Senate Bill 815 requires Fine Arts TEKS

With the passage of SB 815, the TEKS are now required of all Texas school districts when providing instruction in art, dance, music, and theatre.


It is important to note that the Texas Education Agency (TEA) established the Center for Educator Development in Fine Arts (CEDFA) in 1995 to support effective and appropriate implementation of the Fine Arts TEKS in Texas schools. With the passage of SB 815, the potential and value of CEDFA’s mission becomes more significant than ever. Although no longer funded by TEA, CEDFA continues to provide a vast amount of TEKS-related information, products, and resources for fine arts educators, some of which are listed below:

• CEDFA website ( http://www.cedfa.org)
• Fine Arts Curriculum Frameworks for Art, Dance, Music, and Theatre
• Fine Arts TEKS Scope and Sequence Charts for Art, Dance, Music, and Theatre
• Two fine arts instructional video series entitled Portraits of Excellence: Fine Arts in Texas Schools and Proof of Performance: Fine Arts in Texas Schools
• Content Connections document (elementary, middle, and high school levels)
• Instructional video and correlating booklet entitled Fine Arts for All Students

Multi-year Music Training Can Enhance Reading Skills and Literacy

 
Children exposed to a multi-year program of music instruction involving training in increasingly complex rhythmic, tonal, and practical skills display superior cognitive performance in reading skills compared with their non-musically trained peers, according to a study published in the journal Psychology of Music. According to authors Joseph M. Piro and Camilo Ortiz from Long Island University, data from this study will help to clarify the role of music study on cognition and shed light on the question of the potential of music to enhance school performance in language and literacy.
     
The effect of piano lessons on the vocabulary and verbal sequencing
skills of primary grade students.
By: Joseph M. Piro and Camilo Ortiz, Journal Psychology of Music, March 16, 2009.

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Action Planning Template

College Audition Expectations for Entering Freshmen in the Performance Arts Action Planning Template
Goal: Prepare a document recommending a four-year plan for the course of study and extracurricular activities necessary to best prepare high school students desiring to study Fine Arts Performance Degrees in order to win acceptance  and scholarships in colleges which will prepare them to be full-time performers after college.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Contact department chairs/ audition committee members at UNT, TCU, Baylor, SMU, Texas Tech, OCU, UT to discover their audition/entrance requirements for incoming freshman performance majors.	KT	Beginning now, to be completed by October 15, 2010.	Time, telephone contact information, possible face-to-face interview appointments.	Compile the notes and determine if the information is sufficient to proceed with the next level of inquiry. If no, contact more persons or extend the amount of time needed to complete the interviews.
Research strategies to improve student preparation for college entrance performance auditions.	KT	Beginning October 15, continuing until December 1, 2010.	Interviews with college audition/entrance committee members.  Contact currently performing area artists for input. Contact professional performance coaches in the area for input. Check available research at TMEA, Cedfa, to see what has been published in this area.	Prepare a document with the findings.  Determine if further clarification is needed or if the information is sufficient for continuing to the next inquiry.
I will research studies which show the long-term failure/success rates for students in these fields to determine what kind of “back-up” plan these young people should also prepare while in college so they have a career path in the event the performance route doesn’t happen for them.	KT	Beginning December 15, 2010, continuing through January 2010.	Begin at TMEA and Cedfa.  Contact  area schools to see if they have any documentation on the topic. Do an inquiry for related career path ideas which could be studied in tandem with performance coursework.	Prepare a document with the compiled information gathered from the research and inquiries. Determine if more research is needed or if I can proceed to the next level of inquiry.
I will interview our campus Fine and Performing Arts staff, our Counselors, and our Principals to get their recommendations in terms of the best classes we can offer for these students while in high school. During the interviews I will share the documents already prepared and get their feedback and input to recommend best practice.	KT	January/February of 2011.	Conduct interviews with Mike M, Kara W, Michael J, Nancy D, Jim C, Jennifer S, Becky H, Jessica J, Anne F, Justin C, Linda D, Kimberly W, Mark L, Erika C.	Compile the responses.  Share the responses with the entire group of interviewed people for their additional response.  Arrange for a group meeting to make recommendations for a four-year high school course/activity plan.  Make a list of possible/definite conflicts and problems.
Using the list of possible/probable conflict and problems, begin a research inquiry to determine if other districts have already found ways to compensate for these issues.  Begin conversations with the Fine/Performing Arts staff to determine their thoughts for possible solutions to the identified problems.	KT and members of the Fine/ Performance Arts staff.	February and March 2011	Meeting times and locations, reports from other ISD Fine  Arts staff members. McKinney High School Counselor.	Compile the responses. Write a Recommended Four –Year Plan with compensation suggestions for identified problem areas.  Share with the RISD and seek approval for implementation with identified student population or for possible re-evaluation.

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Thoughts designed to improve fluency on my inquiry project...

1. Examining the work: Setting the Foundation – I have determined to use an inquiry in order to provide a comprehensive four-year plan to assist students entering Rockwall High School (and other RISD students) who want to pursue a Performing Arts career. This plan should help not only the students who have this particular educational goal, but also should help our district to provide an exceptional curriculum in our Fine and Performing Arts Department.


2. Analyzing data – I will gather data from Texas colleges (and Oklahoma City University), from research sources like TMEA and Cedfa, from interviews with currently performing artists, and from brainstorming sessions with the RHS Performing Arts staff, counselors, and administrators. With the data, my colleagues and I will be able to determine our best path as we tweak our curriculum and make recommendations for our students to assist them in meeting their education goals.

3. Developing deeper understanding – I’m very excited to be able to convene the Performance Arts Staff, Counselors, and Principals into a focus group. These are all mature, seasoned professionals who have much to offer. Together we should be able to devise exceptional recommendations for our students.

4. Engaging in Self-Reflection – One topic of reflection I will undertake will be to maintain awareness that the goal is to benefit the students, not to impose my own ideas and preferences. I will continue to reflect upon the idea of servant leadership, the goal of proactive communication, and to receive new ideas as possible evidence of positive growth rather than as a threat to what has always been perceived as “the best”.

5. Exploring Programmatic Patterns – Before beginning to make interview calls, I will carefully plan the questions I want to ask, and will leave time in each interview to allow the person being interviewed to suggest ideas I haven’t thought to include. Before convening the focus group I will distribute the compiled notes and the list of interview questions so these professionals will have the opportunity to reflect on the topics before we begin to work together.

6. Determining direction – The focus group will be a very strong ensemble to evaluate the research data and formulate appropriate responses. This team will work collaboratively both within the meetings and in small groups between meetings.

7. Taking action for school improvement – I will use the action research template to help me maintain good organization and a timeline for action.

Sustaining improvement – One of my own goals is to continue to re-assess on a regular basis even after this particular project reaches its original conclusion. Just as curriculum should be regularly revisited, so also should the best practices for preparing our students for their lifework be continuously examined and improved.

Research Action Topic

I plan to conduct research in order to define a preparation plan for secondary students who desire to pursue a Performance (music, dance, theater, visual art) Degree in college in order to become professional musicians or stage performers. These students are required to audition not only for college scholarship opportunities but also for admission into these programs of study, so they must be prepared as incoming freshmen to audition before any college training has occurred. Our high school has been able to provide only “hit or miss” help for these students in recent years and the competition at the colleges is very strong, making it very difficult for an entering student to gain acceptance without a well-planned high school preparation experience.


I intend to contact the most prestigious area colleges (UNT, SMU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma City U, Baylor, UT, TCU) in order to discover their audition and admission requirements and expectations. This information is not always clearly defined in written form, but will come from conversations with the campus leaders. Even though many of our students will audition out of state, their chances in other states are often better than here in Texas because Texas has exceptionally strong high school music programs.

Then, I will research the best strategies for improving the chances of admission for our talented students, and for improving the chances of admission for our students with less natural talent but super work ethic. In addition, I will research studies which show the long-term failure/success rates for students in these fields to determine what kind of “back-up” plan these young people should also prepare while in college so they have a career path in the event the performance route doesn’t happen for them.

After I get answers from the first three areas of research, I will interview our campus Fine and Performing Arts staff, our Counselors, and our Principals to get their recommendations in terms of the best classes we can offer for these students while in high school. Using this information, I will write a recommended coursework and activity four-year plan (including performances, recitals, extra-curricular competitions, etc.) to best prepare these students for success.

