About A|L


The Mission of Arts|Learning is to encourage active engagement of preschool through college students in developing their highest artistic and academic competence.  We do this by advancing policies, practices, programs and partnerships to achieve a new level of excellence in teaching and curriculum development.

Our comprehensive approach:
•    Re-imagines school and district models
•    Builds networks and alliances
•    Advocates for strong arts programs and for arts integration
•    Facilitates partnerships among schools, higher education and arts organizations
•    Provides professional development
•    Convenes education leaders and art experts to promote awareness, dialogue and a sense of community

Vision Statement
Arts|Learning envisions all schools to be successful in preparing students for a fulfilled life in the 21st Century. 

A|L believes that this is best accomplished through the arts as a central, unifying factor.

Strategies for Accomplishing the NALC Mission and Vision
Strategies to accomplish the Arts|Learning Mission and Vision, with the arts central to every activity, are accomplished through the work of three divisions.

1. Leadership & Policy Group is an agent for education reform.  This division pursues the following activities:  

2. Networking & Advocacy Group is a resource center and arts-advocacy umbrella for Massachusetts parents, teachers, administrators, associations of professional arts educators, museums and cultural organizations, higher education, and private education.  Services include the following:

3. Teaching & Learning Group disseminates information on best practices of model programs of teaching in and through the arts.  Services include the following:

History of Arts|Learning

1989

Eric Oddleifson created the Center for Arts in the Basic Curriculum (CABC) to carry forward his ideas about the need for the arts to be central to the missions of all schools. CABC had a small but stellar board that included Cognitive Psychologist and Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner and Harriet Fulbright, former Director of the President's Committee on the Arts & Humanities. CABC published a significant library of new thinking on the efficacy of education through the arts, including articles by Oddleifson and Perrin, which is archived at New Horizons for Learning.

1992

Mr. Oddleifson became a trustee of Walnut Hill School, one of three independent residential high schools in the U.S. that offers a curriculum of pre-professional artistic training and academic excellence. At Walnut Hill, Mr. Oddleifson found a laboratory of education through the arts and progressive educational approaches led by Head of School Stephanie Perrin. The school wished to promote the concept of "education through the arts" to public schools and other organizations, and created the Center for Arts and Learning to explore that objective.

1999

CABC merged with the Center for Arts and Learning to become the National Arts & Learning Foundation (NALF), a non profit organization housed on the Walnut Hill campus.

2002

NALF changed its name to the National Arts & Learning Collaborative (NALC) to more accurately reflect its approach to fulfilling its mission by creating partnerships and networks among schools and a variety of institutions, organizations and individuals, to accomplish its goals.

2007

NALC legally merged with the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education and became the state affiliate of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network, a coalition of statewide non-profit Alliances for Arts Education working in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to support policies, practices, programs, and partnerships that ensure the arts are an essential part of American K-12 education. The merger was made possible by The Boston Foundation. NALC established the Massachusetts Arts Education Collaborative to guide its statewide arts education advocacy efforts.
Learn more about the history of the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE).

2009

NALC changed its name to Arts|Learning to indicate its wide range of programs related to arts, learning, and arts learning, without having to define or limit its geographical location in Massachusetts or nationally, and to merge all former NALC and MAAE activities under one new name.

 

History of MAAE

The Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education (MAAE), founded in 1980 by representatives from the arts and education communities, grew from a desire to support arts education programs in public schools across Massachusetts.

 

Over the years, MAAE instituted successful public awareness campaigns, the most recent entitled "Strong Arts = Strong Schools," which was designed to bring to the attention of parents, legislators, educators, and citizens the importance of arts education. A conference series called "Leading with the Arts," shared best practices among Massachusettsarts educators. Each spring, MAAE honored individuals and organizations for exemplary achievement in arts education in a ceremony at the Massachusetts State House.

 

MAAE worked closely with the Massachusetts Board of Education (MBOE) to develop a strong, arts based curriculum, and with the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) to advocate for the arts in the state.

1980

  • MAAE is established.

1982

  • Massachusetts Board of Education adopts MAAE's Arts in Education Plan.

1984

  • MAAE launches an annual recognition program with Outstanding Arts Educator and Arts Collaborative awards.

1989

  • The Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents adopts MAAE's position paper: "The Role of the Arts in Massachusetts."

