ("Hand to…

The Global Writes (GW) model is a well-designed performing arts integrated literacy program that builds local and global support among students, teachers, and arts partners through the use of innovative technologies. Through local partnerships between schools and arts organizations forged by GW, classroom teachers and local teaching artists build…

Reading Improvement Through Art (RITA) program is an interdisciplinary approach to literacy that blends visual art with reading comprehension, evaluated in nine New York City urban high schools. 240 problem readers participating in the pilot program were pre- and post-tested in the Fall 1975 and Spring 1976 semesters. The testing showed the 9th…

In 1975, New York City found itself on the verge of bankruptcy, and newly-elected Mayor Abraham Beame was forced to enact massive cuts in the city's budget. Some of the hardest hit programs were arts education classes in the public schools--funding for programs in visual arts, dance, music and theater were slashed from the Board of Education's…

Increasingly, education policy makers understand the importance of students and families having access to a range of high quality educational opportunities inside and outside of school, 365 days a year. This paper explores the concept of multiple pathways in arts education to further conceptualize and build upon such opportunities, inside and…

A holistic education linked to creativity, innovation, critical thinking and local/global citizenship is increasingly marginalized in the United States as schools continue to struggle with the impact of high-stakes testing regimes. In particular, urban youths' access to an education that furthers their ability to choose lives they have reason to…

Despite the enactment of No Child Left Behind (2002), many urban school districts continue to battle the achievement gap and struggle with low literacy rates. Authentic writing instruction, a main component of literacy, is being cut in those districts that struggle most to accommodate other demands made by the nation and state. The primary purpose…

For over 30 years, arts education has been a low priority in the nation's public schools. Arts teaching positions were cut, and arts education in schools has dwindled as schools try to increase test scores in mathematics and reading within the time constraints of the school day. Some communities have responded with initiatives aimed at…

In this article, the author describes a collaboration between The Actors' Fund of America and 12 schools in the South Bronx. The true purpose of the STARRR (Substitute Teachers for the Arts and 3Rs) program was to establish relationships between artists and schools. Three years later, the author sees the results of those relationships: so many…

Art can be used to enrich the subject of science and science can be used to motivate study in art. This can stimulate new ways to regard the relationship of art and science in classrooms. Theoretical and practical examples will highlight: early and contemporary artists who developed ideas about art forms in nature; the impact an Aesthetics and…

Late in 2007 New Visions for Public Schools, a New York City reform organization, received a grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation to organize select high schools and community partners into delivery systems that could improve student achievement. New Visions asked Policy Studies Associates, Inc. to provide research support for this effort in the…

In this article, the authors attempt to explore some of the ways in which youth subjectivities are constituted in the neoliberal order, the ways in which their behaviours are criminalized, and the harrowing manner in which schools, as one site, are complicit in a larger cultural disinvestment in youth. The authors accomplish this through an…