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Arts Education

School Site Quality Indicators

Lynn Waldorf of the Griffin Center for Inspired Instruction introduced the school level quality indicators for L.A. County’s Arts for All arts education initiative at the “Quality Arts Education in Los Angeles” community conversation on January 14, 2010. Featured with Waldorf at the forum was Steve Seidel of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and principal investigator for “The Qualities of Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education” report released in 2009. During the forum, Waldorf said that the lenses of the quality indicators, developed from extensive research, “naturally coincided with ‘Qualities of Quality’.”

Waldorf said that, in her research, she asked “What are the issues in L.A. County?” and cited preparation for the region’s creative industries, teaching to the content standards and affecting poverty and racism as the key concerns that emerged and informed her choice of indicators culled from 400 criteria.

Waldorf ended the forum with a call to action to the arts education service providers as expert instructors to start conversations about quality. “You are especially qualified to hold discussions about these points. You can be key in helping to form learning communities where these discussions are ongoing.”

The full released indicator report is available for download:

• LA County School Site Quality Indicators

 

What’s next

The indicators will be included in a school site survey, and data collection will begin in five school districts (Burbank, Culver City, Montebello, Paramount, and Santa Monica-Malibu) starting in March 2010.

More information

For more information about the Quality Indicators, or to learn more about Arts for All’s development of indicators of quality, access, and equity in arts education, please contact Sofia Klatzker, Senior Policy and Research Manager, by email or at (213)202-5858.