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Friday, March 30, 2012

(CREATE) Core Reforms Engaging Arts to Educate - Initiatives & Programs (CA Dept of Education)

(CREATE) Core Reforms Engaging Arts to Educate - Initiatives & Programs (CA Dept of Education):


(CREATE) Core Reforms Engaging Arts to Educate

Statewide coalition of agencies and organizational partners on an education reform movement that views arts education as an essential part of the solution to the problems facing California schools.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has partnered with a broad-based statewide coalition of agencies and organizational partners on an education reform movement, CREATE (Core Reforms Engaging Arts to Educate) CA, that views arts education as an essential part of the solution to the problems facing California schools.

In order to advance this effort, Superintendent Torlakson has appointed an arts education task force to draft a set of recommendations for him which will be included in a new publication: A Blueprint for Creative Schools: How the Arts and Creative Education Can Transform California’s Classrooms. This effort builds on Superintendent Torlakson’s Transition Advisory Team report, A Blueprint for Great Schools.

This task force effort will begin at the next CREATE CA forum at the Coronado School for the Arts on March 30-31, 2012.

The California Department of Education (CDE) is joined in CREATE CA by the California Arts Council (CAC), the California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE), the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA), and many other groups statewide. It was inspired and launched through our state’s participation in the National Endowment for the Arts' Education Leaders Institute (ELI), which awarded California (through the CAC) one of five grants nationwide to attend an ELI convening in Chicago in May 2011.

The California delegation's ELI leadership team, comprised of representatives of the CAC, CDE, CCSESA, community, and industry returned from this rich and highly focused meeting to set in motion a series of forums, panels, and conversations to advance an arts education reform agenda.

These efforts are guided by the California Challenge identified by the ELI team:
Ensure each student reaches his or her full potential
by broadening California’s educational vision, policy, and practices
to promote innovation, economic development, and creativity.
The Task Force is expected to consider the following policy areas:
  • Curriculum and Assessment
  • Educator Quality and Professional Preparation
  • Equity and Access
  • Policy and Politics
  • Research and Evidence Building
  • Role of Business and Industry in Building the Creative Workforce
  • School Finance and Sustainability
  • Strengthening Collaborative Relationships
  • Teacher and School Development
For more information about this subject, please contact Craig Cheslog, Principal Advisor to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, by phone at 916-319-0554 or by e-mail at ccheslog@cde.ca.gov.