High School Curriculum Plan "MassCore" Debated

The Department of Education (DOE) has proposed a recommended high school curriculum called MassCore that increases requirements in math, science, and history but relegates the arts to an elective. After DOE released the proposal for public comment, MAASH collected more than 300 letters from constituents who articulated their concerns with omitting arts from core curriculum. MCC also submitted comments to the Commissioner recommending that DOE include at least one credit in the arts in the recommended curriculum.

The DOE reported the results of the public comment to the Board of Education on June 26. MCC Vice-Chair, Barbara Grossman addressed the Board saying, "Excluding the arts from MassCore runs counter to the overwhelming evidence showing the power of the arts to prepare students for college, and for success in the workforce as well."

She noted the power of the arts in connecting with hard-to-reach kids and emphasized the importance of participation in the arts in building confidence, trust, and empowerment in young people. She asked the Board to "identify the arts as a central component of MassCore, to recommend at least a one-credit high school arts requirement, and to recognize that the arts have a rightful, powerful, vital and vibrant place in every student's education." (Her full comments are available below.)

Commissioner Driscoll will reconvene the MassCore Advisory Committee this summer "to consider refinements, if needed, to the current proposal." The Department will bring a final proposal to the Board of Education early this fall for further discussion and a vote. There may be opportunity for more public comment at that time.

Testimony to the Board of Education, June 26, 2007
by Barbara Grossman, MCC Vice-Chair

My name is Barbara Wallace Grossman, Chair of the Department of Drama and Dance at Tufts University. I’m also honored to serve as Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The Council is a state agency that promotes excellence, access, education, and diversity in the arts, humanities, and sciences to improve the quality of life in the Commonwealth and contribute to the economic vitality of our communities.

On behalf of the Council, I wish to respond to the MassCore recommended course requirements for high school students. We applaud the inclusion of strong humanities and science components in MassCore. But we are deeply concerned that the arts, part of the Massachusetts’ core curriculum since the Education Reform Act of 1993, are not recommended as one of MassCore’s required credits.

Excluding the arts from MassCore runs counter to the overwhelming evidence showing the power of the arts to prepare students for college, and for success in the workforce as well.

Many of our nation’s leading government and educational organizations have endorsed the vital role the arts play in education. These include the National Education Association, [the National Association for the Education of Young Children,] the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Governors’ Association, the National PTA, and the College Board.

The No Child Left Behind Act considers the arts--music, drama, dance, and the visual arts--to be a core part of the K through12 curriculum. Current and former U.S. Secretaries of Education have twice reminded superintendents across the country of this fact since No Child Left Behind became law. The McDuffy Report, the basis of our education reform effort here in Massachusetts, cites the arts as an essential part of each student’s education.

A 2006 Education Commission of the States report succinctly summarizes this consensus: "There is compelling evidence that shows student involvement with the arts can make a significant difference in improving educational outcomes for all students--in terms of their academic achievement, their engagement in learning, and their social and civic development." I saw that firsthand as an 8th-grade English teacher in Brookline when I did a production of the musical, Oliver, with a cast of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. For the part of Fagin, the show’s leading role, I chose Noah, a student who was considered a trouble maker, who was thought to be disruptive, unmotivated, and unfocused. I cast him anyway, even though my colleagues told me that I was making a mistake and that he’d never be able to learn the part. Not only did he learn the part, he gave a spectacular performance. He memorized his lines, spoke/sang and danced with poise and confidence, and worked beautifully with the rest of the cast. After the show, his tearful parents thanked me for believing in him and trusting him. More than that, his achievement in Oliver empowered him. He was a different person afterward and went on to a successful high school and college career. To me, that’s what the arts are all about: about trust, about transformation and about empowerment. Moreover, as Harvard Professor Howard Gardner has reasoned in his theory of multiple intelligences, there are different kinds of learning, knowing, and interacting with the world. The arts can often reach people like Noah in ways that other disciplines cannot and can change their lives for the better in the process.

