Concept of Creatve Schools Taking Hold in California
When it is becoming clear that creativity and innovation are the benchmarks of the new, global, knowledge economy, California is emerging as a leader in the effort to reinvent education.
Last year, the California Arts Council received a one-time $5 million increase in its 2014-15 budget, bringing its total support from the general fund to $6 million. This year, Governor Brown signed a state budget that included a $7.1 million permanent increase in general fund support for the Arts Council, and the Council in turn, has funded more communities throughout the state, and, together with the California Department of Education, helped craft a "Blueprint for Creative Schools," which eventually will be adopted by all California schools.
This is not just another government report to gather dust. It is a well thought-out set of recommendations and an action-oriented directive. The Blueprint has recommendations that touch on every aspect of teaching and learning in all K-12 schools. But what makes this effort most attractive is the commitment to developing a long-term agenda, insuring sustainability and creating a program of assessment and accountability.
Significant, also, is the creation of CREATE CA, a new non-profit coalition charged with ongoing convening of the California arts education community, coordinating action among the members of the coalition, and broadly marketing arts education advocacy to the greater public."
With a permanent staff, and a management structure, it is bringing all the major organizations together including the California Alliance for Arts Education (CAAE), the California Department of Education (CDE), the California Arts Council (CAC), the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA), the California Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and representatives of other significant arts organizations and initiatives.
While the Blueprint and CREATE CA have not been the diving force in all of the schools, the idea of a well-rounded curriculum using arts and arts integrated techniques is taking hold and a movement is taking shape in education throughout the state.
Public broadcast station KQED, reported, "in a first-grade classroom at Peralta Elementary School in Oakland, children concentrate on detailed pencil drawings of scenes from the underground railroad. Safehouses and trap doors appear on paper... (But) at Peralta, art is never just about art. These first-graders are learning about history, but they're also practicing math, measuring with their fingers to figure out where to draw horizon lines."
At Twin Rivers Unified in Northern Sacramento, Jacqueline White, Director, Arts and Career Education, says her district started to deploy arts integration with the Concept of Creatve Schools Taking Hold in California: