Yesterday afternoon I spoke to the Homer Rotary and afterwards fielded questions including one that asked about the impact of No Child Left Behind. I gave my standard answer that the Act was both good and bad. Good in that it caused educators to become much more analytical about student performance and bad because it unreasonably assumes that a three-day testing window (that we just completed) is an accurate way to grade a school and district. I also mentioned that the narrowing of the curriculum in response to the pressure of the tests was a bad thing. It was thus somewhat ironic that twice that day I saw evidence of our students excelling at art. The first was at McNeil Canyon where their hallways are adorned with wonderful student art projects. The second was my attendance at the 2011 Visual Feast- The District-wide High School Student Art Show.
Our high school art students send their work to Kenai each April so that it can be displayed in this show. As I was last year, I was impressed by how good the work was. When the students received their certificates it was clear that they and their beaming teachers were thrilled- this was a big moment. There is a plethora of research to support the value of art instruction; we need to do all that we can to ensure that we don’t let our tightening budget dismiss art instruction as an extra. Thanks to all of our art teachers for their dedication to bringing out the best in our students. From what I could tell from yesterday, you are having success.
KPBSD Art Alive and Well
Yesterday afternoon I spoke to the Homer Rotary and afterwards fielded questions including one that asked about the impact of No Child Left Behind. I gave my standard answer that the Act was both good and bad. Good in that it caused educators to become much more analytical about student performance and bad because it unreasonably assumes that a three-day testing window (that we just completed) is an accurate way to grade a school and district. I also mentioned that the narrowing of the curriculum in response to the pressure of the tests was a bad thing. It was thus somewhat ironic that twice that day I saw evidence of our students excelling at art. The first was at McNeil Canyon where their hallways are adorned with wonderful student art projects. The second was my attendance at the 2011 Visual Feast- The District-wide High School Student Art Show.
Our high school art students send their work to Kenai each April so that it can be displayed in this show. As I was last year, I was impressed by how good the work was. When the students received their certificates it was clear that they and their beaming teachers were thrilled- this was a big moment. There is a plethora of research to support the value of art instruction; we need to do all that we can to ensure that we don’t let our tightening budget dismiss art instruction as an extra. Thanks to all of our art teachers for their dedication to bringing out the best in our students. From what I could tell from yesterday, you are having success.