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FIVE DAYS OF ARTS|LEARNING
Part III--SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
In This Issue
School Leaders
PAL Program
Legacy Fund Launched
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Arts|Learning is a member of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network
--a consortium of 35 state alliances across the United States dedicated to arts advocacy and quality arts education for the nation's children.
 
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Today's focus in Part III of our five-part series is the critical role School Leadership plays in enabling the arts to flourish in any school or school district.

If you are enjoying this series, please consider sharing any of these newsletters in your social media (links are at the top of this email).  If you wish to share our first two parts, they can be accessed at these links:
Day 1:  CREATIVITY  conta.cc/1kPH6Du
Day 2:  ARTS INTEGRATION   conta.cc/19OpR04

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Many thanks, and happy reading!
 
What We Know  
About Successful School Leadership 

Ten years ago the American Educational Research Assoc. reviewed the growing body of research evidence which documents the effects of school leadership. Click onto this link to read about the major findings on school leadership which can be summarized in five significant areas. The authors conclude that we know school leadership is most successful when it is focused on teaching and learning, and that it is a necessary, but not the only, factor required for school improvement. (January, 2003, by Kenneth A. Leithwood and Carolyn Riehl)

 

Two years later, The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development published School Leadership that Works: From Research to Results by Marzano, Waters, and McNulty. Drawing from 35 years of studies, the authors explain critical leadership principles that every administrator needs to know. These principles are divided into six categories, the last one provides "A five-step plan for effective school leadership that includes a strong team, distributed responsibilities, and 31 team action steps."

 

Why is this important for arts education? See our next article on the Principal Arts Leadership program to find out!

Principal Arts Leadership Program

A benefit for Arts|Learning being a member of the Kennedy Center's Alliance for Arts Education Network, is that we learn about the wonderful work our sister alliances are doing across the USA.  ArtsEd Washington, under the amazing leadership of Una McAlinden, has developed the Principal Arts Leadership Program (PAL) over the past ten years in the state of Washington with great success.

The goal is to build and support systemic change in public schools so that all students can benefit from the vital role of arts learning in a complete education.  The school principal is recognized as the instructional leader in the arts and is provided with the support needed to sustain powerful arts programming. Working with each school's leadership, PAL helps develop an ongoing annual plan for arts education utilizing an arts team of educators, administrators, and community members.  Research of the program has identified four critical stages that account for its enormous success since 2004.

 

Arts|Learning has been collaborating with ArtsEd Washington for the past year to "import" the PAL program to MA beginning in 2014.  A|L has identified 6 MA school districts ready and eager to participate; substantial grants have been submitted with hopes of funding. These grants require matching funds to be raised, and A|L has begun the Eric Oddleifson Legacy Fund in part to support this effort.  We believe substantial change in arts education in schools will occur because of replicating this important program. 

Eric Oddleifson Legacy Fund Launched

In December, 2013, A|L launched the beginning of a five-year campaign to raise substantial funds through the Eric Oddleifson Legacy Fund in honor of A|L's Co-Founder.  The purpose of the fund is to significantly intensify the work of the organization in order to leverage the strongest impact among students, teachers, administrators, and arts and cultural organizations wishing to promote quality arts education and arts integration for all students in all schools. A primary focus of these funds will be to replicate ArtsEd Washington's highly successful Principal Arts Leadership Program here in Massachusetts.

Through our "Five Days of Arts|Learning" series, we are hoping to attract 500 new members or donors to raise funds to support our many worthwhile initiatives, including the PAL program (see above article).  Won't you join others in honoring Eric Oddleifson's amazing legacy of supporting arts education for all students?

Please click here to contribute online using a credit card via PayPal.  If you wish to contribute with a check, please download our donor/membership form here.  We thank you for your generous support.