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News for Arts Educators
Department of Education Announces Arts Education Grants
This year’s competition for grants in the U.S. Department of Education’s Arts in Education program is open. The Model Development and Dissemination Grants Program supports the development, documentation, evaluation and dissemination of innovative, cohesive models that demonstrate effectiveness in integrating arts into the core elementary and middle school curricula; strengthening arts instruction in those grades; and improving students’ academic performance, including their skills in creating, performing and responding to the arts. The deadline is May 31.
For more information, visit www.ed.gov/programs/artsedmodel.
The Professional Development for Arts Educators Program supports the implementation of high-quality professional development model programs in elementary and secondary education for K-12 music, dance, drama and visual arts educators. Funds support innovative instructional methods, especially those linked to scientifically-based research. Programs must focus on the development, enhancement or expansion of standards-based arts education programs; or the integration of arts instruction into other subject area content. The deadline is May 20.
For more information, visit www.ed.gov/programs/artsedprofdev.
Sioux City Superintendent named Lowell Mason Fellow
Larry D. Williams, superintendent of the Sioux City Community School District, has been named a MENC Lowell Mason Fellow for 2004 by the National Association for Music Education. This honor, named after Lowell Mason (1792-1872), who is credited with introducing music instruction to American public schools and establishing teacher training in music education, is bestowed upon outstanding music educators or advocates.
“I didn’t set out to do anything very special, although I have tried to live the maxim that ‘No horizon is so far nor so high that you cannot get beyond or above it,’” Williams said. “I probably learned the most about teaching by creating the ‘Great Expectations Band’ for special students in Great Falls, Montana. I love to challenge the kids and to support them. When you learn that students are very different from each other, and master the myriad ways it takes to reach them as individuals, they have success and so do you. Far from being plagued by drop-outs, you see not only the growth in the excellence of their music abilities, but in sheer numbers as well. One quickly learns you can’t do it alone, and that it is very satisfying to work with others.”
The National Association for Music Education (MENC), the world's largest arts education organization, is the only association that addresses all aspects of music education. More than 120,000 members represent all levels of teaching from preschool to graduate school. Since 1907, MENC has worked to ensure that every student has access to a well-balanced, comprehensive, and high-quality program of music instruction taught by qualified teachers.
MENC's activities and resources have been largely responsible for the establishment
of music education as a profession, for the promotion and guidance of music study
as an integral part of the school curriculum, and for the development of the National
Standards for Arts Education.
