Saturday, December 04, 1999
School injects academics into arts
BY DANA DiFILIPPO
The Cincinnati Enquirer
In visual arts class, first-graders learn shapes by painting squares, circles and triangles. In music, they learn to count as they hammer on xylophones, rattling off 1-2-3-4-5 as they play scales.
And in dance/movement, students sharpen their reading and money-counting skills by choosing flash cards directing them to hop, whirl, walk, drop or explode the number of times a pictured coin indicates.
At a time when experts nationally are debating the value and methods of arts education, the arts at Schiel Primary School for Arts Enrichment are as much about academics as they are about art.
Many other Cincinnati Public schools are absorbing budget cuts by getting rid of such “extras” as art and music teachers. But Schiel teachers say art and music are the secrets to success for troubled students.
Infusing academics into arts classes helps cement knowledge students learn in core academic subjects, Schiel teachers say.
That strategy draws groans from art purists who say too much instruction pollutes art classes and discourages the creativity and independence that comes from an art-for-art's-sake philosophy.
But Schiel, a 407-student school in Corryville, snagged the highest score of 77 schools in the district's annual accountability rankings this year.
“When kids have fun, they're going to learn,” said Tricia Sears, a 23-year veteran who teaches creative movement to Schiel's kindergartners and first-graders. (The school serves grades K-3.)
With an onslaught of budget problems this year, arts education in city schools suffered.
Administrators cut $20 million from the district's budget last spring after deciding to forgo seeking a levy until November. Now they say they'll have to trim an additional $5 million to $12 million next year because voters Nov. 2 defeated the district's $24 million levy request.
The district's new student-based budgeting system also stepped up pressures on schools, because schools lose money as they lose students.
Some schools responded by eliminating or trimming art offerings. Others preserved art programs but didn't dedicate space, so teachers provide “art on a cart” by dragging their supplies from room to room.
One expert sees such cuts as a huge mistake.
“The excitement of learning comes when you can really engage kids with their own interest and ideas and interpretation. Art has proven to be a valuable tool to do that,” said Judith M. Burton, chairwoman of the department of the arts and humanities at Columbia University. “It's a real journey of self-discovery.”
In a July study, Ms. Burton found that students in “arts-rich schools” tend to be more cooperative and imaginative, more willing to display their learning to peers and parents, and more likely to take risks in learning.
Ms. Burton's study — done for the President's Committee on Arts and the Humanities — involved more than 2,000 students in grades 4-8 in New York, Connecticut, Virginia and South Carolina.
Arts education also builds problem-solving and critical thinking skills, according to the Getty Education Institute for the Arts.
And the College Board, which administers the SAT, found that students with experience in music performance scored 52 points higher on the verbal part of the SAT and 36 points higher in math in 1998 than those with no arts experience.
Backed by such statistics and a history of academic success through the arts, Schiel Principal Susan Brockman-Sharp didn't consider cutting arts when budget problems arose.
Ms. Brockman-Sharp responded to the crunch by recruiting. With about 50 more students this year than last, the school was able to maintain a stable enough budget to continue all its arts programming.
With more emphasis on teaching to the district's standards, teachers strive to link learning in arts classes to the core curriculum subjects. For example, third-graders studying Mexico in social studies made Mexican tin ornaments in Mary Brackman's class.
Coloring the tin with markers, Tierra Everett and Cynthia McCartt compared what they'd leaned.
“They use eagles, chickens and roosters to kill snakes. They have a lot of snakes in Mexico,” said Tierra, 9, of Westwood.
Cynthia, 8, of College Hill, added: “They live near the jungle, and they're surrounded by water.”
Such lessons can be valuable as long as teachers steer clear of correcting artistic expression, Ms. Burton cautioned.
“Would you correct a Rembrandt if you felt there was something wrong with it?” she said.
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