Creating an Arts Rich Middle School: A Conversation with Leaders

Monday, October 19, 2:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Organized by the Arts Education Committee.

Presented by Carol Fineberg, consultant from the New York Times Foundation; Ramon Gonzalez, principal, MS 223, Bronx; Eva Pataki, Ed.D, executive officer for research and development – arts education, ICI LSO, NYC Department of Education; Jack Rosenthal, president, New York Times Company Foundation Inc.

Principal Ramon Gonzalez and other participating principals of the School Arts Support Initiative (SASI) will take GIA conferees on a virtual tour of MS 223, located in New York’s poorest Congressional District—the South Bronx. MS 223 is undergoing a transformation where the arts are taking their place as a basic subject along with English, Math, Science, Social Studies and Technology. Hear Mr. Gonzalez and Jack Rosenthal, President of the NYTF, and others associated with SASI discuss the transformative elements of SASI and how costs, funding, management of details, and criteria for determining “success” are faced. Discover how they confront the issue of quality regarding instruction and curriculum. See evidence that project evaluators are using to determine how the arts function as transformative agent and what measures determine impact on student achievement and general behavior.

Space is limited for these Monday off-site sessions, so tickets are required and we recommend that you sign up in advance at the conference online registration application. Remaining tickets will be available at the registration desk on Monday morning. When the tickets for a session are all gone, you will know that session is full, and can make another choice.

Participants will travel to offsite sessions by subway guided by local hosts. Your ticket will indicate when and where to meet your session group.

Related links:

The Center for Arts Education
(where extensive description of SASI project is available)

The Dana Foundation
(where a number of valuable research-based publications are available for downloading as are other arts education documents of importance)

Creating Islands of Excellence
(the arts as a partner in school reform contains a chapter on evaluation and assessment available for downloading)