P.T.A.
ARTS EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP RELEASES NEW STUDY OF HOW THE ARTS TRANSFORM SCHOOLS
places of frustration and failure for students and teachers alike - can
be transformed into vibrant and successful centers of learning and
community life when the arts are infused into their culture and
curriculum, a new book reports.
Titled Third Space: When Learning Matters, the book is based on a
three-year research study and describes the process of transformation in
ten elementary, middle, and high schools serving economically
disadvantaged students in urban and rural regions of the country. It
draws on current research in cognitive science, student engagement, and
youth development to explore how and why the arts have enabled the
schools to succeed where others often fail.
"The book suggests an alternative vision of both the process and result
of school reform," Harvard researcher Steve Seidel, director of Project
Zero at the Graduate School of Education, writes in a Foreword. "It
points to reform that occurs not as a result of accountability measures,
but as a natural transformation through the building of a new kind of
community of learners, a community of creators."
Third Space is published by the national Arts Education Partnership
(AEP). AEP's previous research reports have drawn attention in Congress
and among educators for revealing the potential of the arts to engage
all students actively in learning that advances their intellectual and
personal development.
The authors, Lauren M. Stevenson, who led the research team studying the
schools, and Richard J. Deasy, the director of the Arts Education
Partnership, who commissioned the research, adopt the metaphor of "third
space" to describe the positive and supportive relationships that
develop among students, teachers, and the school community when they are
involved in creating, performing or responding to works of art. In the
arts the term describes the transformation in individuals and ensembles
when they enter the new worlds and take on the new roles demanded by an
art form - a play, a dance, a song, a painting. The authors explore how
these experiences can shape the everyday life of the school.
According to Third Space, students are at the epicenter of school
transformation. The arts, more than other school subjects, require
students as individuals and groups to create something that is original,
new, and personal. Creating these works necessarily requires students to
draw on experiences from their own lives, making meaningful connections
between what they are learning in school and their lives outside the
school - the key identified by cognitive scientists for engaging
students in schoolwork and making them "agents of their own
development."
The student works also reveal their lives and abilities in new and often
surprising ways to teachers, allowing the two to meet in a "third space"
of new perceptions and understandings, connecting and collaborating in
ways different from normal student/teacher relationships.
Teachers and principals point out the particular importance of the
experience for students hampered by lack of English or in other ways
subject to stereotyping as poor learners.
They report an increase in their own satisfaction and delight in
teaching and a renewed commitment to their profession as they see the
change and growth in students.
A strong sense of community and belonging develops within the schools as
students and teachers collaborate in studying and creating art works and
the schools make a conscious effort to create understanding, empathy and
tolerance among their highly diverse student populations.
For instance, students at an elementary school in Brooklyn studied by
the researchers speak seventeen different languages and many are from
Mid-Eastern nations locked in historic conflicts. The principal calls
the school a "school of peace" since students discover their ability to
live and learn together as they collaborate in arts activities.
The "third space" experiences are not confined by the walls of the
schoolhouse - the arts lead to strong relationships between schools and
their surrounding communities. All of the schools involve artists and
arts organizations from the community who become an integral part of
school life, partnering with teachers and students in programs during
and beyond the school day.
The arts make the student learning and achievements public, altering
previously negative images of the students and schools as their works
and performance are on display within the school and at local galleries,
stages, and public venues - including the busy post office in a tiny
rural town.
Parents tell the researchers of the changes in the personalities and
behavior of their students and of their own increased desire to become
active in the schools - leading to the increased parental involvement
also seen as essential to a healthy and high performing school.
The authors call the development of supportive communities "the single
most compelling message we found in the schools. The arts create a
third space . . . within which young people and adults are creative
and vital, are liberated from the barriers self-imposed or imposed by
other . . . from the fear of failure. It is a space in which students
and teachers succeed and do so together as learners, as an open and
inclusive community with a fulfilling and meaningful present and a
hopeful future - the type of community that can be the foundation of a
democracy, fulfilling the primary purpose of American public schools."
Third Space: When Learning Matters will be available November 15. To
order a copy, contact CCSSO Publications at (202) 336-7016 or online at
www.aep-arts.org <http://www.aep-arts.org>.
The Arts Education Partnership is a national coalition of arts,
education, business, philanthropic and government organizations that
demonstrates and promotes the essential role of the arts in the learning
and development of every child and in the improvement of America's
schools. The Partnership includes over 100 organizations that are
national in scope and impact. It also includes state and local
partnerships focused on influencing education practices and policies to
promote quality arts education. The Partnership is administered by the
Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Assembly of
State Arts Agencies, through a cooperative agreement with the National
Endowment of the Arts and the U.S. Department of Education
CONTACTS:
Dick Deasy (202) 336-7065; dickd@ccsso.org <mailto:dickd@ccsso.org>
Sara Goldhawk (202) 336-7028; sarag@ccsso.org <mailto:sarag@ccsso.org>