Reaching and Teaching the Whole Child:  Music Education at Portland’s David Douglas School District

Among the hundreds of parents, teachers, artists and arts organization leaders who have advocated tirelessly for the establishment of the Arts Education & Access Fund is David Douglas School District Elementary Music Teacher, Val Ellett. Val’s personal story is a powerful example of how much we can accomplish by making music and the arts part of the core curriculum in our schools – as the David Douglas School District has done. And her words remind us why it is so critical that we  continue advocating to ensure that the Arts Education & Access Fund reaches every classroom and community that it was intended to serve.

My name is Val Ellett, and I am a general music K-5 teacher in the David Douglas school district. I have been teaching music for 17 years. I am also on the board of the Oregon Music Education Association and a performing member of The Portland Wind Symphony.

David Douglas school district is located in southeast Portland and serves over 10,000 students in grades K through 12. Of these students, nearly 24 percent are English language learners. At last count, our district had about 76 different languages spoken. We also have a very high population of students who receive free or reduced lunch, title one services, and other medical and social services.

David Douglas has always maintained a strong commitment to music education. We’ve created and maintained a district‐wide common music curriculum and assessments, which hold true to the National Association for Music Education’s guidelines that music education is a core subject area not “an extra”.

In my own school, there is a very diverse population of student needs. We have students who are learning the English language and students who function in music classes despite facing challenging issues like as autism, spinal injuries, birth defects, diabetes, attention deficit disorder, depression, blindness, and even homelessness. Yet, every single day I get the joy of seeing these students come into my classroom and all of the world fades away while they get to experience, and learn, and do music. Music is the great equalizer.

Every child in every elementary school in Portland can be engaged in this same way. They can be singing, playing instruments, moving to music, reading and writing music, composing and arranging music (yes, even in kindergarten!), analyzing and critiquing music, and experiencing music from many different cultures and time periods.

As I plan my lessons every day, I insure daily opportunities for students to reinforce language and literacy skills and reinforce basic math skills. My music lessons often help connect the two sides of the brain and provides sensory experiences to help improve both fine and gross motor control. I offer opportunities to increase listening skills, develop historical and cultural background knowledge, and foster cooperation and teamwork.

Two months ago, I had a mom email me, telling me that her son (who was new to our school) was struggling with wanting to go to school. She told me something amazing… on the days that he had music class, he lit up, and jumped out of bed, and was delighted to got to school  that day. For certain, music class helps provide disconnected kids get a connection to school and learning because elementary music teachers are the whole school’s teacher.

Over the years, I figure I’ve taught music to over 10,000  students. If it weren’t for the continued funding to keep music education a part of their core curriculum, that would be ten thousand kids who may never have found their voice through music education.

There are about that same amount of students in Portland who would so greatly benefit from having music taught to them as part of their core curriculum.

We need to teach to the whole child.

We need to think about our future, and we need to catch up with what the rest of the world already knows.

I believe that music and the arts are the most powerful force a community can invest in.

Your Advocacy Makes a Difference

Last November, Portland voters overwhelmingly supported the establishment of the Arts Education & Access Fund to restore arts teachers to every Portland elementary school and increase access to the arts citywide. Please join us in advocating that Portland City Council act quickly and thoughtfully to shore up and secure Portland’s new Arts Tax. We want to ensure that it is successfully and efficiently collected and distributed to the classrooms and communities that it was designed to reach. E-mail Portland City Council today and share your perspective on the importance of honoring the will of the voters and investing our tax dollars in arts education and access:

Mayor Charlie Hales         Commissioner Nick Fish         Commissioner Amanda Fritz         Commissioner Steve Novick         Commissioner Dan Saltzman

Teach me by Lauren Steele

On June 27, 2012, Portland City Council unanimously voted to refer the Arts Education & Access Fund to the ballot for voter approval. Before the vote to refer, hundreds of citizens gathered outside City Hall and in Council Chambers to urge City Council to restore access to the arts in Portland’s classrooms and communities. Many of the testimonials were awe-inspiring but this spoken word performance by Jefferson High School student Lauren Steele was simply unforgettable. Lauren’s words remind us why Portland voted to enact this groundbreaking new fund. And why it is so critical that we continue advocating to ensure that the Arts Education & Access Fund reaches every classroom and community that it was intended to serve.

