Feature Stories
OMA: "A Local Treasure for a National Problem"
By Dr. Joan Ashcraft
Co-creator of Opening Minds Through the Arts (OMA) and director of fine arts and
OMA for the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD)
Opening Minds Through the Arts (OMA), founded by Eugene Jones in the 2000-2001 school year, is a nationally recognized, research-based program that integrates the arts into teaching reading, writing, math, and science in public elementary and middle schools. Grounded in brain-based research, multiple intelligence theories, and the neurological development of children, the OMA program is designed to impact at-risk children, making connections between brain development and music. This program is a leader in a national movement to integrate arts education into the core curriculum in partnership with the University of Arizona's College of Fine Arts and various arts organizations. OMA's primary goal is to help all students succeed, especially those who are academically at-risk, by actively supporting and positively engaging students in all subjects through the arts.
The OMA program works through the use of instrumental music, opera, dance, theater, and visual arts to help teach reading, writing, math, and science to children from kindergarten through the eighth grade. Each fully implemented OMA school has an arts integration specialist and a team of seven artists who work alongside classroom teachers, adapting each lesson to support the teaching of core skills and knowledge. OMA collaborates with numerous arts organizations in Tucson to make the program work. These organizations provide artists, deliver arts education lessons, and prepare students to see a live event or art exhibit and follow up with them afterward. The artists from these organizations teach 30-minute classes twice a week for 32 of the 36 weeks of the school year to support core-curriculum goals.
Despite the focus on at-risk children, all children in OMA schools participate in the program, and this unified approach has yielded amazing results. Some of the proven benefits of the OMA program include the narrowing of the gap between less-privileged and more-privileged students, the development of self-discipline and respect for one's self and others, fostering cognitive development, improving test scores and student attention and concentration, developing a collaborative team-approach to problem-solving, and building future arts audiences by igniting a love of and understanding for the arts. According to OMA principals and study data, these schools also have better teacher and student morale, fewer discipline problems, better attendance, and more parental involvement. Additionally, as an unforeseen bonus, OMA schools have music and visual arts in the school's hallways. Assessment by an independent, nationally-renowned research and evaluation firm, WestEnd, has shown that OMA improves both test scores and teacher effectiveness. Most importantly, OMA students from disadvantaged environments are starting to close the gap in academic performance and are now surpassing both state and national standards in all of the tested areas.
OMA has transformed schools into energized and happy learning environments. The hallways resound with music, original student visual artwork delights the eye, children and adults are kinder to each other, attendance has improved, and there is a reduction in disciplinary referrals. In general, teachers see OMA as "mitigating the impact of poverty, the lack of English proficiency, and the high mobility-rates prevalent in many schools." In addition to all of these positive aspects, the children love the program. Numerous parents each year report that their children not only are learning more because of OMA, but that they are enjoying their learning. "OMA is making a difference in both students' and artists' lives and will continue to do so for many years to come as these inspired students [become] adults [and] provide community support for the arts and arts organizations..." said TUSD Superintendent Roger F. Pfeuffer. "OMA is a local treasure for a national problem."
The Choral Music Classroom and Academic Integration
By Mollie G. Tower
Lecturer, School of Music
Texas State University
Former Coordinator of Choral and General Music, Austin I.S.D.
San Marcos, Texas
The connections and relationships between music and other subject areas are powerful tools in the teaching kits of the most effective choral music directors. The National Standards for Music Education call for a strong emphasis in this area and state standards around the country have followed suit.
The National Standards for Music Education
8. Content Standard: Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts
9. Content Standard: Understanding music in relation to history and culture
Linking choral music to the other arts can be accomplished through a study of similarities and differences. For example, comparing and contrasting specific examples of choral music, instrumental music, visual art, and architecture from one period of history can determine aspects of confluence and deepen the understanding of the unique features of the choral art form. Integrations found between music and other disciplines can deepen the understanding of the performance of choral literature. (For two excellent examples of this type of integration in practice in both a choral music and a theatre setting, see the Teacher Tips sections in this issue of Artnotes.)
Experiencing Choral Music, Glencoe's comprehensive choral music curriculum for grades 6-12, provides teachers with numerous teaching ideas and materials to address each of the National Standards for Music. Integration with the other arts is covered extensively. Links to visual art are provided through five featured artworks in each student book. A full-color version of the artwork is included in transparency format in the Teacher Resource Binder, as well as information about each artist and details on the object. A list of important artists is provided at the beginning of each historical period in the Music and History section of the student book. Also, examples of key buildings and structures from various historical periods are included in transparency format in the Teacher Resource Binder to incorporate interesting comparisons between architecture and music. Additionally, a wonderful link is provided between choral music and instrumental music listening-selections for each historical period. Information about the composers and features of the selections are included in the student book. Moreover, outstanding recordings of the ten listening selections featured in each book are included on the CD in the Teacher Resource Binder.
