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PROGRESS

EAOLEF Welcomes The Public

We would like to include school officials, business and civic leaders, arts experts, concerned parents, and so forth, on our Board of Directors. Also, please recommend others whom you feel would be strong additions to the board. Contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

MCKINLEY THIRD GRADE ARTS PROGRAM

Program Description

This program has begun! (September, 2009) The program includes all third graders and consists of 30 minutes each week for small group instruction on violins. This program is funded through the 2009/2010 School Year and was made possible by a $17,000 grant administered by the Greater Erie Youth Symphony Orchestra (GEYSO). The EAO recently received a Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts (PPA) grant to fund arts field trips and to allow Erie Art Museum staff to come work with third graders at McKinley. Kim Howell is teaching dance during the scheduled PE time. Dr. Rosemary Omniewski has agreed to instruct the third grade classroom teachers to integrate the arts into their regular instruction. Ken Adams, former Dean of Education at Edinboro University, is supervising the collection of student data (pre and post) in areas such as PSSA testing, 4site testing, school attendance, behavioral referrals, student and teacher attitudes, etc. We will disseminate the results as widely as possible. Project partners are Erie Arts Opportunity, The School District of the City of Erie, WQLN public broadcasting, Erie Philharmonic, Erie Playhouse, and ErieKids.org. We will need a number of portable classrooms in the future to expand this program. We also plan in future years to increase the program to include traditional band instruments in the fourth and fifth grades in addition to a string orchestra in those grades. We therefore will need to purchase additional instruments and hire additional personnel. We also plan to increase general music, art, theater and dance instruction to include the other grades.

Need for Program

98% of the students at McKinley qualify for free lunch. In 2008, 60% of third graders scored Proficient or higher in reading (state average was 77%) and 64% of third graders achieved Proficient or higher in math (state average was 81%). To meet the Performance Target required for AYP (annual yearly progress), schools and every measurable subgroup in the school must have at least 63% of the tested students achieve Proficient or higher on the reading assessment and 56% of the tested students achieve Proficient or higher on the mathematics assessment. Because these high-stakes exams “reveal little about a student’s intellectual depth or desire to learn, and are poor predictors of eventual success and satisfaction in life” (Winner & Hetland, 2008), we are seeking to restore a balance and provide students with life skills such as creativity and leadership in addition to improving their performance according to current assessment strategies. We feel obligated to help shift education's recent focus on producing obedient workers towards a focus on producing students who think like entrepreneurs. We need to prepare for a future where a majority of people know what life means and can show the rest of us how to get there.
 

Infrastructure

Perhaps you would like to coordinate (or collaborate with others on) the following:

 •    Instrument Donation/Distribution Program where people donate musical instruments to EAOLEF, Inc. for a tax benefit. The chair of this program would oversee the storage, repair, and distribution of musical instruments for use in schools sponsored by EAOLEF (later in the meeting, Frank Bolte has agreed to administer this program).
•    Fund Raising Activities Program whereby EAOLEF, Inc. works with individual schools to raise money for particular projects such as Colleen Zandbergen’s recent request to help purchase a musical for Roosevelt Middle School (Mariah Miller has agreed to serve as Fund Raising Activities Chair).
•    Corporate Giving Program.
•    Music Lessons in the Schools Program whereby funds will be raised to allow local musicians (such as those from the Erie Philharmonic) to teach private and small group lessons in participating schools. The Chair of this program would work with school principals to choose students, set up schedules, and arrange payment for the teachers. The Chair of this program also would work with the Chair of the Instrument Donation/Distribution Program to make musical instruments available for participating students. Partners have already been identified for this program.
•    Grant Solicitations Program. The Chair of this program oversees the seeking and writing of relevant grants.
•    Advocacy/Research Program. The Chair of this program works with local media, School District Officials, parents, and other organizations to ensure that research regarding the efficacy of arts education is broadly disseminated. If, in the future, EAOLEF decides to sponsor research, this person would coordinate these efforts.
•    Publicity—website, brochures, flyers, press releases, and media relations.
•    Accounts/Payroll/Personnel. The EAOLEF Treasurer coordinates bookkeeping, payroll, IRS reporting, etc. with the help of other interested parties.
•    Erie County Friends of Music Education Giving Society. The Chair of this Program publicizes a list of donors (listed in rank order according to giving level) in school music programs, brochures, newspapers, etc.