Attachment 13. Fine Arts. Fine Arts

Transcription

1 Attachment 13 Fine Arts Fine Arts

2 The Bridge to Excellence in Public Schools Act requires that the updated Master Plan shall include goals, objectives, and strategies for Programs in Fine Arts. Local school systems are expected to provide a cohesive, stand-alone response to the prompts and questions outlined below. 1. Describe the progress that was made in toward meeting Programs in Fine Arts goals, strategies, and objectives articulated in the system s Bridge to Excellence (BTE) Master Plan. Visual and Performing Arts Key Strategy I: Improve the capacity of City Schools Visual and Performing Arts Teachers to deliver standardsbased instruction by providing high-quality professional development aligned with the Maryland Standards for Professional Development. Principals had the option of providing site-based professional development in lieu of district-level professional development during the school year. While City Schools offers highquality professional development in the arts disciplines (partially supported by this grant) throughout the school year, individual school principals have the ability to opt into professional development for their staff or to provide PD in their buildings. For schools that do opt in, district wide professional development is mandatory. Despite this possible obstacle, two major developments occurred that kept positive momentum in the arts: (1) many of the schools that opted out of district-level professional development still sent their arts teachers to professional development and (2) the revival of districtwide professional development for theatre teachers. This suggests that principals and teachers found the professional development provided to be of value, and that the PD offered also increased in relevance to teachers. Additionally, the large amount of inclement weather forced the cancellation of one systemic professional development session on Tuesday, February 17, Professional development sessions held this year centered on the topics of development of content and pedagogy. This included teacher facilitators addressing issues pertinent to given content disciplines, for example assessing students in the instrumental music classroom, teaching recorders, the National Core Arts Standards in the Visual Arts classroom (facilitated by Vanessa Lopez, Maryland Institute College of Art and a writing team member for the Standards), and creating safe space in the theatre classroom (facilitated by Rosalind Cauthen at CenterStage). Key Strategy II: Develop and implement City Schools Fine Arts Curriculum aligned with the Maryland State Curriculum and Essential Learner Outcomes, Maryland College and Career-Ready Standards, and National Core Arts Standards.

3 Drafting, feedback, and revision of the district s Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade music and visual arts curricula to align with the Maryland State Curriculum and National Core Arts Standards. o Revision continued on the district music and art curricula. Visual Arts also developed a review protocol. Key Strategy III: Develop existing City Schools visual and performing arts programs and implement new City Schools Visual and Performing Arts Model Programs. Due to the Fair Student Funding model in City Schools, building administrators have the autonomy to determine the structure and nature of arts programming in their building. This has resulted in decreases in the amount of full-time arts teachers in schools (a decrease of 20 full-time equivalent positions from school years to , and a three-year decrease of 69.5 full-time equivalent positions). To combat this downward trend, district guidance to principals was amended during the school year to require at least a half-time certified arts teacher in every building. In addition, City Schools articulated an Arts Plan in to increase student access to arts education experiences. This included (1) increasing student access to certified teachers, (2) leveraging partnerships to increase student access to arts and cultural institutions in Baltimore (a process dubbed Learning Journeys ) and (3) the creation of opportunity pathways in all art forms: this will also address quadrants of the city in which data suggest are underserved. As part of its Arts Plan, City Schools articulated a standard of care with certified teachers, the final goal of which is that every child in grades Pre-Kindergarten through eight will receive 45 minutes in each Visual and Performing Arts each week for the year. The first step in this process was to implement district guidance in which schools were required to provide 45 minutes of weekly instruction in either visual or performing arts for grades two through five with a certified teacher, while preserving current levels of dosage for all other grades. This resulted in the addition of 21.2 full-time equivalent (FTE) arts teacher positions, substantively reversing a fiveyear decline in the numbers of certified arts teachers.

4 For the Learning Journeys program, City Schools, in collaboration with the Arts community at large created and implemented the Learning Journeys process. This included: Creating an online application process Holding a community-wide event on 11/24/2014 that served as a public information session as well as a release for the application Collecting applications Convening a review committee Reviewing applications Making recommendations For Opportunity Pathways, this part of the Plan involved conversations with both City Schools staff as well as arts partners to discuss possibilities of articulating programs that would span ages levels for beginners through graduate. In addition, district festivals were held, including: Choral Adjudications Band Adjudications District String Festival District art exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art 2. Identify the programs, practices, or strategies and related resource allocations that are related to the progress reported in prompt #1. The funds allocated to City Schools through the Fine Arts Initiative Grant supported professional development opportunities, curriculum revision, district music adjudications and art exhibitions, and district wide fine arts festivals throughout the school year. 3. Describe which goals, objectives, and strategies included in the BTE Master Plan were not attained and where challenges in making progress toward meeting Programs in Fine Arts goals and objectives are evident. Visual and Performing Arts

5 Key Strategy I: Improve the capacity of City Schools Visual and Performing Arts Teachers to deliver standardsbased instruction by providing high-quality professional development aligned with the Maryland Standards for Professional Development. Principals had the option of providing site-based professional development in lieu of district-level professional development during the school year. While City Schools offers highquality professional development in the arts disciplines (partially supported by this grant) throughout the school year, individual school principals have the ability to opt into professional development for their staff or to provide PD in their buildings. For schools that do opt in, district wide professional development is mandatory. This has led to a decrease in the number of arts teachers attending professional development sessions in recent years, although these numbers did rise slightly throughout the school year as teachers informed their colleagues of the quality of the sessions. Additionally, the large amount of inclement weather forced the cancellation of one systemic professional development session in February. Key Strategy II: Develop and implement City Schools Fine Arts Curriculum aligned with the Maryland State Curriculum and Essential Learner Outcomes, Maryland College and Career-Ready Standards, and National Core Arts Standards. Drafting, feedback, and revision of the district s Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade music and visual arts curricula to align with the Maryland State Curriculum and National Core Arts Standards. Challenges: It was hoped that these arts curricula would be ready for pilot in the school year. However, the large amount of inclement weather and office capacity delayed the completion of this. Key Strategy III: Develop existing City Schools visual and performing arts programs and implement new City Schools Visual and Performing Arts Model Programs. Due to the Fair Student Funding model in City Schools, building administrators have the autonomy to determine the structure and nature of arts programming in their building. This has resulted in decreases in the amount of full-time arts teachers in schools (a decrease of 20 full-time equivalent positions from school years to , and a three-year decrease of

6 69.5 full-time equivalent positions). To combat this downward trend, district guidance to principals was amended during the school year to require at least a half-time certified arts teacher in every building. This resulted in the addition of 4.4 full-time equivalent positions, suggesting that the change was effective. 4. Describe the goals, objectives, and strategies that will be implemented during and plans for addressing the challenges identified in prompt #3. Include a description of the adjustments that will be made along with related resources to ensure progress toward meeting identified goals, objectives, and strategies. Where appropriate, include timelines. This year s goals represent the leveraging of the Fine Arts Initiative Grant funds to align with the district s Arts Plan. Therefore, the organizational structure of these goals will reflect the components of the plan: (1) arts education with certified teachers, (2) Learning Journeys, and (3) Arts Opportunity Pathways. Arts Education with Certified Teachers Professional Development is a primary focus for arts teachers. Goals for this year will include: Continued district content-specific professional development for music, visual arts, and theatre teachers. Re-introduction of district professional development for dance teachers. Completion and approval of City Schools curricula in visual arts and music in grades Pre-Kindergarten through eight to be submitted for approval by the Board of School Commissioners in spring of Begin drafting high school curricula in visual arts and music Learning Journeys Implementation of three Learning Journeys during the school year: o o o Every child in each grade level will attend pre-experience and post-experience activities in addition to the performance itself. Kindergarten: Enoch Pratt Library/ Young Audiences Grade 6: Walters Art Museum

7 o Grade 12: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Arts Opportunity Pathways Identification of schools to serve as Phase one in a given art form Conversations with arts partners to determine their role within a given opportunity pathway Continued implementation of districtwide concerts and art exhibitions: o Honor Band Concert: Saturday, March 5, 2016 o Band Adjudication Festival: Wednesday, March 23, 2016 o Choral Music Adjudication Festival: Thursday, March 24, 2016 o District String Festival: Saturday, April 23, 2016 o District Honor Choir Concert: Saturday, April 30, 2016 o District Art exhibition: May 18-22, 2016 A. BUDGET INFORMATION AND NARRATIVE Category/ Object Instructional Staff Salaries & Wages Line Item Calculation Amount In-Kind Total Stipends for teacher coordinators of: Honor Band Instrumental Assessment Honor Choir Choir Assessment String Festival FYI Art Exhibition External Exhibitions 7 stipend positions x 50 hours x $30/ hour $10,500 $10,500 Strategy: Opportunity Pathways, Arts Education with Certified Teachers Fixed Charges FICA $12,000 X $ $803.25

8 Instructional Staff Development Contracted Services Instructional Staff Development Supplies Consultants for systemic professional development Strategy: Arts Education with Certified Teachers Supplies for staff development sessions for arts teachers. 7.65% $1,000 per discipline for 4 disciplines (music, art, theatre, dance) $33.38 x 200 teachers $4,000 $4,000 $6, $6, Strategy: Arts education with certified teachers Citywide music festivals contracted services Guest conducting services for citywide music festivals Strategy: Opportunity Pathways 4 conductors x $1,000 $4,000 $4,000 Citywide Music Assessments Contracted Services Materials and Supplies for Citywide festivals Adjudicators for citywide music assessments Strategy: Opportunity Pathways Materials and supplies for citywide music events: Honor Band Honor Choir String festival Art supplies for: Exhibition State exhibitions Strategy: Opportunity Pathways 8 Adjudicators x $250 $1,000 Honor Band $1,000 Honor Choir $2,000 fyi supplies $1,000 Statewide exhibition supplies $600 String $2,000 $2,000 $5,600 $5,600

9 Student Transportation Contracted Services Administration Business Support Services/Transfers Bus transportation to cultural events Strategy: Learning Journeys Indirect Costs festival 70 busses x $303/ bus 2% x direct costs ($55,886) $21,210 $21,210 $1,096 $1,096 TOTAL $55,886 $55,886