The State of Arizona has a relatively strong arts education policy infrastructure dating back to the 1960’s. The issue is not with policy per se, but in how policy is (or is not) implemented at the local level. The Arizona SP3 Team therefore, pursued a three-pronged plan to impact the implementation of state arts education policy. Specifically, the Arizona team  worked to create sustainable partnerships among arts education advocates and the general education advocacy  structure of the state; worked to build out Arizona Citizens for the Arts’s (AzCA) Voter Voice software to include school district overlays for the purposes of grassroots advocacy; and worked in partnership with a variety of education and community stakeholders to influence the state’s accountability model for schools to support a comprehensive and complete curriculum for all students, including the arts. In addition, the team created two new websites to support arts education within the state: https://www.arizonatitle1arts.org/, providing the state level rationale for how Title I funds can be used in support of arts integration , and http://azartsstandards.org/ - an interactive website for the state’s newly adopted 2015 Arts Standards. The team also supported two data reports on arts education in the state – the 2014 update to the 2010 Arts Census and a forthcoming 2017 update.

Read the case study about Arizona’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of Arizona.

Explore the supplemental materials from Arizona.
 

As a result of the SP3 initiative, arts advocates in Arkansas established a statewide arts advocacy organization that is successfully promoting the arts, arts education, and the state’s creative economy. This new organization, Arkansans for the Arts, is bringing together a committed group of stakeholders, including arts, economic, and government leaders, to promote and advance the creative economy, transform policy in arts education, and unite the state with a call to action by policy makers to increase investment in the arts.  Arkansans for the Arts began by partnering with the Arkansas Department of Education and the Arkansas Arts Council to ensure that the 2014 Arkansas Fine Arts Academic Standards were effectively implemented in classrooms throughout the state. The success of the standards implementation project inspired a new partnership. The University of Arkansas hosted two productive regional roundtables about arts education and creative place making, with additional regional meetings being leveraged as a result. Arkansans for the Arts is also participating in policy discussions surrounding the Every Student Succeeds Act and state legislation that effects the arts and art education. Moving forward, Arkansans for the Arts seeks to establish regional task forces for arts advocacy.

Read the case study about Arkansas’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of Arkansas.

Explore the supplemental materials from Arkansas.
 

During the past three years, the California Alliance for Arts Education has made significant strides in shifting the educational policy landscape so that schools may embrace arts programs among their strategies for achieving the goals of Title I. After holding a series of regional meetings across the state with education stakeholders, the Alliance developed and launched the online resource title1arts.org; worked with the CDE to release a new letter outlining the appropriate uses of federal funding to support arts education; developed a series of short films that could be used for advocacy and technical assistance around Title I; and created a leadership cohort of county arts administrators to help connect the work with school leaders.  The Alliance is also working with a number of other states to share and develop new resources around Title I.

Read the case study about California’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of California.

Explore the supplemental materials from California.
 

The Massachusetts SP3 team initially sought to set a policy that would require one year of high school arts education as an admission criterion to the state’s public four-year universities, develop and implement a “Creativity and Innovation Index,” and foster STEAM education development.  The focus shifted in year three due to the opportunity to revise the state’s education accountability plan via the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Through a widespread and expanded coalition of nine state, local, and non-profit agencies under the leadership of Arts|Learning and MASSCreative, the group was successful in advocating for the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) to have arts access and participation data listed on every school’s public profile ‘report card’ on the ESE website starting in 2018. Additionally, ESE agreed to begin the revision of the state’s Arts Curriculum Framework, last revised in 1999. Other members of the Coalition include the MA Cultural Council, the Arts and Equity Coordinator of the ESE, the Boston Public Schools, EdVestors, MassINC, Young Audiences of MA, and Project LEARN.

Read the case study about Massachusetts’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of Massachusetts.

Explore the supplemental materials from Massachusetts.
 

Since 2009, Michigan arts education advocates have come together to; convene a Michigan Arts Education Roundtable to unify arts education organizations from around the state, develop and advance a 2010 Arts Education Policy Agenda which was endorsed by more than a dozen statewide organizations; and release a 2012 Arts Education Census which provided baseline information about student access to arts education and the quality of instruction. In recent years, state education priorities in addition to transitions in a majority of the leading arts education advocacy positions have left the arts education community without a united champion. The Michigan SP3 team, led by Creative Many Michigan, intends on developing a framework to once again bring together the arts advocacy community and a new, broader set of stakeholders to; reconvene and reconstruct the Michigan Arts Education Roundtable, establish an ongoing collection of state data to better define the quality, reach, instruction and access to arts education in Michigan, and develop a statewide public will building campaign that includes unifying messaging, advocacy tools, and guidance documents to activate decision makers to support arts education in Michigan.

