One teacher at a time is not sufficient.

After years of inviting individual teachers to attend our summer Institute for Educators as a continuing education opportunity, we now require schools to send a team of at least four teachers and the principal. A school team provides a support system that ensures teachers will have colleagues to lean on for help once they get back to school and begin to build arts education professional learning communities. By moving beyond individual teachers, this team approach signals our goal of reaching all classrooms so all students may benefit.

Teachers value specific tools, not just the big idea.

Some professional development programs assume that if you inspire teachers with a powerful learning experience and an engaging concept, they will then go off on their own and find ways to "apply" these ideas in their classroom. Our experience suggests teachers need much more by way of concrete tools and support.

The Music Center's five-day summer Institute for Educators engages the teachers in learning ten model lessons about a significant work of art, which we call an "Anchor Work." The Anchor Work is selected to encourage exploration in one or more arts disciplines and to raise important ideas and issues that can resonate across many areas of the curriculum. Bassett teachers have focused on "Peter and the Wolf" through music and mime theatre. Students learn about empathy and the idea of exploring the story from the perspective of each different character. Culver City elementary teachers have used theatre and shadow puppetry to explore Maya Angelou's poem "On the Pulse of Morning," as well as selected poems of Langston Hughes. The Culver City middle school teachers are studying the dance "Revelations" by Alvin Ailey, using dance and theatre performance tasks to express their understanding of the important themes in this work.

During the Institute, teachers receive detailed lesson plans for the ten lessons and all the related references and support materials. After teachers engage in each lesson as the "learner" they are given time to work alone and with peers to reflect on the lesson and consider how they will make adjustments to implement in their classroom and for their specific grade level. The teachers appreciate that the lessons teach discrete art skills, while connecting students to important big ideas and themes. Teachers leave the Institute with all these materials in hand.

Follow-up support in the classroom is critical to change practice.

Over the years we learned that a powerful summer learning experience is not sufficient to change teacher practice, especially in a content area where they often lack significant background. As a result, the Music Center provides each participating teacher with follow-up support visits from our teaching artists. These visits create an occasion for teachers to focus time and attention on the Anchor Work model lessons. Teachers in their first year of the program receive ten visits, while those with more experience in subsequent years may get six visits.

Working from the same book of model lessons studied in the summer, the teaching artist visits each classroom to provide individual coaching and support. One teacher may need the artist to take the kids through a specific task that was proving difficult for her to lead. Another teacher may want to "co-teach" the entire lesson, side by side with the teaching artist. A third may want to lead the lesson while the teaching artist observes and takes notes. They can debrief after class to review and reflect on all aspects of the teacher's effort and discuss solutions to new challenges and additional strategies or techniques.

This coaching/support role is new for many teaching artists. Many outstanding teaching artists honed their craft in settings where the host teacher was not expected to participate. Artists became very adept as "sole practitioners," handling each aspect of an arts learning experience on their own. The Music Center works with teaching artists to help them understand the value and power of the coaching model. We want to help them have a sense of pride about the impact of their work when teachers really gain the capability and confidence to do more on their own. And it can become clear in this transformational moment, that "all boats rise."

Principal leadership is essential.

Principal leadership signals that this work is "official" and not just the optional preference of a few individual faculty members. Principal involvement helps teachers appreciate the difference between a "must do" expectation, and a "might do" or voluntary activity.

It is important to take time to cultivate principal leadership. While principals generally appreciate the value of the arts in teaching the whole child, many principals lack prior knowledge about quality arts education and may assume arts learning lacks academic rigor. By participating in the lessons firsthand, principals begin to appreciate the level of depth and value for students. Principals also have the opportunity to learn with their peers about specific strategies to support and encourage their teachers. The Music Center has provided specific tools to guide principals in conducting classroom observations of quality arts learning. The Music Center convenes the principals in each district several times during the school year to support their learning and to discuss the status of the project and areas that may need additional support or refinement. This is essential to "processing out" and gaining consensus on next steps to advance the model across each school and the district as a whole. In addition, Music Center staff visit schools to join principals in their classroom observations and then debrief afterwards.

District ownership is the goal, not passive receipt of resources from outside partners.

In Bassett, the former Superintendent decided he wanted all four elementary schools to participate in this program. He committed to a contract with the Music Center to make this possible. His leadership and strong expectation set the stage for the Music Center to then engage teams from each school. In Culver City, the former Superintendent agreed to partner with the Music Center for a grant proposal to the National Endowment for the Arts. The District understood they were assuming a financial obligation for teacher stipends and release time to allow teams from the five elementary schools to participate in the 2009-10 school year. This was expanded to include their middle school in the 2010-11 year.

Districts need to provide more than financial support. Just as teachers look to their principal to gauge what activities are of importance, so do principals take their lead from their superintendent or assistant superintendent for educational services. The ongoing involvement of the district leaders sends a signal that this work matters. During the summer Institute, the Music Center makes a point to invite key leaders from the School Board and district central office to demonstrate their commitment to the participating teachers and principals.

The Music Center works with the districts to facilitate two "reconvenings" during the school year. These provide an occasion for all the participating teachers and principals to come together to share their work, learn from each other, and celebrate the overall progress of their efforts. Also, grade level peers within and across schools are eager to learn from one another about strategies they have used to embed into curriculum and engage students in learning in other content areas. When educators see this work is happening across their district, it reinforces the sense that the work matters and is a priority.

True partnership means sharing control.

When school districts sit back and allow outside arts organizations to come in and "do their thing," programs can often be implemented in an effective and efficient manner. The problem is that such efforts too often remain the work of the arts organization alone, and never become embedded in the schools. As we seek to foster true ownership from our school and district partners, we need to make space to listen to their unique needs and to explore how we can adjust or refine the program to be a better fit for the schools. As proud as we are of our programs, arts organizations need to remember we are not "equal" partners in the effort. The schools have far greater responsibility and accountability for what happens to their students. Arts organizations need to respect that the schools are the "weighted" partner and be respectful of their needs, while still protecting the integrity and core values of their own efforts.

In Culver City, the school district has invested in a district arts coordinator position. This position has been an invaluable resource to develop and sustain a meaningful partnership. The Arts Coordinator has worked hand-in-hand with the Music Center to design the partnership, assist in the implementation, listen to teachers and principals, and help suggest needed refinements to better align with school district needs and deepen the impact of the work.

Alignment with district practice and instructional priorities is key to success.

These days schools find themselves with too many pressures, too many mandated requirements, and too little time. Few have "extra" time in their day to layer on one more initiative. Further, with so many competing projects and initiatives - each with its own set of key concepts and jargon - educators struggle to create a sense of coherence for themselves and for their students.

For arts learning to take root and be sustained, it needs to align with and connect with other instructional priorities. Superficial connections are not enough. If this work is to take hold, arts organizations need to engage in a sustained conversation with their district partners and spend time listening carefully. What are your core challenges? What is your approach to English Language Learners? How does this work relate to your other professional development initiatives?

Arts learning cannot survive as "a burden" or just "one more thing we have to do." We need to unlock deeper connections that help educators see how the work connects with and can support other essential goals.

The Music Center has invited the participating educators to define their own "essential questions" about how this work connects to other priorities. Many have focused on the idea of student engagement. The opportunity for more active student participation in the Anchor Work model lessons has helped more students find success. Teachers saw new abilities or new levels of confidence in students who were previously struggling in class. Teachers are hoping these positive gains will transfer to other aspects of student learning and social/personal development.

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