1993

  • The Massachusetts legislature passes the Education Reform Act. The arts (dance, music, theater, and visual arts) are included as a core subject. MAAE plays key role in advocating for arts as a core subject.
  • The Massachusetts Association of School Committees partners with MAAE on the annual awards program.

1994

  • MAAE co-sponsors a statewide conference with the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
  • MAAE and the Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE) develop and distribute an arts education survey.
  • MAAE initiates membership dues and introduces tri-annual newsletter.

1995

  • MAAE board members serve on a committee to develop state arts standards. The Board of Education adopts an Arts Curriculum Framework in December.
  • MAAE presents workshops on the use of the new arts framework in schools as well as a statewide conference at University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

1997

  • MAAE implements the "Arts Education for Success Campaign," which includes the distribution of the video,"Arts & Children: A Success Story," to all of the state's 350 school districts along with an advocacy package.

1998

  • MAAE launches its first website and hires a part-time staff person.
  • MAAE board members serve on a committee to revise the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework.
  • To increase visibility, the annual awards ceremony moves to the Massachusetts State House and features additional categories: Legislator Leadership and Irene Buck Service to Arts Education; MAAE commissions its first artist to create award object.

1999

  • MAAE solicits feedback during public meetings on the new draft of the Massachusetts Arts Curriculum Framework. The MA Board of Education adopts final framework in October.
  • MAAE introduces additional award categories: Schools of Excellence, Excellence in School Administration, and Corporate/Business Support of Arts Education.
  • MAAE enters into new partnership agreement with the Massachusetts Cultural Council and receives $10,000 grant.

2000

  • MAAE secures free office space at Lesley University and hires a part-time Executive Director.
  • MAAE successfully leads a coalition to preserve dance teacher certification.
  • MAAE initiates its "STRONG ARTS = STRONG SCHOOLS" public awareness campaign and sponsors the first Arts Education Advocacy Day at the Massachusetts State House.
  • A Media Support of Arts Education award is added to the annual awards program.

2001

  • The Massachusetts Cultural Council, MAAE, National Arts & Learning Collaborative (NALC) and the MA Department of Education develop a district-based arts education survey.
  • MAAE co-sponsors the "Leading with the Arts" conference with NALC, Lesley University, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
  • A part-time Administrative Director is hired.

2002

  • MAAE secures 3-year, $50,000 grant from an anonymous foundation.
  • MAAE expands its geographic impact through new collaborations with the Western Massachusetts Arts Alliance and the Academy of Performing Arts (Cape Cod).

2003

  • The Massachusetts Cultural Council's budget is cut by 62%, resulting in the elimination of its partnership with MAAE.
  • Despite 91% reduction in funding, MAAE convenes an Arts Education Summit of representatives from K-12 education, higher education, and arts organizations to examine how the research compendium,"Critical Links," could be implemented locally. MAAE presents follow-up workshops in Springfield and Cape Cod.
  • A Student Essay Contest is added to the annual awards program.

2006

  • MAAE partners with the National Arts and Learning collaborative (NALC) and receives a 2-year Arts Service Organization merger grant from The Boston Foundation. MAAE moves to the Walnut Hill School in Natick to share an office with NALC. A full-time Program Assistant is hired to assist with both MAAE and NALC.
  • MAAE, NALC, Lesley University and the Massachusetts Cultural Council hold the 1st annual Massachusetts Arts Education Partnership Institute. Over 180 people attend to hear national and local speakers present on research, funding and models of arts education.
  • MAAE advocates for an arts requirement in MassCORE recommendations.

2007-2009--Merger with NALC

  • In 2007 MAAE undergoes a legal merger in which its mission, programs, and affiliation with the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network are merged with the National Arts and Learning Collaborative (NALC).
  • In 2009, this merger results in the newly named "Arts|Learning."  A|L develops the Networking and Advocacy Group as one of three A|L divisions to reinvigorate arts education advocacy throughout the state.

Rationale

Introduction

While the impact of the arts on learning as well as personal and social development has been well documented, the arts have not yet been consistently incorporated into school curricula across communities and states.  Research has demonstrated that the arts create a success-oriented learning environment by "fostering teacher innovation, a positive professional culture, community engagement, increased student attendance and retention, effective instructional practice, and school identity" (AEP Highlights, p. 3).

