Arts educationpartnership

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Education NationThe Arts as Leading Edges of

Innovation in our Schools

“Transforming Urban School Systems Through the Arts”

Arts Education PartnershipSan Francisco, CA • September 16, 2011

Milton Chen, Ph.D.Senior Fellow

George Lucas Educational Foundationmilton.chen@edutopia.org

Imagine an Education Nation…

A learning society where education of children is the highest priority, on par with a strong economy, high employment, and national security.

Education is the critical investment for a nation’s future, not a cost.

The U.S. an Education Nation?

• Of 50 1st-grade students behind in reading, 44 still behind in 4th-grade

• A HS student drops out every 26 seconds,6,000 each day (Tough Choices or Tough Times, 2006)

• CA students 1 year behind U. S. average, 2-3 years behind best states (NAEP 2007, 8th-gr. math)

• Closing the gap could contribute $2 trillion per year in GDP (McKinsey & Co., 2010)

“The New Australia: Most Advanced Educational System in the World?”

Broadband. 1:1 Programs.

Asian Proximity. English-speaking.

Democracy. Rule of Law. Respect for IP.

Mark R. AndersonStrategic News Service, 2009

Redesigning a New Educational System: Schools Can’t Do It Alone

A “ladder of learning” from pre-K through “gray” blending formal and informal learning through schools, universities, media, museums, libraries, companies, churches, youth groups, parks, and more

• Innovation: The Key to an Education Nation

• A “Must Do,” Not Just “Nice to Know”

• Internet Time: Google 13 Years Old, YouTube 6 Years

• Every Minute, 24 Hours of New YouTube Video

“Average students learn subject matter in a third or less of

present time, pleasurably rather than painfully.”

George Leonard, Education and Ecstasy, 1967

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6 Leading Edges of K-12 Innovation

1. Thinking

2. Curriculum & Assessment

3. Technology

4. Time/Place

5. Co-Teaching

6. Youth

The arts are not something to add to the plate.

The arts are the plate!

The key to student engagement.

And communicating what students know and can do.

1. The Thinking Edge

Arts & 4th-Grade Reading CrisisOpening Minds Through the Arts

(OMA), Tucson

3. The Technology Edge

• Weapons of Mass Instruction, 1:1 edutopia.org/maine-project-learning- schools-that-work

• iPod, iListen, iRead sites.google.com/a/eusd.org/eusd-iread/

• Online Learning edutopia.org/stw-online-learning- new-breakthroughs

• Wiki-Based 8th-Gr. US History

• Intelligent Text

• Assistive Tech/Universal Design

3. The Technology Edge

Online Mentoring: Acme Animation, Los Angeles

4. The Time/Place Edge

• Schools as “Prisoners of Time”

www2.ed.gov/pubs/PrisonersOfTime/Prisoners.html

• A New Day for Learning, Beyond the Bell

www.newdayforlearning.org

• Place-Based Learning: Museums, Libraries, Parks, Gardens

5. The Teaching Edge: Co-Teaching

• Parents as Co-Educators

• Linking Home, School, Many Learning Places

• Experts as Co-Educators: Artists, Librarians, Scientists, Historians, Architects, Writers

• Students as Peer Teachers

6. The Greatest Edge: Today’s Youth

• 95% of Stakeholders

• Digital Natives Carrying Change in their Pockets

• Generation YES: Students as TAs genyes.org

• Edutopia’s Digital Generation edutopia.org/digital-generation

edutopia.org/digital-generation

edutopia.org/digital-generation

edutopia.org/digital-generation

edutopia.org/digital-generation

What’s your definition of a great school?

Make it short and measurable!

Do the kids run in at the same rate they run out?