Schools that are integrating the arts into literacy, math, and other core subjects are dispelling the notion that there's an either-or choice in education--either you focus on literacy and math or you provide a well-rounded curriculum in the arts and other subjects. Crayola grant-recipient schools are demonstrating that you can do both--and end up…

Many people talk about arts integration, but not everyone can actually walk the talk. In this article, the author describes how she vigorously embraced arts integration as an administrator at Casey Elementary, an urban, art-integrated school located in central Mississippi. The author contends that it requires total focus, and an enormous amount of…

No matter how many bulletin boards, exit signs, motivational posters, and directional signage in a school, write the authors, there are always wall spaces that cry out for something to cover them. In 2006, when Cedar Canyon Elementary School opened its doors for the first time, the amount of bare wall space was noticeable even after putting up…

Amid crossing currents of educational expectations pressing on principals, the author advocates for enhancing inclusion of the visual and performing arts. Although electives and clubs provide arts exposure to a selected few, many students do not receive consistent and high-quality arts experiences. Carefully planned, interdisciplinary arts…

The U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools exhibit best practices in art education, embodying high accomplishment, lofty aspirations, and transformative ideas. Principals should extend arts education offerings to all students; use the arts to enhance teaching, learning, and assessment of other subjects; capitalize on newer technologies;…

North Carolina's ABC program, part of a state effort to improve school performance, calls for greater accountability, a back-to-basics emphasis, and more local control in planning and implementing programs. In response, results of the East Carolina University Math/Art Project, a study to determine the effects of interdisciplinary art and math…

SUAVE (Socios Unidos para Artes Via Educacion--United Community for Arts in Education) is an arts-integrated approach to teaching in multicultural and multilingual settings. A unique professional development project for San Diego-area teachers, SUAVE helps teachers develop ways to integrate the arts into mathematics, science, language arts, and…

The comprehensive approach to arts education, moving art from the academic fringes into the core curriculum, is producing excellent results at one Bedford, Texas, elementary school. Students there are thinking smarter and performing better. Mathematics, reading, and writing scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills are steadily improving.…

Describes several existing arts education programs that might be successfully adapted by other schools: Connecticut's HOT (Higher-Order Thinking) Schools program, North Carolina's A+ Schools Program, and the Los Angeles-based Different Ways of Knowing program. These programs differ but have a common bond--the conviction that the arts make a…