Prison library programming has positively affected inmate rehabilitation by providing a venue for learning and literacy education. Describes programs where inmates read and performed operas and participated in essay contests. Highlights San Quentin's Fathers as Teachers: Helping, Encouraging, Reading, Supporting (FATHERS) program and Cook County…

Describes the educational system within the country of Ghana. Focuses on music education. Discusses the visual arts that constitute vocational skills within education. Addresses the need to move toward a systematic philosophy of arts education in Ghana. (CMK)

This article discusses how university faculty can cooperate with public broadcasting agencies (radio and television) to provide public media exposure to arts performances and activities. It describes specific successful programs at Ball State University (Indiana). (JB)

Presents an original dramatic scene written as part of the requirements of a course entitled "Death in Psychology and the Theater." The assignment, based on students' research on a topic related to the psychology of death and dying, addressed AIDS and its effects on the caregiver. (RJM)

Talent beyond Words instructed elementary inner-city children in the performing arts, especially dance and percussion music, to provide opportunities for dynamic assessment of talent. Students identified as having talent participated in after-school curricula, thereby increasing their proficiency and self-esteem. (Author/JDD)

Outlines a process-oriented approach to teaching movement and performance to young children. This approach applies a model, which stresses playing and problem solving and which focuses on the creative process rather than creation of a product, to the development of a method of teaching that encourages problem finding and problem solving. (MDM)

Describes a project in England in which a class of 9- to 11-year olds enthusiastically and successfully explored the play "Hamlet" by writing about, discussing, performing, and visually interpreting the actual text. The teacher suggests that, with a little creativity, Shakespeare is very accessible to children. (SM)

Asserts that the quality of any musical performance is a direct result of what happens in rehearsals. Argues that the primary responsibility for planning and implementing successful rehearsal sessions falls to the conductor. Describes a six-step approach for rehearsals, which should begin at least six months prior to the performance date. (CFR)

Describes Project ARTS (Arts for Rural Teachers and Students), a 3-year community-based research and development program for students with high interest and abilities in the performing and visual arts. Focuses on the project's curriculum and assessment. Addresses the applicability of the program to other rural areas. (CMK)

Considers the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 1997 Arts Report Card. The NAEP assessment provides data on what eighth-graders know and can do in music, visual arts, and theater. Evaluates the assessment, discusses the results, and addresses a call for action. (CMK)

Explores new possibilities and limits of theater education through a role-playing project. Adolescent actors participated in workshops that were meant to improve physicians' communication skills with adolescent patients. Explains that the project also aimed at improving the adolescent actors' techniques in theater. (CMK)

On 21 September 1999, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan destroyed more than 100,000 houses, causing 2,294 deaths and 8,737 injuries. In the aftermath of the earthquake, a great number of social workers and cultural workers were thrust into Nantou County and Taichung County of central Taiwan, the epicentre of the earthquake, to assist the…

In this article, the author describes Neighborhood Bridges, The Children's Theatre Company's (CTC) critical literacy program that gives young people from the most impoverished and troubled neighborhoods in Minneapolis the courage and power to speak their minds both orally and through the written word in such a daunting setting. The 2003-04 school…

In contemporary drama education theory, much emphasis has been placed on the value of improvisation and role drama for contributing to the development of students. Working through role in improvisational formats has been thought to provide students with unique opportunities for understanding self and others by creating contexts that allow for…

The authors describe the journey they undertook integrating the arts into the summer institute. The central reason for their focus on the arts in the summer institute is the desire to support education reform--with a particular eye to social justice in schools. The authors believe that when the field is open wide enough to allow everyone's ideas…