Mark Slavkin

A Recipe for Success in the New World of the Common Core

Posted by Mark Slavkin, Sep 12, 2012


Mark Slavkin

Mark Slavkin

The latest wave of national school reform—the Common Core State Standards—provides a new set of opportunities and challenges for arts education. Having experienced several prior waves of school reform, I must admit to a certain degree of cynicism.

If history is any guide, we will over-promise on the impact of these standards and under-invest in providing teachers the tools and support they will need to be effective. Still, there are important opportunities to consider.

Advocates behind the Common Core suggest this new approach will emphasize critical thinking and analysis, and move us behind the fragmented curriculum standards where content is a mile wide and only an inch deep. This would be a positive change. Further, the Common Core initiative aspires to a new system of testing that would replace the multiple choice format with more authentic assessments using online technologies. This too could be a step forward.

It is tempting for providers of arts education programs to simply stamp the phrase “aligned with Common Core” over our existing curricular resources. This would be a mistake and a lost opportunity. Instead, I would suggest we look for ways to join the many planning processes underway in our respective states and local school districts. We should be at those tables along with other educators as we all grapple with the challenges of “implementing” the Common Core. Such collaborations can lead to a stronger place for arts and arts integration as the Common Core rolls out.

Once we join the planning tables as advocates for arts education, I would suggest a degree of humility is in order. Common Core is new for all of us. We have much to learn and consider before we claim “arts programs already support this!” Here are some questions we might ask ourselves:

How much reading do students do in my arts program? How much do I know about texts they are reading in other courses? What are the most appropriate texts I would want students to read to deepen their understanding of art history, art criticism, or aesthetic considerations?

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Mark Slavkin

Imperatives for Arts Education

Posted by Mark Slavkin, Sep 13, 2010


Mark Slavkin

Mark Slavkin

If you care about arts education, you must be in the advocacy business.

Until such time as the arts are fully embedded in every American school system, we have to be energetic in making the case.  We cannot leave this work to a handful of "advocacy organizations."

In recent years I have been pleased to see our field become more sophisticated in this regard.  More arts education supporters understand we need both "top-down" and "bottom-up" support. Through federal, state, and school district policy and funding commitments we can influence change at a large-scale or systemic basis.

At the same time, we realize the need to provide hands-on support and resources and the classroom and school site level. As we toggle back and forth between broad policy support and technical assistance in schools, we need to be careful that we frame the right arguments for the right settings.

In thinking about our advocacy strategies, it struck me that our underlying goal is to create an imperative for policymakers and educators to expand their commitment to arts education. How can we create forces that are so compelling that change will happen on a consistent basis, and not be left to individual personal preferences? I see three primary imperatives: the "values" imperative, the "political" imperative, and the "instructional" imperative.  I am concerned we have put too many eggs in the first two baskets, and too few in the third.

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Mark Slavkin

Cultivating School District Leadership

Posted by Mark Slavkin, Sep 16, 2010


Mark Slavkin

Mark Slavkin

Arts for All: the Los Angeles County Regional Blueprint for Arts Education is working to strengthen arts education in the 81 school districts in our county. These districts enroll 1.7 million K-12 students - more than many states. The effort is "housed" at the County Arts Commission, with essential leadership from the County Office of Education and other key stakeholders.  None of this would be possible without the remarkable support of our Board of Supervisors.

As part of this effort, I was pleased to work with a retired superintendent, Ira Toibin, to produce a "Leadership Fellows" program for the superintendent, assistant superintendent for instruction, and arts coordinator from five of the participating school districts. We met over the course of a school year as a whole group, in job-alike sessions, and in site visits to each district. This work was made possible in part through a generous grant from the Wallace Foundation.

I want to share some of the lessons learned to help inform future advocacy at the school district level, as opposed to the school site or classroom.

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Mark Slavkin

Helping Students Find Their Own Voices in the Arts

Posted by Mark Slavkin, Sep 12, 2011


Mark Slavkin

Mark Slavkin

As advocates for arts education, we try to stay flexible and timely in our rationale and arguments. We want to be current and relevant about the latest studies and trends.

If “21st century skills” are in vogue, we can show the relevance of arts learning. If the talk is about the primacy of science, technology, engineering, and math, we are quick to suggest we add the arts and make STEM become STEAM. And if the focus is on the economy and jobs, we stand ready to make the case for how learning in the arts prepares young people for a wealth of future job opportunities.

I worry that our advocacy and rhetoric may get ahead of the reality of our practice. Are we really delivering on all the benefits we promise?

While advocacy is essential, I wish we devoted as much time to sharing with each other about the nuts and bolts of classroom practice. Perhaps we could even display some humility about what we can deliver and what is not quite ready for prime time.

This brings me to the topic of careers in the arts. Our advocacy often refers to an economic imperative for arts education. Here in California we talk about the direct application of skills learned in arts education to jobs in the arts and the broader creative economy.

We also suggest that arts education cultivates a range of skills that will be valuable across all economic sectors, such as creativity, collaboration, and innovation.

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Mark Slavkin

Cultivating the Next Generation of Teaching Artists

Posted by Mark Slavkin, Sep 14, 2011


Mark Slavkin

Mark Slavkin

When we consider careers in the arts, I would like to see more attention paid and resources assigned to cultivate the next generation of teaching artists.

At the Los Angeles Music Center, teaching artists are central to our work helping schools gain capacity to provide quality arts education. Our teaching artists provide inspiration and support for teachers to develop the courage, confidence, and skills to engage their students in meaningful learning in and through the arts. As “real artists” the teaching artists bring a different sensibility than students may experience in a typical school.

In spite of the central role teaching artists play in our work and that of many other organizations around the country, it seems these opportunities are not showcased as part of the core curriculum in most college level arts programs.

How can young artists aspire to a career they do not know even exists? Even in those cases when students are introduced to the idea of becoming a teaching artist, it is often in the context of “service learning” as opposed to an integral part of the life of a professional artist.

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