CAAE blog archive is located here.
Jessa Brie Moreno, Field Manager for the Alliance, and Meghan O'Keefe, Program Coordinator at the Amador County Arts Council, discuss topics such as the state education code, the creative economy, the Local Control Funding Formula, arts integration, and parent engagement in a recent radio interview. Listen to the full conversation at the links below.
On April 7, 2018, as part of the Arts Now Bay Area Summit, four students from schools across California, posed questions about arts education policy, equity and access at a Candidate Forum. The SPI of California is the nonpartisan elected executive officer of the California Department of Education. The SPI directs all functions of the Department, executes policies set by the California State Board of Education, and also heads and chairs the Board. View a recording of the full Candidate Forum below to learn about how each candidate plans to support arts education!
The Challenge: How to introduce the Declaration and Model Resolution as part of the arts planning process so that the ideas and principles of the Declarations can be fully embraced in the Arts Plan.
The Strategy: Bring the resolution into the planning process as a way to guide thinking and support adoption of the plan!
The Story: A number of districts have adopted the Declaration of the Rights of All Students to Equity in Arts Learning and/or a Resolution supporting the Declaration based on the model available on CREATE CA’s website. In our blog post...
The Challenge: Middle and high school students simply don’t have time in their schedules for arts education courses
The Strategy: Adopt a master schedule that ensures that every student can take arts classes
The Story: Middle and high school students have many competing priorities that quickly fill their course schedules: in addition to core academic courses, Advanced Placement courses, instruction for English language learners, academic intervention, and special education instruction all can take up precious time in a student’s schedule. All too often, when school counselors create schedules that accommodate required courses and the unique academic circumstances of each student, arts courses—visual art, music, dance, theatre—get cut from student schedules because there simply is not enough time in the day. How can schools create more time in the schedule so that students have access to valuable arts education opportunities and are able to fulfill the "F" Requirement? The answer is not actually more time, but...
The Challenge: How to Energize Support for Arts Education among your School Board, School Administration, and district Parents
The Strategy: Ask the School Board to Adopt the Declaration of the Rights of All Students to Equity in Arts Learning
The Story: The Amador Alliance for Arts Education, a local advocacy coalition working to increase access to the arts education, was looking for a way to gain visibility and inspire district leaders to take action. Faced with this challenge, the group turned to the Declaration of the Rights of All Students to Equity in Arts Learning.
The Declaration, a resource developed by CreateCA, expresses the belief that all California students deserve to have access to quality arts education to provide them with the skills they need to...
Hi. My name is Xochitl Morales, and I am a 17-year-old high school student from a small town in the Central Valley. I go to a school in Delano that you may know as either Paramount Bard, Paramount Academy, or Wonderful College Preparatory Academy (what we are called now). When I first started going to my school in sixth grade, it was called Paramount Bard.
At that time, it had only existed for three years, but it proved to be a leader in the arts education scene. We had mariachi, choir, animation, visual design, and theater classes, as well as an entire block in our schedule dedicated to creating in any club we chose. We also had a collaboration with the prestigious Longy Conservatory of Music that allowed many of us to travel across the country to share what we were learning.
Our school was blossoming with passion and creativity.
However, four years later, after two name changes and several administration re-assignments, this was all gone. We were left with only one Art...
The Challenge: How to deploy limited resources to serve high needs students and establish a sustainable elementary music program that serves every student
The Strategy: Create a schedule rotation of P.E., music and intervention to achieve smaller class size and arts instruction for all students
The Story: The Orcutt Union School District, located in Santa Barbara county, includes five elementary schools, two middle schools, one K-8 school and two K-8 and one high school charter schools. Faced with the challenge of a tight budget and looking for a way to address the needs of a student population with a high number of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, the district needed to use their existing funds in a creative way.
Leadership at The Orcutt Union School District came up with a strategy to tie together music instruction and intervention instruction in their district Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The plan established new music classes taught by credentialed music teachers to decrease class size...
The Challenge: How to Get Student Input for District Arts Planning 
The Strategy: Invite Exceptional High School Seniors to Attend Arts Planning Meetings
The Story: Shania Carden, a high school senior in the Moreno Valley Unified School District, was never expecting to be invited to participate in the school district strategic arts planning process. “[It] was a surprise to me,” Shania explained, “but I was very eager to do so! I was very interested in being there to learn what was behind the scenes in the arts planning process.”
She received this invitation because Greg Solomon, district Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Coordinator, understood the importance of including student voices in the process. “They are the only people who can describe what it is like to be in our arts classrooms,” he said. Greg identified students for the arts planning committee by reaching out to arts teachers in the district. He asked teachers to recommend seniors who could speak about their experiences in arts programs. As a four-year member, historian, and president of the Valley View High School Choir program...
Artspiration invites you to join representatives from California’s leading arts education and advocacy organizations: Create CA, California Alliance for Arts Education and CCSESA Arts Initiative and the California Department of Education, for a special arts education workshop.
Outcomes:
Date: Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Time: 11:30 A.M. – 3:00 P.M. (Lunch Provided)
Location: Santa Clara County Office of Education
Cost: Free
Register:...
Guest author: Peggy Burt, Arts Now Program Director
The Challenge: How to engage and gather input from the community for school district arts planning
The Strategy: An invitation to a meeting at the Mayor’s office!
The Story: On a lovely day in Riverside, August 15, 2017, a passionate group of arts education providers and supporters gathered in the Mayor’s Ceremonial Chamber at Riverside City Hall. As soon as you stepped into the room, you could feel the buzz of excitement! This was a moment of collaborative opportunity and an invitation to contribute to the work of enhancing and strengthening the arts in the Riverside Unified School District. Holding it at the Mayor’s office underlined the value placed on the community’s input.
Annemarie Guzy, Visual and Performing Arts Specialist, warmly welcomed the attendees. “This is a very momentous time for Riverside Unified. With renewed support for the arts from our incredible Board, our school district is very excited to be building a future for the arts, and helping all of our students to reach their...
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