Research underscores the importance of arts education on the high school level. One study of more than 25,000 secondary school students found that students who reported consistently high levels of involvement in instrumental music during their middle- and high school years show significantly higher levels of mathematics proficiency by grade twelve. Another study discovered that college-bound seniors, who had studied the arts for four or more years, averaged 109 points higher on the SAT than those seniors with no experience in the arts.

We know that colleges and universities are increasingly seeking students with a well-rounded education, including a solid grounding in the arts. In fact, at Tufts, creativity is so highly valued that the University is exploring ways to assess the creative potential of prospective students during the application process. I believe that many other outstanding colleges and universities will follow Tufts’ innovative example. It goes without saying that our students cannot graduate without fulfilling an arts requirement.

The public has demonstrated strong support for arts education in Massachusetts, as well. In a 2004 poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts, 95% of eligible voters viewed the arts as a "basic part" of a child’s curriculum. Over 90% favored using state funds to support arts education.

There are sound economic reasons for this consensus. Arts education has become increasingly important in grooming leadership for today's knowledge-based global economy. The Harvard Business Review recently observed that, "An arts degree is perhaps the hottest credential in the world of business. Corporate recruiters are visiting the top arts grad schools in search of talent." There is a connection between creativity and the creative economy.

I remember hearing the president of Genzyme on the radio a couple of years ago. I was listening to an interview with him on NPR. He said that whenever he hires new employees, he always checks to see if they have an arts background because he wants people who can think creatively, who can connect the dots and think "outside the box." He invariably finds that people with arts experience are better able to do that.

I also want to mention Josh, a former student of mine at Tufts, who is now training to be a pediatric oncologist. A triple major in Biology, Drama and Philosophy, Josh applied to Mt. Sinai Medical School in the middle of his sophomore year. It was a special program that targeted students with a strong interest in the arts and humanities as well as medicine. He got in and was told, "Josh, finish your degree at Tufts, but drop your Bio major. Do as much Drama and Philosophy as you can in the next two years because you’ll be a better doctor for it."

As a theatre educator, I believe that the arts are essential to the whole child, the healthy child, even the safe child.

There’s a well-known saying in arts advocacy circles: "Give a child a flute or a paintbrush and that child will be less likely to pick up a gun or a syringe."

The arts nurture creativity and imagination.

They help develop the skills that people must have in order to perform and lead in a global society. Among them:

Facility with language
Flexibility
Teamwork
Adaptability
The ability to think imaginatively, "outside the box"
The capacity to see the world differently

Beyond that, art can be wonderfully expressive and joyous. The arts can be fun, and there’s nothing wrong with having fun during the school day. The arts can help keep kids in school!

In Washington, D.C., at a meeting of the National Council on the Arts, on which I served as a Presidential appointee in the mid-nineties, a teacher at a busy Los Angeles high school told us about the impact of the arts on her students: "I have a classroom in which 35 different languages are spoken," she said. "The only common language is art." "And" she added, "no one is absent on art day."

Other countries, including Singapore, Japan, Germany, and Great Britain, have recognized the critical importance of arts education in preparing students to be innovative, competitive participants in the global economy and have adjusted their curricula accordingly.

California, a major economic competitor to Massachusetts, recognized the value of the arts in creating a skilled workforce recently by making a $500 million multi-year investment to restore arts education in its public schools.

Currently 36 states and the District of Columbia require arts credits for high school graduation.

Massachusetts should join them! A vital first step toward achieving that requirement is to include the arts in MassCore’s recommendations.

The Massachusetts Cultural Council has worked with the Department of Education for years to ensure that the arts will be an essential part of the education of all students in the Commonwealth. We urge the State Board of Education to identify the arts as a central component of MassCore, to recommend at least a one-credit high school arts requirement, and to recognize that the arts have a rightful, powerful, vital and vibrant place in every student's education. Without the arts, that education will be incomplete and we may well produce students who will know how to memorize but not how to think strategically. Ultimately, if that happens, we will undermine the knowledge-based creative economy we are striving so hard to build because we will not have the bold, innovative, imaginative workers it demands.

Thank you for your consideration.