I bang on these tables and I spit to the beat / Knowing this is the only place art and education meet / This space between my palms and this graffitied up desk / Is where dozens of lost talents have been laid to rest

Books raggedy and torn barely serving any use / The seams of our school system are slowly coming loose / Disturbingly vacant band rooms ringing with music unplayed / Wood rotted dance studios dances unmade

Shake your head at our generation for we will do nothing great / Street corners and welfare offices hold our fate / Minority schools living up to the way you display them / Sports scholarships the only way / But ain’t no money to play them

Headphones hidden under hoodies disguising our creative fix / Lord knows real life and school life ain’t never supposed to mix / Private schools snickering at our illiteracy and test scores / Fueling a fire of insecurity / Trust me I want to know more

Teach me / Understand my troubles try to reach me / Teach me / Take these inaccuracies out my speech please / The right to education is to each, see / Teach me

You can’t leave our education in the hands of a few few folks with degrees / We are all perfectly capable of achieving what this system needs / I’m tired of artless, colorless schools same syllabus every year / Don’t support your future leaders and your future is unclear

Your answers to worldly crises could lie in this city / There are young potential heroes in need of more than just your pity / So Im’a stand up here in hopes of contributing to this fight / Cause maybe with a little help, our generation will get it right

–Lauren Steele

Watch and listen to Lauren read her poem here.

Your Advocacy Makes a Difference

Last November, Portland voters overwhelmingly supported the establishment of the Arts Education & Access Fund to restore arts teachers to every Portland elementary school and increase access to the arts citywide. Please join us in advocating that Portland City Council act quickly and thoughtfully to shore up and secure Portland’s new Arts Tax. We want to ensure that it is successfully and efficiently collected and distributed to the classrooms and communities that it was designed to reach. E-mail Portland City Council today and share your perspective on the importance of honoring the will of the voters and investing our tax dollars in arts education and access:

Mayor Charlie Hales         Commissioner Nick Fish         Commissioner Amanda Fritz         Commissioner Steve Novick         Commissioner Dan Saltzman

Preparing Students for the Next America:  The Benefits of An Arts Education

In April, the Creative Advocacy Network participated in the Arts Education Partnership’s (AEP) national forum in Washington, D.C. where we learned from and shared ideas with the nation’s foremost leaders in arts education.  A highlight was Boston Public Schools Superintendent Carol Johnson, who said: “Arts alone can’t transform public schools, but there are no great schools without great arts programs.”

The AEP is dedicated to securing a high-quality arts education for every young person in America and, at the forum, they released a research brief that highlights and summarizes how the arts support achievement in our schools, develop skills for a 21st century workforce, and enrich the lives of our children and our communities.  Below is an abridged version – please see the full report to read more.

The arts prepare students for success in school.

Arts instruction and arts integrated instruction – lessons teaching skills and content of an art and non-art subject in tandem – engage students and increase learning and achievement.  Arts education:

• Boosts literacy and English Language Arts (ELA) skills. Arts education helps students become better readers and writers.
• Advances math achievement. Students who study the arts, especially music, outperform their non-arts peers on mathematics assessments.
• Engages students in school and motivates them to learn.  Arts education helps make learning matter to students by giving them a medium to connect new knowledge to personal experiences and express what they have learned to others.
• Develops critical thinking. In a world where students must frequently wade through a sea of information to determine which facts are trustworthy and relevant to a particular topic, critical thinking skills are key to college readiness and lifelong learning.
• Improves school culture. Arts education helps foster a positive culture and climate in schools.

The arts prepare students for success in work.

• Arts education develops thinking skills and capacities key to success in the 21st Century workforce.  Arts education:
• Equips students to be creative. Arts education develops creativity, one fo the top five skills employers prize for the 21st Century.
• Strengthens problem solving ability. The arts develop reasoning skills that prepare students to solve problems.
• Builds collaboration and communication skills. In the arts, students learn to articulate their intentions, receive and offer constructive criticism, and listen actively to others’ ideas.
• Increases capacity for leadership. Students who participate in the arts develop leadership skills, including decision-making, strategy building, planning, and reflection.

The arts prepare students for success in life.

• Arts education prepares students to engage meaningfully in their communities.  Arts education:
• Strengthen perseverance. Arts education develops students’ capacity to persist in the face of a challenge.
• Facilitates cross-cultural understanding. Arts experiences foster pro-social behaviors and social tolerance that help prepare students for life in an increasingly global and culturally diverse world.
• Builds community and supports civic engagement. Arts programs foster a sense of community among participants that support their personal, artistic, civic, and social development.
• Fosters a creative community. Students who study the arts in their school years are more likely to engage with the arts in later life as consumers, performers, or creators than their peers who receive no arts education.

Stay informed. Connect with Others. Get Involved. Tie it all together.