Specific examples of Experiencing Choral Music's integration of choral music with other academic subjects include the timelines in the student book that incorporate information from the subjects of social studies, science, music, and art. Historical and cultural information is provided in the student book for each piece of choral literature. Additionally, foreign language links are included with the texts of songs that come from many different countries around the world, and translations and pronunciation guides are provided for reproduction in the Teacher Resource Binder. There are also integration links for language arts that include a list of important authors from each historical period, as well as information about the authors of the lyrics for each song, complete with insights into the circumstances in which the pieces were written.
While it is true that integration is a requirement, it is also a very necessary part of ensuring a well-rounded education that enables students to synthesize information across the curriculum. Integration also provides a background or context for a choral performance that is based on extensive information about the times in which the music was written and the people who created it.
Community Involvement Requires Political Awareness
By Tim Gerber
Professor of music, The Ohio State University
Author of Music! Its Role and Importance in Our Lives
Columbus, Ohio
As the presidential primaries and caucuses heated up the political landscape this winter, citizens became more conscious about the role and importance of community involvement in determining public policy. It is not a far-fetched notion that the enterprises of music and art education must become more political if they are to have the positive influence we know they can have on the K-12 population. Why? Increasingly, we see evidence that our young people are at risk of losing high-quality arts instruction. Clearly, arts education curriculum is in growing danger of being marginalized in many schools. The initials NCLB tell much of the story, and their legal referent, the No Child Left Behind Act, reflects the results of a bipartisan political process that has made high-stakes testing the norm.
While current articles have begun to identify and pinpoint the problem (for example, "Principles for Principals: Why Music Remains Important in Middle Schools." General Music Today [Fall 2007]), other recent education research has begun to emphasize community concern over the lack of school course work that cultivates the imagination. For example, a December 2007 poll conducted by Lake Research Partners discovered that 30 percent of voters are displeased with the shallow focus on the "basics" that ignores the development of creativity and the imagination. This survey of over 1000 "likely registered" voters revealed a 3.1 percent margin of error and was supported by a grant from the Arts Education Partnership, a consortium of over 100 national education organizations.
Parents, teachers, and even newspaper editorials have acknowledged that the high stakes testing environment, made even more stressful with the punitive compliance provisions of NCLB, has had a stifling effect that narrows the scope and enjoyment of public education. According to Richard Deasy, director of the Arts Education Partnership, the LRP poll makes it clear that "people across the country want a much more engaging and broadened education for students. They want schools to help students set high standards for themselves, have ambition and aspirations for success, and develop the skills to fulfill their dreams and meet the demands of the twenty-first century world in which we live. And, the majority of voters (88 percent) believe that an education in and through the arts is essential to developing the capacities of the imagination that empower students to achieve these goals."
The LRP poll also found these key data:
- 69 percent of American voters believe that, when compared to other nations, America devotes less attention to developing the imagination and innovation.
- 89 percent say that using the imagination is important to innovation and one's success in a global, knowledge-based economy and essential to success in the twenty first century.
- 88 percent of respondents indicated that an education in and through the arts is essential to cultivating the imagination.
Moreover, the poll found that a majority of likely voters would support candidates who express their advocacy for building students' imagination capacities in public schools. (For more information on the December 2007 LRP poll, click on "National Poll" at www.theimaginenation.net/resources.htm.)
Another recent survey conducted in mid-January 2008 by Virginia Commonwealth University's Education Policy Institute, discovered that Virginia residents were split on their views of testing. Nearly one-third reported that there is too much emphasis placed on achievement testing while another-approximately one-third-believed the emphasis to be "about right." However, 46 percent of the polled Virginians said that "not enough" attention was given in schools to the arts and 46 percent indicated there was insufficient emphasis on creative thinking. (For more information on the January 2008 VCU survey, see www.news.vcu.edu/news.aspx?v=detail&nid=2351.)
Voices in the community are being heard. A recent editorial in the Columbus Dispatch responded to growing complaints by teachers and parents about the proliferation of testing, stating: "the time is right for school administrators to step back and take a thoughtful look at the additional testing they impose-how much time it takes, how useful the results have been and whether the tests employed are the best choices". ("Be Smart About Tests." Editorial. Columbus Dispatch 18 Feb. 2008. p. A-8)
While this is not a clarion call for more arts education, the evidence mounts that community involvement by parents and arts educators is beginning to encourage decision-makers to rethink policy decisions that have narrowed the focus of public education. There has never been a time where community involvement is more important for everyone committed to the benefits of arts education. We have entered a political environment where it is timely and appropriate to let our aspirations for arts education come alive through community involvement. Don't hold back.