Advocacy Action Required Now!

Advocacy Basics for 2011

There are two things fine arts advocates need to be able to do this year that will be critical to the success of our advocacy mission. One is contact your elected officials either by phone, email, hand written note or in person, and two is be prepared to make verbal statements in a public forum such as a school board meeting or newspaper interview. If you are already doing these things, I applaud your efforts and preparation. We need art advocates to be outspoken during this critical period of education reform and reorganization. Legislators and policy makers at the state and local levels need to hear our voice.

As you read this, Indiana State Legislators are formulating the state budget for the next two years. They need to hear your voice as they formulate the state budget on the importance of adequately funding public schools.

Please do one of the following or both: Call or write your legislator as soon as you can and send them your message. Use these talking points for any of your messaging activities.

• Education funding must include consideration for the preservation of existing fine arts programs.

• The creativity of our children is a national resource we cannot afford to waste.

• Children need fine arts educational experiences that empower the imagination and enhance the capacity for creativity and invention.

• Neural networks within the brain’s operating systems are stimulated, strengthened and expanded when children are engaged in high quality art and music education experience. Visual arts learning experiences strengthen children’s attentional memory and music educational experience trains the brain’s capacity for working memory.

• If we could electronically scan the human brain while its subject was engaged in a regular classroom selected response learning activity, we could see a narrow band of neural networks within the pre frontal cortex on the left side of the brain stimulated during this typical educational event. Consequently when subjects are engaged in stimulating sensory based music or art experience, neural networks within both hemispheres of the entire brain light up like Christmas tree lights.

• There are three basic skills children need if they want to thrive in the knowledge economy: the ability to communicate effectively; the ability to collaborate, and the ability to do critical thinking and creative problem-solving. One cannot make the claim that quality, world class educational experiences are being provided for Hoosier school children if subjects and programs specifically designed to foster creative problem solving are removed from the curricula.

• Fine Arts education experiences are critical for a well rounded education. Human
beings are hard wired to think and dream in visual images. Ideas and
intellectual property dependent upon visual thinkers will become assets in the
new economy of the 21st Century. The refinement of the imagination as developed through the visual arts will provide future designers, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, innovators, professionals and others with the creative edge they will need to compete in an increasingly competitive and uncertain future.

• Students thrive in schools where art and music are present in the
curriculum. When educational experience is monotonous and based on tedious
pencil and paper seat work, learning often times goes’ into one ear, and out the
other. This fact is extremely important for policymakers to consider. Results
from the latest High School Survey of Student Engagement, conducted by
researchers from Indiana University with over 350,000 high school students
participating from across the U.S. reveals 67% of students did not feel engaged
during their school years. Upon further examination of the survey, students reveal subject areas like art, music and drama provide them with significant opportunities for personal engagement with their learning. Disengaged individuals frequently drop out of school resulting in higher crime rates, lack of unemployment opportunities and a myriad of other wicked socio economic problems. Public schools are the backbone of our communities. The health of our public school system affects us all.

• We know that children thrive in schools that provide regular quality fine arts experiences. The Governor simply cannot make the statement that we will finally reform education “centered upon children,” while shortchanging their opportunities for regular fine arts learning experiences in our schools.

Please feel free to compose your own fine arts advocacy messages and talking points, however it is vital that your state legislators here from you and that you are able to make a strong advocacy message in a public forum if you are called upon to do so.

You can find more advocacy resources here: http://www.arteducators.org/advocacy

You can find and contact your state legislators here:
http://district.iga.in.gov/DistrictLookup

I thank you for your current and future advocacy efforts!

Warmest wishes!
Sincerely,
Clyde Gaw
AEAI Advocacy Advisor
campak14@yahoo.com

Begin Messaging Now!

Newly elected legislators are preparing for the next legislative session. It is time to begin sending them messages that Indiana children's school arts programs are in danger of being marginalized or cut throughout the state unless adequate funding is provided to public schools.