Your Advocacy Makes a Difference

Last November, Portland voters overwhelmingly supported the establishment of the Arts Education & Access Fund to restore arts teachers to every Portland elementary school and increase access to the arts citywide. Please join us in advocating that Portland City Council act quickly and thoughtfully to shore up and secure Portland’s new Arts Tax. We want to ensure that it is successfully and efficiently collected and distributed to the classrooms and communities that it was designed to reach. E-mail Portland City Council today and share your perspective on the importance of honoring the will of the voters and investing our tax dollars in arts education and access:

Mayor Charlie Hales         Commissioner Nick Fish         Commissioner Amanda Fritz         Commissioner Steve Novick         Commissioner Dan Saltzman

Elementary Music Education Sees Huge Gains at Parkrose

Located in Northeast Portland, the Parkrose School District has served the community for well over a century. Today more than 3,400 students are enrolled. While Parkrose has struggled with budget cuts for five years in a row, Superintendent Dr. Karen Fischer Gray has worked to make sure that every elementary school student has some access to music every year. But with annual cuts to the arts at Parkrose, access to arts education has gotten dire. In fact, this year, all four Parkrose elementary schools share a single elementary music teacher.

The passage of the Arts Education & Access Fund will change that.

As soon as the City of Portland has resolved the two legal challenges facing the Arts Education & Access Fund, Parkrose can expect funding for more than 3 additional full time elementary music teachers – allowing the district to assign one teacher for every Parkrose elementary school.

In the meantime, thanks to Mayor Hales’ offer to fund school districts at half-levels while sharing the law suit risk, Parkrose will be adding 1.5 full time elementary music teachers in the Fall, more than doubling the size of its current elementary music program.

There are not many high school choirs that can say they have performed for the President of the United States. But the Parkrose Debonairs can make this claim. And with the restoration of year-long music education at every Parkrose elementary school, the District may soon be ready for an encore performance.

Parkrose’s Haiku Awake Showcases the Power of Arts-Integrated Learning

While the Parkrose School District cannot currently afford to staff visual arts, dance and drama instruction in their elementary schools, they have forged some powerful partnerships with community-based organizations that bring the arts to life for Parkrose students during and after school. Haiku Awake is an excellent example.

Haiku Awake gives elementary students in the Parkrose School District the opportunity to see the Portland Japanese Garden in fall and spring, and explore the Japanese culture using their 5 senses.

Classes were presented with information on Japanese culture: Living in Harmony with Nature and Awakening the Senses, provided by the Japanese Garden Curriculum Consultant, Joan Kivitka.

Each student was tasked with taking photographs of their time in the Gardens and then asked to use those pictures as the basis for their own Haiku poetry. Both the photographs and poems are beautiful and unique reflections of their learning experiences and will eventually be published in a book.

Your Advocacy Makes a Difference

Last November, Portland voters overwhelmingly supported the establishment of the Arts Education & Access Fund to restore arts teachers to every Portland elementary school and increase access to the arts citywide. Please join us in advocating that Portland City Council act quickly and thoughtfully to shore up and secure Portland’s new Arts Tax. We want to ensure that it is successfully and efficiently collected and distributed to the classrooms and communities that it was designed to reach. E-mail Portland City Council today and share your perspective on the importance of honoring the will of the voters and investing our tax dollars in arts education and access:

Mayor Charlie Hales

Commissioner Nick Fish

Commissioner Amanda Fritz

Commissioner Steve Novick

Commissioner Dan Saltzman

PPS Closes the Gap and Funds Arts Instruction for Every Elementary School

Yesterday the Portland Public Schools Board unanimously approved a budget for the 2013-14 school year that will ensure every Portland elementary school student in the district has access to an arts education. Just one year ago, 11,596 PPS students attended a school with no instruction in arts, music, dance or drama. And today there are still 16 PPS schools educating K-5 students without an art, music, dance or drama teacher. As the only school district in Portland with K-5 schools that do not include arts educators, closing this gap at PPS will effectively close the gap citywide. And with that gap closed, we can focus on increasing access to a K-12 arts education that includes every discipline (visual art, music, dance and drama). Today we celebrate PPS for using Arts Education & Access Fund dollars to ensure that every public elementary school student in Portland has access to an arts education.

Mayor Hales Acts to Ensure Portland Schools Hire Arts Teachers in the Fall

With the Revenue Bureau reporting that Arts Tax collections are reaching $7,000,000, it is difficult not to get excited about all of the arts teachers and programs that Portland’s new Arts Education & Access Fund will support in the coming year. However, two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the new tax nearly prevented Portland’s six school districts from including Arts Tax revenue in their 2013-14 budgets.