Read the case study about Michigan’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of Michigan.

Explore the supplemental materials from Michigan.
 

Minnesota has worked over the past decade to put in place policies that support arts education including: required K-12 academic standards in the arts; a requirement for assessing student achievement; teacher licensure in arts areas; required competencies in the arts for elementary classroom teachers; and requirements in the arts for higher education admission; and more.  Rather than work to create any new policies, the MN SP3 team focused on implementing the existing policy on Teacher Development and Evaluation. The newly created SP3 Leadership Team united members of the professional arts education organizations and the Department of Education with the Perpich Center for Arts Education. The Leadership Team served as a statewide source of knowledge and assistance to gather data and develop new resources for use in the teacher development and evaluation process. The Leadership Team convened arts educators in each arts area to write a key resource, called ARTS TEACHER DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION: WHAT TO LOOK FOR (in Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theater and Visual Arts). The “Look Fors” are available on both the Perpich Center for Arts Education and MN Department of Education’s websites. They are useful for arts educators to communicate what quality instructional practices look like in arts classrooms as well as for evaluators to use in the teacher evaluation process.

Read the case study about Minnesota’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of Minnesota.

Explore the supplemental materials from Minnesota.

The New Jersey SP3, led by the NJ Arts Education Partnership (NJAEP), used the three-year pilot program to advocate for increased local participation and instruction in arts programs in support of a long-term collective impact strategy for arts education in the State of New Jersey under the banner ARTS ED NOW. Specifically, some key outcomes used to achieve this plan include a public awareness campaign branded ARTS ED NOW; the development of local advocacy campaigns to improve education policies; a focus on increased use of data assets for arts education on a local level; and the development and implementation of a school board candidate survey platform. In addition, the NJAEP has expanded their Direct Services so that they might provide local districts with strategic planning support for the development of arts education plans, professional development, policy, and long-term sustainability.

Read the case study about New Jersey’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of New Jersey.

Explore the supplemental materials from New Jersey.

North Carolina focused their efforts on the remaining goals of the state’s Comprehensive Arts Education Plan such as: developing strategies for engaging and guiding stakeholders and increase communication with consistent messaging and multifaceted networking; implement a strategic effort to pass a graduation requirement for the arts; and to protect and expand public sector funding for arts education. Also during the program, the team navigated the state’s political climate which had significant changes in political leadership: a new governor, a new secretary of the DNCR, a new superintendent of public schools, and the passage of House Bill 2.

Read the case study about North Carolina’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of North Carolina.

Explore the supplemental materials from North Carolina.
 

Oklahoma convened a task force of education professionals from rural and urban communities across the state; compiled and analyzed data reflecting the current arts education situation; and developed a plan with specific action steps. The main goal of this task force is to analyze communities where arts education is currently strong, lacking, or not offered and identify a list of priorities and actions for Oklahoma schools.

Read the case study about Oklahoma’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of Oklahoma.

Explore the supplemental materials from Oklahoma.
 

In 2008, Wyoming was part of the Arts Education Data Collection survey, a four-state report on the status of arts education in Montana, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming.  Yet, for the State of Wyoming there was little follow-up and all arts education efforts lost steam; leading to the question of where does Wyoming stand with regard to arts education now? The Wyoming SP3 team had a twofold plan: first, to design and implement a state wide data collection project; and second, to follow that with a strategic action plan to inform the work of a task force. The team was a partnership between the Wyoming Arts Alliance, the Wyoming Department of Education, and the Wyoming Arts Council. Despite significant staffing changes and data collection hurdles experienced over the three year pilot project, the Wyoming SP3 team was able to move forward in addressing both their initial goals, as well as additional goals that surfaced based on newly identified needs and opportunities—working towards building a stronger arts education in Wyoming.

Read the case study about Wyoming’s work in the State Policy Pilot Program.

Read the project narrative about the policy and advocacy context of Wyoming.

Explore the supplemental materials from Wyoming.