Emails are good. Hand written letters are better. Phone calls are best!

You can call, mail or email your legislators here: http://www.in.gov/legislative/2345.htm

House of Representatives

Indiana House of Representatives
200 W. Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2786
(317) 232-9600
(800) 382-9842

Senate

Indiana State Senate
200 W. Washington Street
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2785
(317) 232-9400
(800) 382-9467

Southern Hancock Education School Funding Referendum

Greetings to all of the readers here at the Indiana Art Education Advocacy Action Blog."

This year, the children at my school, New Palestine Elementary are thriving once again in our choice based art program.

Sadly, I am not happy to report, our school district like many school districts across the country is suffering from a shortage of operating funds.

This development has put the future viability of elementary art education program experiences for the children of New Palestine Elementary in jeopardy.

Fortunately the administration of Southern Hancock Schools and a significant number of community members in New Palestine are working to pass a referendum in order to strengthen our schools and to keep important educational programs like elementary art and music in the curricula.

If you live in our district and would like to learn more about what you can do to support the Southern Hancock Schools pass the education funding referendum, check out this link: Vote Yes!

Saving Art Programs: Emergency Education Funding Will Help Schools Soon

This article has some good news for school corporations who are considering eliminating their art programs due to state education funding deficiencies.

10 Billion to Provide Quality Public Education

Here is the table that shows how much Indiana will receive to soften the blow of education funding deficiencies.

Let's get one thing clear. These funds are deficit neutral. We are suffering through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and our children should not be made to suffer because of the abuses of adults who are responsible for this economic collapse.

The U.S. Congress has the ability to prevent crippling education funding deficiencies and I am very happy this legislation was passed. Not only will children have more opportunities to receive attention from their teachers during critical educational experiences, other important educational programs critical to children's intellectual development can be saved. Art and music programs are vital to providing children a well rounded education and have the capacity to strengthen neurological structures of the brain.

Like I said...Good News....

Check this article out!
Thanks to all of our hard working folks out there who called or contacted their congressman and women!
I think this bill will help provide millions of children with profound educational opportunities and critical learning experiences in art programs across the country.

My exchange with Dr. Bennett.....

I was at the information meeting for teachers yesterday evening at the CIESU multi purpose room, and after the presentation by DOE staff on Indiana’s Growth Model, Common Core Standards, A-F School Grading, Teacher Evaluations, Reading Framework, Curriculum Mapping, and Rules for Educator Preparation and Accountability (REPA), I asked Dr. Bennett this question: "Based on the data from the High School Survey on Student Engagement, significant numbers of students (67%) do not feel fully engaged under the existing educational paradigm. Students do report significant opportunities for engagement in subject areas like art and music. Last year, after the Governor cut education funding by 300,000,000 dollars we experienced significant program cuts to art and music programs across the state. My question to you is this: Does the Governor plan a new round of education budget cuts for next year?"

His answer was no, he did not foresee more budget cuts. However with the grim news that Indiana's revenue forecast were down again this past quarter, I have my doubts.

Dr. Bennett then took the first part of my question citing the HSSSE data on engagement, and the current educational paradigm and twisted my rationale. We must do things differently in order to re-engage our students was his reply. That provided him with an opening to support his initiative for more refined testing methods. My thoughts were, "no, we do not need more testing, but more refined methods and support for teachers to personalize and emotionally connect learning experiences to the heterogeneous populations of children who exist in our schools."

Dr. Bennett then listend to another teacher who stated that budget cuts were impeding her ability to provide individual attention to her students in her classroom because her school had not hired enough teachers and she was administering instruction to 29 students in her classroom. Dr. Bennett replied that class size does not matter. He knew of no research that supported the idea that class sizes impeded learning.

I disagree. The Project Star Research clearly demonstrated the optimum student teacher ratio is significantly lower than 29-1 and should be half of that number. Legislators and state education policy makers should be working toward ratios much lower than 29-1. Ratio's beyond that should be cause for concern.