In March, Mayor Hales announced that the city could not distribute Arts Tax revenue to schools or arts organizations, as intended, because if the city were to lose either suit, the money might have to be given back to taxpayers. But that left Portlanders without the 70 elementary arts, music, dance and drama teachers that they have now paid for. And for many, this is an unacceptable consequence of two lawsuits that the city has said it will most likely win.

To his credit, Mayor Hales has proposed a solution – a risk sharing deal that Portland Public Schools was quick to accept. “The superintendents and I have been working to find a way to be true to the taxpayers, whose money this is, and to the voters, who approved the arts tax,” Hales said. “We think this does it.”

Under the Mayor Hales deal, roughly half of the $6 million originally budgeted to fund elementary arts teachers in Portland schools, will be distributed on time to Portland’s six school districts (Portland Public Schools, Centennial, David Douglas, Parkrose, Reynolds and Riverdale). Of that $3 million disbursement, the risk will be split equally: $1 million from the city’s contingency fund; $1 million from future budget appropriations to the Regional Arts & Culture Council; and $1 million combined from the six school districts. The Portland Tribute reports that a bout two-thirds of the distribution is earmarked for PPS; one-third for the other districts. Each district will decide how it wants to spend the money which will be distributed in November. No further distribution is expected until favorable rulings or settlements have been reached in the law suits.

While agreements have not been finalized with every school district yet, the approval of the Portland Public Schools budget last night includes a staffing plan for at least 30 arts teachers serving every K-5 student district wide. This would not have been possible without the passage of the Arts Education & Access Fund and Mayor Hales’ short-term plan to guarantee its distribution.

“These decisions have been tough to reach, but it’s been a combined effort all along, and we’re grateful to the arts community and our school districts for working with us to find a practical solution. In the end, getting teachers in our classrooms will pay dividends for generations to come.”

In this Sunday’s Oregonian editorial, Susan Nielsen writes of the “confusion, frustration and legal uncertainty” around Portland’s new Arts Education & Access Fund. “As the first bill comes due this week,” she suggests, “it’s time to ask whether arts advocates’ good intentions can be rescued…”

While, at the Creative Advocacy Network, we believe that the resounding answer is “YES!”, we also acknolwedge that our work to establish a new public fund for the arts in Portland’s classrooms and communities is far from over. And we need your help to keep the door open and the dream alive.

To honor the will of the voters who overwhelmingly passed the Arts Tax at the ballot last November, we will continue working to protect and defend the goals of the Arts Education & Access Fund until it is successfully collected and distributed to the classrooms and communities that it was designed to reach.

Together, we can and will fulfill the promise of arts education in every elementary school, stable funding for Portland’s non-profit arts community and access to the arts citywide. Join Us!

Here’s how you can help:

1.   Pay your Arts Tax and spread the word to friends, neighbors and co-workers that you are proud that your tax dollarts will restore arts education to every Portland elementary school and increase access to the arts citywide.

2.   Donate to CAN’s Defense Fund and ensure that the 62% of Portland voters who established the Arts Education & Access Fund in November are represented in ongoing citywide conversations about the future of the Arts Tax.

3.   Volunteer your time and leadership to support CAN’s advocacy, research, social media, administration and program development.

4.  Join Us on Facebook for daily updates, networking and advocacy.

Last November, 62% of voters approved a groundbreaking new funding mechanism for arts education and access in our community. Why? To restore arts education to every Portland public elementary school and increase access to the arts citywide.

If you have not yet paid your $35 arts tax, it is time. The Arts Tax is due on May 15th! Go to www.artstax.net.

Confused about whether this new income tax applies to you? These 4 simple questions will make it clear.

1. Are you a Portland resident?

2. Are you 18 or older?

3. Do you earn $1,000 in income over and above any Social Security benefits, pension benefits from the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), pension benefits from the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or interest income from US Treasury bill notes and bonds?

4. Is your household income above the federal poverty level? (Don’t know? Go to www.artstax.net to find out.)

If you answered yes to all 4 questions then you owe the City of Portland $35 by May 15th. How do you pay? Go to www.artstax.net.

Your $35 will restore arts education to every public Portland elementary school and fund arts access citywide.

Portland Public Schools District Announces Plans to Fund 45.5 Arts Teachers

On Monday, April 15th, PPS Superintendent Carole Smith proposed a $487 million budget for the 2013-14 school year. This proposal marks a pivotal moment for Portland schools in that it checks the erosion of educational programs that has shadowed current students nearly every year that they have attended school. And the passage of the Arts Education & Access Fund by Portland voters in November was credited as significant factor in this turnaround. 

“Thanks to the voters of this city, the arts tax will fund 45.5 arts teachers in our K5 and K8 schools ensuring that every student has access to visual arts, dance, music or theater in grades K5. Research has demonstrated the academic benefits for students who participate in the arts. We know that across the country there has been a persistently inequitable distribution of arts in schools. Our city has helped to eliminate this gap in service. Thank you again.”

This year, PPS is the only school district of the six districts in Portland with elementary schools that offer no access to instruction in art, music, dance or drama. With Superintendent Smith’s proposed budget for 2013-14, that gap will be eliminated while access to the arts for every K5 student will increase.

Thank you, Portland, for your vote to restore arts education to Portland’s public elementary schools!

Save the Date for the

STATE OF THE ARTS

Wednesday, May 8, 2013 at 10am

Portland City Hall

Each year, Portland City Council invites the Regional Arts & Culture Council to make a report on the State of the Arts in Portland. This is our annual opportunity to pack the chambers of City Hall with hundreds of supporters while we showcase the importance of arts, culture and creativity for Portland’s economy, livability and the education of our children. It is also our moment to shine as we inspire City Council with meaningful and powerful performances and testimony by artists, educators, advocates and employers. We hope you will join us as we support the important work of the Regional Arts & Culture Council and advocate for the arts in every Portland classroom and community. Let’s fill City Council Chambers. RSVP@RACC.org

Portland’s Arts Education & Access Fund $35 Income Tax is due May 15th

Last November, 62% of voters approved a groundbreaking new funding mechanism for arts education and access in our community. As a result, every public Portland elementary school will have an art or music teacher next year, and the remaining funds will be distributed by RACC to nonprofit arts organizations and schools that are actively increasing everyone’s access to the arts.

You are responsible for paying this income tax of $35 by May 15th if all of the following are true:

•          You are 18 or older
•          You lived in the City of Portland for any part of 2012
•          You had income of $1,000 or more in 2012
•          Your household is above the poverty level

To help save costs to raise as much revenue as possible for arts education and access, pay your tax online at www.artstax.net. Exemption forms are also available online.

To those who have already paid: Thank You! Portland’s six school districts and the Regional Arts & Culture Council are looking forward to putting your investments into action.

Nestled within a vibrant and diverse neighborhood in Northeast Portland, Martin Luther King Jr. School has become a national model for how the arts can transform troubled schools. Recently in the lowest-achieving five percent in Oregon, King School has invested heavily in expanding arts education for students to boost student achievement and enrollment. The results? Awe-inspiring. In fact, this year King recorded the  highest year-to-year academic growth of any PreK-8 in the Portland Public Schools District and now exceeds both state and district averages.

King School’s investments in arts education began with the hiring of two arts teachers – an English language learner/music teacher and a certified dance teacher specializing in African dance. Next, King joined the  Right Brain Initiative and has welcomed two resident artists this year including Portland’s first Creative Laureate, photographer Julie Keefe. Finally King has partnered with nearly a dozen community-based arts organizations to expose students to integrated learning opportunities, professional arts experiences and exciting new ways to creatively collaborate.

King Students have benefited from Oregon Children’s Theater‘s Playwriting Contest: The Bully Project, Portland Art Museum‘s Object Stories project and Portland Playhouse‘s Shakespeare immersion program. King also welcomed guest artist Michelle Swinehart, Portland Baroque Orchestra, and  White Bird Dance into their classrooms and onstage for some amazing teaching and learning opportunities.

Honored with national accolades and funding from Turnaround Arts, a program of the President’s Commision on the Arts and Humanities, just this month King School welcomed Sarah Jessica Parker to a day of arts education and a school wide assembly to celebrate the tremendous academic and artistic accomplishments of King School.

We believe that showcasing the incredible programming at King School is the very best way to illustrate how arts in schools can bring together parents, teachers, students, artists and non-profit organizations to change lives.

Support Arts Education at King Join the Second Annual Auction on May 18th

If you are as inspired as we are by the arts education program at King, consider supporting their Second Annual Auction on May 18th. Tickets are $35 for this Latin-inspired evening that will include Live Music by Curtis Salgado and conducted by Thara Memory, Mexican food, beer and Margaritas and a DJ’d dance party. The event will take place at Metalcraft Fabrication at 723 N Tillamook Street in the Albina District from 6:30-10:30pm.