AEP Wire

The AEP Wire is an occasional series of web-based publications, issued as fast responses to items both within and outside the field that have a bearing on arts learning.  In the Wire, AEP summarizes relevant information, highlights important issues, and makes recommendations for action. 

Oklahoma A+ Schools: What the Research Tells Us 2002-2007. Part One: Students and Teachers
This report documents the first five years of the OAS arts integration whole-school reform model and its effects on teachers, students, schools and communities. This Wire is the first of two Wires summarizing the OAS study and focuses on student success and teacher engagement. A second Wire will focus on the OAS network's effects on schools and communities.

No Child Left Behind: A Study of Its Impact on Art Education (September 2010)
The forthcoming reauthorization of the ESEA has sparked many conversations about the skills students need for college- and career-readiness, including skills identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (e.g. learning and innovation; information, media and technology; life and career skills). These conversations raise the question of how the education system will foster college- and career-readiness, and for purposes of this study, how the next iteration of ESEA will affect visual art and other core subject educators’ ability to teach these skills, and consequently, students’ opportunities to learn them.
(Note: This study refers only to visual art education and educators.)

Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art (March 10, 2010)
In the late 1990s, James Catterall and colleagues analyzed data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88), a study of some 25,000 secondary school students over four years, and found significant connections between high involvement in arts learning and general academic success. In 2009 Catterall analyzed ten additional years of data related to the same cohort of students, now age 26. The results, presented in, Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art, strongly connect arts learning with both general academic success and pro-social outcomes. This study provides important empirical evidence of the significant role that the arts play in preparing young people for success, both in academia and in life. Its implications for the education of underserved and English Language Learners are particularly significant, given the compelling need to improve the educational opportunities available to urban inner-city and ELL students.

NEA Survey of Public Participation in the Arts: Implications for Arts Learning (January 25, 2010)
The National Endowment for the Arts released the results of the 2008 Arts Participation Survey on December 10, 2009.  The SPPA, as it is widely known, is collected periodically by the US Census Bureau as part of its Current Population Survey.  It measures multiple specific participation indicators, including attendance at performing arts events, museum visits, and literary reading; however, it does not measure attitudes towards arts or participation.  This year’s study has some particularly interesting, if sobering, data about arts participation, including some implications for arts learning. 

AEP Analysis of NAEP Arts Assessment Results (September 22, 2009)
AEP Analysis of NAEP Arts Assessment Results is interpret the NAEP results within the existing research and policy contexts of education, and specifically the effort to reform education in order to ensure complete, quality learning experiences for all students. The analysis looks at the NAEP results from four perspectives: educational access and equity, educational quality, complete curricula, and the adequacy of research.

AEP Summary and Analysis of Education Stimulus Funding (March 25, 2009)
AEP provides a summary and analysis of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: Saving and Creating Jobs and Reforming Education, otherwise known as the Stimulus Bill.

AEP Summary and Analysis of GAO Report, “Access to Arts Education” (March 6, 2009)
The AEP has summarized and analyzed the new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on the status of arts education in schools, Access to Arts Education: Inclusion of Additional Questions in Education’s Planned Research Would Help Explain Why Instruction Time Has Decreased for Some Students.

Commentaries

“The Arts Education Effect” – Education Week Online Commentary by Sandra Ruppert (September 23, 2009)
Education Week online published an online commentary by AEP Director Sandra Ruppert analyzing the results and implications of the 2008 NAEP Arts Assessment. Throughout the week of its appearance it was in the top three read and emailed articles on the site.

The Role of Arts Learning in the ESEA Reauthorization, Remarks by Sandra Ruppert (January 20, 2010)
On January 20, 2010, the U.S. Department of Education held a meeting to discuss ESEA reauthorization with various arts stakeholders, providing an opportunity for those stakeholders to make recommendations on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act as it relates to arts learning in particular.

Creativity, Innovation and Arts Learning -- Preparing All Students for Success in a Global Economy (February 16, 2010)
Creativity and innovation are on everyone’s minds these days.  Read the latest from AEP Director Sandra Ruppert on some key questions and concrete solutions for how creativity can be resourced and channeled for student and economic success.

Webinars

President’s Fiscal Year 2011 Request for the Department of Education (March 5, 2010)
The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) held a webinar on March 5, 2010 to review the President’s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Request for the Department of Education. Jim Shelton, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, was available during the webinar to comment on aspects of the budget proposal affecting arts education. Both the PowerPoint presentation and audio recording are available.