Growing Arts Education Leaders in Alaska (a project funded by KCAAEN, AASB & ASCA) successfully implemented two significant activities in FY2010 concentrated on widening the circle of administrators and leaders, particularly in rural schools, who could articulate and share their belief in the importance of arts education in the education and the lives of Alaska students.
ACTIVITY 1 – OUTREACH The first activity was focused on the creation, adaptation and dissemination of information about the importance and impact of arts education on Alaska students at the 2009 Alaska Principals Conference in Anchorage, Alaska on October 18 -20, 2009. Outreach was accomplished through a three-day information table in a highly visible location in the foyer of the conference site, the Sheraton Hotel. Four AAEC Board Members (Frank Hauser, Chair, Bev Williams, Vice-Chair, Therese Ashton, and Barb Short) shared the responsibility of hosting the table for three days, distributing newly created AAEC materials and Kennedy Center publications. Colorful displays and flyers advertised AAEC membership and activities and the spring Administrators Art Retreat. A 90-minute presentation was given during the conference by veteran AAEC presenters (Debbie Piper, Kenai and Bev Williams, Bethel) who facilitated a hands-on, minds-on sectional featuring the successes of Alaskan schools incorporating the arts on a regular basis. They highlighted the degree to which the arts improved student motivation, attendance, behavior and test scores. Less than ten administrators attended the session, largely because it was on the last afternoon of the conference, but those who attended were highly enthusiastic, curious principals from districts like Anchorage who are active and influential in administrative associations and who voiced a strong interest in further arts education training.
ACTIVITY 2 – ADMINISTRATORS ARTS RETREAT: March 25 – 27, 2010 The Administrators Arts Retreat imagined in the previous year’s planning during Phase I occurred in Homer, an idyllic setting and community known for the arts along with the fishing, 100 miles south of Anchorage.
In fall 2009 administrators from across Alaska were invited to attend the Arts Retreat via announcements at the state level and through a variety of media, in addition to the publicity at the Principals Conference. 110 applications were downloaded from the AAEC website. The AAEC Executive Director and Board subcommittee made the final selection of participants ensuring that rural and urban, experienced and new, men and women, arts advocates and arts neophytes and elementary and secondary schools would be represented. A pre-retreat survey indicated that they were most interested in learning about why the arts should be included in the “basic” curriculum in a time of heightened accountability.
The Administrators Arts Retreat started with lunch and a visit to award winning McNeill Canyon Elementary School, hosted by Principal Pete Swanson (Alaska Association of Elementary Principals President) and AAEC Teacher Leader Debbie Piper. They highlighted diverse ways that this school has become a proud, arts-focused school. The next day the Retreat participants learned about significant brain research, how the arts have been infused in rural Title One sites and produced improved student achievement, how the Association of Alaska School Boards Community Engagement project has propelled arts learning and deeper community involvement, and how the arts can be integrated into language arts, math and science.
One very important session at the Arts Retreat was a two-hour block of time where all present rated their schools/districts on an Arts Infused Continuum, adapted for Alaska from the Kennedy Center CETA tool (See attachment). They then created Action Plans in 3, 6, and 12 month timeframes, one for what they themselves would do and one for what they needed others to help them to increase the arts in their schools and districts within one year. 83% of the administrators rated this session Excellent – the highest percentage for Retreat sessions overall. During the Retreat participants did hands on, feet on arts activities. An opening dinner hosted by the Homer Council on the Arts, walks along the rocky beaches, conversations over meals, and a gallery talk by visiting international cartoonist Jim Woodring provided nourishment, inspiration and ideas for incorporating any local environment into school curriculum and instruction. By all accounts and every evaluation comment this Retreat was highly regarded, highly effective and much appreciated. Further ideas and revisions to the Growing Arts Education Leaders Action Plan rounded out the Retreat as new leaders were recruited for our growing Arts Leadership Cadre.
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