The Impact of No Child Left Behind on the Arts

With the adoption of No Child Left Behind the federal government named the arts as a "core academic subject." While this brought optimism to arts advocates, NCLB’s focus on standardized testing in a few subjects has had a negative impact on untested subjects. According to the Center on Education Policy, 44% of school districts in the nation have cut time from areas such as art and music since the enactment of NCLB.
In response to this "narrowing of the curriculum," national efforts have been aligning to position the arts as essential to developing the “whole child” and to contributing to the development of 21st-Century workforce skills in an increasingly global society.

Responses to NCLB Supporting Arts in Education

Through its "Whole Child Initiative," the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) is seeking "to ensure our children become productive, engaged citizens." ASCD calls for educational opportunities that involve academic rigor and the development of 21st-century skills of critical thinking and creativity.
The report, "Tough Choices or Tough Times," has called for an overhaul of our educational system towards one that depends on a "deep vein of creativity" and a high level of preparation in the arts, and other subjects as an "indispensable foundation."
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21), founded in 2002, brings together the business community, education leaders, and policymakers to define a powerful vision for 21st-century education and to ensure that students emerge from our schools with the skills needed to be effective citizens, workers, and leaders in the 21st century. P21's vision for learning includes the arts among core subjects, and learning and innovation skills that tie closely with arts learning such as creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration.
According to the "Imagine Nation" poll, a majority of U.S. voters agree that building students’ imaginations to equip young people with the ability to innovate is as important as teaching them the academic basics. Nearly nine out of 10 respondents said an education in and through the arts is essential for cultivating the imagination.

In Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, Governor Deval Patrick's Commonwealth Readiness Project has developed policy recommendations for a ten-year education plan. New leadership at the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education seems to recognize the value of the arts as evidenced in the passing of MassCore, a recommended program of high school studies that includes one arts credit. Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville has publicly acknowledged the arts as a direct conduit for developing 21st Century skills.
Massachusetts has become a P21 leadership state and has created a 21st Century Task Force that includes several arts advocates, and published recommendations in November, 2008.

Our Collective Goal

To change public education we must find ways to broaden the curriculum to include learning in and through the arts so that the unique benefits that the arts provide can be available to all students.
We are pursuing a goal that is collective in nature and that requires both excellent programs and a sense of responsibility among educators, school administrators, teaching artists, non-profit/cultural partners, higher education, parents and funders. It is a moment when advocacy can have a great impact on the collective challenges we face and successes we have.

Partners

Arts|Learning believes forging partnerships with like-minded individuals, organizations, and
institutions is the most effective way to support our mission. A|L relies on support
from individuals, community partners, corporations, and foundations to provide high
quality arts in education programming, professional development, and resources.
In addition to many generous individuals...

We are pleased that KRIS Wines is featuring Arts|Learning beginning March, 2010, and supporting our programs through sales of its wines in New England. This is part of their overall program to support arts education throughout the United States. Thank you, KRIS Wines!

Funding partners


Become a funding partner!

Program Partners

Become a program partner!

Board of Trustees

President
Martha Barry McKenna
Professor and former Provost, Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Vice-Presidents
Fred Adair--Development Group
Adair Leadership Consulting LLC, Boston, Massachusetts
Charles Combs--Teaching and Learning Group
Chair (emeritus), Liberal Arts, Berklee College of Music
Joseph M. Cronin--Program and Application Group
Private Consultant, Edvisors, Quincy, Massachusetts
Lynn Feldman--Networking and Advocacy Group
Visual Artist, Lexington, Massachusetts
Treasurer:
Julaine McInnis
Chief Financial Officer, Inly School, Scituate, Massachusetts
Secretary/Clerk
Patricia Mitchell
Founder, ALTA: Academy for Learning Through the Arts, and Former Director, Filmore Arts Center, Washington, D.C.
Directors
Julie Faulstich
Assistant Head of School, Walnut Hill School, Natick
Jane Wegscheider Hyman
Researcher and Author, Arts Advocate
Cleopatra Knight-Wilkins
Senior Director for the Arts, Boston Public Schools
Gary Marple
Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Lessac Technologies, Inc., Boxborough
Stephanie B. Perrin (Co-Founder)
Head (Ret.), Walnut Hill School, Natick
Lourdes Santiago
Principal, Manthala George Jr. School, Brockton, Massachusetts
Kathy Tosolini
Unified Arts Director (Ret.), Plymouth Public Schools, Plymouth
Bob Wheeler
Educator (Ret.), Northford, CT
Pamela Wood
Senior Lecturer in Music, MA Institute of Technology
IN MEMORIUM:
Eric Oddleifson (Co-Founder), Deceased, July 19, 2011
Sustainability Consultant to Grantham, Mayo & van Otterloo