It is highly likely we will discover that our students will need additional electives and training either not currently offered, or which will mean “more” classes than the students can get and stay within the current graduation requirements. If that is the case, I will recommend ways to achieve these goals by looking into some “creative” ways to provide the needed coursework. McKinney ISD is currently offering some very creative ways to make more courses available for high school students without their having to take summer school every year and should provide at least one resource for this question.

Literacy and Fluency

In my classes this year I am emphasizing the need for "fluency".  Thinking in terms of understanding music, I am encouraging my students to go beyond general knowledge and the basic "I get it" to building the necessary skills to be fluent in using the general knowledge and applying the understanding.  The AP Music Theory students are loving this concept!  As they work on major and minor scales, and on recognizing and naming intervals they are realizing that until they practice these skills and concepts they don't know them well enough to be able to move up to another level of applying these skills to building tonalities, to writing and analyzing scores, and to being able to "hear" with their eyes and "see" with their ears.  Our new mantra is "Hear, Sing, Notate"! and we are inspired to do more, to practice more, to become fluent.

As I reflect upon building these lessons for my students I realize that this is the very literacy  -- or FLUENCY --  which I desire for myself.  Building skill upon skill creates the very desirable state of being fluent in that discipline.

School administrators use blogs for personal expression, to gain insight, and to keep track of data.

Since blogs are a venue for expressing one's personal thoughts and reflections, creating a document to share with others is a powerful tool for modeling educational philosophy.  In a blog a school principal can chronical his thoughts over a period of time and then return at a later date to revisit those thoughts in the quest for insight into choices and decisions made.  It can also be part of the process to gain insight to link the blog to the blogs of  posters with similar material, or to open one's blog to comments.  Sharing one's blog with colleagues and students is very fine way to be visible within the learning community.

A blog can also be used to keep track of data by using questionaires and surveys.

Literacy defines a goal... what I've learned about advocacy research.

Grace Slick said, “Through literacy you can begin to see the universe. Through music you can reach anybody. Between the two there is you, unstoppable.”   In 1994 on International Literacy Day President  Bill Clinton said,  “Literacy is not a luxury, it is a right and a responsibility. If our world is to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century we must harness the energy and creativity of all our citizens.”   Both these statements give some insight into what I've learned about advocacy research.

According to Nancy Dana, in her book Leading with Passion and Knowledge : The Principal as Action Researcher,   principals who engage in administrative inquiry benefit in at least three ways.  They can encourage the use of best practices in their schools, become role models for learning to their staff and their students, and they surround themselves with other professionals in meaningful ways, which helps the principal to reduce the natural isolation of the role of being the principal. 

Using administrative inquiry wasn't always the way principals were allowed to function.  Historically, principals were expected to manage schools using someone else's directives, usually those coming from the upper administration of the school system.  As schools began transforming into the current model, leading researchers in the field of educational administration found that the increasing diversity in our society and in student characteristics required adjustments in the internal workings of school. (Ken Leithwood and Carolyn Riehl 2003)  Earlier principals did not have access to the tools available to current administrators.

As President Clinton commented about literacy, Dana agrees that Principal inquiry helps today's administrator take charge of something important he can own and control, helps calm the frantic pace of the school day, and  helps to make a positive impact upon the school's community.  Just as literacy is not a luxury, neither is time spent by the principal to develop insight, to nurture inclusion, and to contemplate the best path for helping teachers and students succeed.

Since most school administrators are already busy with "too much", the issue becomes one of finding time to engage in inquiry (research).  Dana recommends putting the concept of inquiry into the same category as "exercise" ... just as a healthy individual must find time to eat well and fit physical exercise into his day, so should an administrator plan ways to engage in  inquiry.

So, as an administrator, how will I use what I've learned?  Think of Bobby McFerrin singing "Don't Worry, Be Happy".  A change of approach to the school day, to the school's mission, to the school's patterns, and to my responsibilities to the students and staff opens countless ways to be creative, to schedule time for reflection, and to interact with others.  The nature of the daily challenges will define the topics for inquiry, and the leadership teams on campus will provide the co-workers.  We can engage in learning together, or as Senge said, "unless teams can learn, the organization cannot learn".