ARTS EDUCATION COLLABORATIVE : STUDENT RESOURCES

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Parent Resources

AEC Publications:

High Quality Education in the Arts: A Handbook for Parents

Cover Image of High Quality Education in the Arts: A Handbook for Parents Arts educators are often called upon to be proponents of their disciplines. While individuals outside of the sector may think the arts are important, many feel they lack the level of comfort necessary to clearly articulate the importance of the arts to others in a meaningful way. Of those individuals, many are parents who may not have had experiences that provide them with these insights. The creation of state standards added an additional level of stigma to those trying to maintain appropriate expectations for students in the arts. With an understanding of the predicament of these parents, the Arts Education Collaborative began to look for a way to provide parents with a tool that would better equip them to go into the schools of their children and determine the quality of the education that was offered there.

Combining the efforts of more than 20 arts educators, administrators, and professionals in the region over the course of two-years, the AEC sought to create a product that would provide parents with an introduction to the Pennsylvania Standards for the Arts and Humanities. The resulting Parent Handbook, High Quality Education in the Arts: A Handbook for Parents, seeks to serve as a guide to demonstrate how these standards might be implemented in a school’s curriculum, and to help them assess the degree to which the school provides opportunities for children to meet the standards. Endorsed by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Pennsylvania PTA, and the Division of Standards and Curriculum, Bureau of Teaching and Learning Support of the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the handbook also includes information about how parents can support, improve, and advocate for arts programs in the schools.

For more information on how to obtain copies for your PTA, PTO, PTG, Booster organization, department, or other group, please contact the AEC at info@artsedcollaborative.org or 412-201-7405.

Samples from the Parent Handbook

Audio/Video Excerpts from Parent Handook

Below are links to a few pages from the Parent Handbook. Please note that these excerpts are in PDF format and you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to be able to read it. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer, you can download it for free here.

Parent Handbook Introduction

Excerpt of Grade 3

Excerpt of Grade 6

For the front and back cover, click here.

To hear and view performances of the musical pieces referred to in the parent handbook, follow these links (page numbers refer to the handbook):

Page 11: A third grade class wrote an acrostic poem (the first letters of each line spell a word), then wrote music for it. Each line was recorded as an "ostinato" (a repeated melodic or rhythmic pattern), using either voices or instruments. The teacher used sequencing software to layer the ostinati (pural of ostinato) for the final product. Click here for the excerpt.

Page 21: Mark S., who has cerebral palsy, composes music using both commercial and assistive technology. He created “American Tour” on Sibelius music composition software, which he accesses through head switches attached to a Dynavox communication device. Click here for the excerpt.

Page 25: After participating in a durmming experience, students complete a self-assessment based on criteria established by the class reflecting topics of study. Click here to view the drumming experience.

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Other Resources:

Tips For Parent Advocacy from The NAEA
http://www.naea-reston.org/pdf/Parent.pdf

No Child Left Behind: A Parents Guide
provided by the U.S. Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/nclbguide/parentsguide.pdf

Six Things Parents Can Do to Improve Arts Education in Their Childs School
http://www.pta.org/pr_magazine_article_details_1117634832531.html

Parent Involvment in Promoting Arts Education
http://www.pta.org/pr_magazine_article_details_1117567150375.html

More Art, Please! An article, by Marilyn Anderson
provided by the National PTA
http://www.pta.org/pr_magazine_article_details_1117563990234.html

Art Education Programs and Advocacy in Action
http://www.pta.org/pr_magazine_article_details_1117205202593.html

K-12 and Institutes of Higher Learning with the PA Department of Education EdNA (Educator Name and Address) Resource Site
http://edna.ed.state.pa.us/

The Pennsylvania Governor's Schools of Excellence
http://pgse.cis.drexel.edu/

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A collage of photos from an arts seminar