New art teachers find themselves in the position of negotiating, among other things: the knowledge gained in university courses, their own past experiences as students in K-12 schools, pervasive social and cultural myths of teaching, the fact that teaching is ultimately an indeterminable act, and the complex relations of contemporary neoliberal…

Capacity to teach the arts is a problem reported by many teachers in primary (elementary) school settings in Australia. This paper reports on research which explored how to build primary school teachers' capacity in arts-based pedagogy. It outlines the design and development of a co-mentoring program between arts mentor practitioners and…

What happens when a teaching method designed around learning new technologies is applied to artmaking for teens in an art museum? How do technology and traditional artmaking techniques connect in the studio? What role does mentorship play? What happens to participants after they leave the program? These questions are central to this case study,…

Research suggests that the arts can have a positive impact on youth development, from birth through adolescence. This review explores recent research on arts-based programs and arts therapies. Programs were considered arts-based if at least one of the main components was an arts-related activity, or if there was a deliberate use of arts in the…

The practice of mixing grade levels in school settings is increasing (Nishida, 2009) and one third of classrooms worldwide already combine two or more grade levels (Cornish, 2006a). However, many teachers are assigned such mixed-grade groupings without training, and there is some evidence that this may be particularly true for art teachers…

This article examines how arts-based informal learning spaces engage young people at the intersection of creativity and technology. We conducted case studies of four youth media arts organizations to understand how teaching is defined and realized in these contexts. We find that teaching is a distributed act that sits at the intersection of…

The Afterschool Alliance, in partnership with MetLife Foundation, is proud to present the third issue brief in their latest series of four issue briefs examining critical issues facing middle school youth and the vital role afterschool programs play in addressing these issues. This series explores afterschool and: the Common Core State Standards,…

"Letras y Arte: Literacy and Art" is a 3-week summer course at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, offering a social justice approach to art education. In this article, the authors outline the background of "Letras y Arte," contextualize the program in art education, and explain three strategies for engaging students: (1)…

Instructional strategies make a difference in whether students are engaged in learning and are profiting from their time in class. High schools, technology centers and middle grades schools are encouraging teachers to adopt new teaching techniques and are providing opportunities for teachers to work together to improve their instructional skills…

Considers the career and accomplishments of Colonel Wayland Parker, a late-19th-century educator and reformer. Parker worked to establish art education as an essential part of every school's curriculum. He proposed integrating art into all of the daily subjects and recommended the establishment of studio and workshop spaces. (MJP)

This booklet provides schools with ideas on how they can use their after-school programs in new and effective ways to promote student achievement and meet the needs of their students and community. It provides suggestions on: reading in after-school programs; mathematics in after-school programs; think college early in after-school programs;…