NALC’s National Advisory Board

Arnold Aprill
Founding and Creative Director, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education, Chicago, IL
Alan Brody
Professor of Theater, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Schuyler Chapin
Former Commissioner, Department of Cultural Affairs, New York, NY (deceased)
Katherine Damkohler
Executive Director, Education Through Music, Inc., New York, NY
Deborah Dluhy
Dean, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and Deputy Director, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Howard Gardner
John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor in Cognition and Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA
William Lowman
President of Idyllwild Arts Foundation, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Idyllwild, CA
Jill Medvedow
James Sachs Plaut Director, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA
Steve Seidel
Director, Harvard Project Zero, and Director, Arts in Education Program, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA
Ellen Winner
Professor of Psychology; Boston College; Senior Research Associate, Harvard Project Zero, Cambridge, MA
William Zimmerman
Senior Associate, New England School Development Council, and Superintendent, Wayland Public Schools (Ret.), Grantham, NH

A|L in the News

Arts|Learning awarded major grant to plan two Boston Innovation Schools!

March 17, 2011

Arts|Learning is pleased that an innovation school prospectus to convert the Haynes Early Education Center and the Higgison-Lewis K-8 School (Roxbury section of Boston) into a new type of school in Massachusetts received initial approval in January from Dr. Carole Johnson, Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools, the Boston School Committee, and the Boston Teachers Union. Following this first step, Arts|Learning along with its partners (see below) then applied for two Innovation School Planning grants from the MA Executive Office of Education.  We are thrilled to report that we have received the two planning grants for the schools.  A news release about these grants may be seen here.

This culminates more than a year of work on the part of Cleopatra Knight-Wilkins, Senior Program Director of the Arts of the Boston Public Schools with the help of Arts|Learning personnel Jonathan Rappaport, Joseph Cronin, and Charles Combs; Valerie Gumes, principal of the Haynes EEC; Joy Salesman-Oliver, principal of the Higginson-Lewis School; Torri Canada and several members of the Marjorie Eloise Parks Music School planning group; Mary Epstein from the Kodály Music Institute of the New England Conservatory; and Corey Evans from the Boston Arts Academy.

Please read our prospectus summary for more information about the Arts Pathway these two schools will create.  Currently we are hoping to thoroughly plan the two schools and have them ready for re-opening as Innovation Schools by September, 2012.  Please click here to learn more about Innovation Schools compared with other types of autonomous or semi-autonomous schools in Massachusetts.

Staff

About our Executive Director:

Jonathan C. Rappaport comes to Arts|Learning with a wealth of experience in the arts, education, grant writing, and community collaboration.  In addition to his post with Arts|Learning, Jonathan currently co-directs the Kodály Music Institute at New England Conservatory, Boston, where he also teaches courses in pedagogy, materials analysis, conducting, and is director of Canción, a children's chorus held each summer.

Jonathan is the former Executive Director of the Conservatory Lab Charter School (Brighton, MA) and the former Curriculum Liaison for the Arts of the Worcester (MA) Public Schools.  He is a conductor, educator, composer, pianist, singer, author, and consultant for school systems.  He has served as the choral director of numerous schools, children’s festival honor choirs, churches, synagogues, and community choral groups. He taught music at all grade levels in public schools in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Rappaport has published 18 choral works and 4 books, and is the recipient of the Moss Hart Theatre Award (New England Theatre Conference, 2000), the Distinguished Service and Lowell Mason Awards (MA Music Educators, 2007, 2004), and the Irene Buck Service to Arts Education Award (MA Alliance for Arts Education, 2004).  He has taught music, trained teachers nationally, presented at national and state conferences in over a dozen states, and directed choruses for 40 years. He served on the panel that wrote the MA Arts Curriculum Framework (1999) and currently serves on numerous boards and committess, including the Arts Education Advisory Council for the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Jonathan’s biography appears in the International Who's Who in Music and Who's Who in America.  Graduate study has included work towards a PhD at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (ABD), M.M. from New England Conservatory (with honors), and a Kodaly Certificate from the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest.