Editor's note: In assembling this issue, I sought to compile compelling stories of arts education cuts and the responses of local communities. I invited National Council on the Arts member Dr. Bruce Carter to share such a story. The following article begins with Carter's narrativized account of informal research on the arts partnership in the…

As a Vietnamese 28-year veteran art teacher, my lived experience is that art teaching is not a viable means to gain access to formal leadership or to exercise my personal leadership within school in a large school district. As an Asian descent educator, there is limited opportunity for a leadership role. For many years, I felt that the isolation…

This article provides a framework to assist evaluators, teaching artists, and program managers in working together.

A remarkably consistent picture of the value of the arts in a comprehensive Pre-K-grade 12 education emerges from a review of two decades of theory and policy recommendations about arts education. Over the past decade, the National Governors Association, the Education Commission of the States, the National Association of State Boards of Education,…

A local focus can give art educators a familiar basis to introduce and expand content. A community-inspired curriculum helps students realize that artists do not operate in a vacuum; rather, they are part of a social world in which art objects are created. In this article, the authors provide an overview of Community-Based Art Education (CBAE)…

The National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983) published "A Nation at Risk" to relay the academic performance level of American students. The results revealed that Americans students were performing considerably below other countries. Consequently, accountability through testing became the focus for policy makers to promote…

Multi-age classrooms feature the purposeful grouping of students from two or more grade levels in order to form communities of learners. During the past 40 years, multi-age education has been examined in literature and research in many different ways and contexts. In the subject area of visual art, however, little literature can be found that…

This descriptive study investigates the bases used to support judgments of artworks by preservice art teachers at two large universities. Bases art teachers might use to judge artwork range from personal preferences, to cultural expectations, to criteria drawn from values of various artworlds. The 26 preservice teachers in this study used a…

This is the second installment of Chapter 1, "The Assessment Context," by F. Robert Sabol, from "Assessing Expressive Learning: A Practical Guide for Teacher-Directed Authentic Assessment in K-12 Visual Art Education," edited and written by Charles M. Dorn, Stanley S. Madeja, and F. Robert Sabol. [c] Lawrence Erlbaum…

The 'back-to-basics' movement has concerned many art educators. Recent legislation in Florida has ensured fine art programs in the elementary and secondary school years and strengthened the art teacher certification requirements. (DF)

A check of staff development plans in 67 Florida counties revealed 143 components for arts-related professional growth. While briefly summarizing objectives for working with art media, this article concentrates on the in-service objectives related to more general teaching competencies, such as class management, instructional methods, and program…