National Art Education Association

How to: A High School Fine Arts Graduation RequirementAuthor(s): Roger Hayden JohnsonSource: Art Education, Vol. 48, No. 4, Leadership (Jul., 1995), pp. 8-10Published by: National Art Education AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3193540 .

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...over 50% of our students, often obsessed with grade point averages and their demanding academic work- loads, took no fine arts course at the high school.

Cheyenne Mountain High School

Graduation Requirement

he Cheyenne Mountain midable tradition of outstanding test program would "distract students from School District is a small dis- scores and academic superiority, which their academic classes." When I trict near the 5-star has sometimes worked to the detri- became the school's art instructor in Broadmoor Hotel in ment of its fine arts programs. In fact, the Fall of 1990, I resolved to work to

Colorado Springs, Colorado. Although until recently, school administrators adjust that attitude. These efforts culmi- its community has a long history of sup- openly claimed that a stronger electives nated in the acceptance by our School port for the arts, the Board of a High School highschoolhasafor- BY ROGER HAY D EN JO H N SON Fine ArtsGraduation

ART EDUCATION / JULY 1995

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Requirement. To encourage other arts advocates to attempt the passage of a similar requirement, some of the strate- gies used in its development and pro- motion are summarized below.

When I arrived at the high school the existing one-person arts depart- ments-art, instrumental music, and vocal music/drama-were not repre- sented at Heads of Department meet- ings. This was obviously where decisions were being made, so I asked to sit in unofficially at these meetings. I didn't abuse the privilege by talking too much or too often, but I didn't pass up any chances to testify to the importance of the arts in our curriculum and in the lives of our students. Soon, largely because of my new voice in the school's power center, the other arts teachers agreed to give up their independence and join to form a new Fine Arts Department We also adopted the draft- ing instructor, who agreed to cover more architecture in his classes in order to qualify, if marginally, as a fine arts instructor. We gained a voice in the decision-making ofthe school and achieved power through numbers.

Impassioned speeches (ostensibly to parent groups at Open Houses, New Parents Nights, and Academic Awards Nights) became a means to convert the other Heads of Departments. I pointed out that, because there was no fine arts requirement at either the Junior High or the High School, many of our stu- dents received no arts training from sixth grade to graduation. In fact, a little research showed that over 50 percent of our students, often obsessed with grade point averages and their demand- ing academic workloads, took no fine arts course at the high school. This dra- matic statistic didn't seem to correlate with the apparent expectations of our culturally enlightened patrons. The

FIGURE 1 Fine Arts Graduation Requirement - All high school students beginning with the class of 1995, shall complete one year of an arts course as a requirement for graduation. Rationale 1. The sixth Louis Harris poll on cultural issues (Americans and the Arts, VI Survey) revealed that

an overwhelming majority of Americans (close to 10 to 1) say that the arts are as important as math and believe that the arts help students build self-esteem as well as develop useful skills for the future. 89% of parents surveyed would like their children to be able to enjoy and benefit from the arts and cultural experiences at school. However, 53% of our current seniors will graduate having taken no arts course at Cheyenne Mountain High School. (Many of these stu- dents will have received no arts training since 6th grade.)

2. Our current high school electives program does not reflect our district's Strategic Plan Parameters, which state that "we will always advocate for the whole child" while "not allowing achievement scores to dictate district priorities." Heavily academic courses still overwhelm- ingly dominate our curriculum.

3. The high school has yet to respond to our 1990 North CentralAssociation Exit Report, which challenged us to make our program of studies match the school philosophy of encouraging "students to extend their abilities in not only academic disciplines but also the fine and practi- cal arts."

4. The Cheyenne Mountain High School Survey of Class of 1991 revealed that "students felt they lacked adequate college preparation in composition and speech," and that many students rec- ognized a need for more arts electives, especially in drama and speech (31 individual com- ments).

5. At present many of our students will not voluntarily sign up for a "4 pt. A" elective because any grade they would receive in the class would lower their "bumped" grade point average (from A.P. "5 pt. A's") and their class rank. Some take as few classes as possible to protect their G.P.A.s. The Fine Arts Graduation Requirement will allow each student to take an elective arts class without jeopardizing his or her class rank, because all students must fulfill the same requirement.

6. Our students have time in their schedules for an additional class. 11% of our seniors have 3 periods during which they are not enrolled in a class, 45% have 2 periods, 37% have 1 period. Only 6% have 0 periods not enrolled in a class.

7. The high school vocal music/drama teacher is at present responsible for 5 class preparations (1 at the Jr. High), the fall play, the spring musical, an evening of one-act plays, 4 or more vocal music performances, 2 vocal music contests, and drama club. The demands of the posi- tion preclude the development of strong programs. We have hired 4 vocal music/drama instructors within the last 6 years. The addition of a separate drama instructor, made necessary by the increased demand for fine arts courses to fulfill the requirement, will alleviate the pres- sure on our vocal music teacher and help promote a strong vocal music program as well as a strong drama program.

JULY 1995 / ART EDUCATION I

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most successful theme for conversation was "if we can provide everything that is educational, enriching, and rewarding for our students, why settle forjust the basics?" We used arguments based on research and appeals to idealism.

After two years of this proselytizing, a breakthrough came when a P.E. teacher announced plans to retire, and the idea of cutting the P.E. requirement from two years to one resurfaced. Although this often-suggested change

didn't seem to have anything to do with a fine arts graduation requirement, a thorough review of student schedules revealed that 11% of our seniors already had three free periods (in a seven-peri- od day), 45% had two, and 37% had one. I was able to point out that if one year of the P.E. requirement were dropped, students would have an embarrassing- ly large amount of free time on their hands. With the suggestion that a one- year fine arts requirement would allow us to reduce the P.E. requirement with- out leaving a hole in student schedules, permission was secured to prepare a proposal for a fine arts graduation requirement. We linked our goals, when possible, to other goals to gain support.

Since this might be the require- ment's only chance, the finished pro- posal (printed below) was made as thoroughly persuasive as possible. First, the other high school arts teach-

ers were consulted. Although we recog- nized that the requirement could bene- fit our programs in many ways-increased numbers, monies, attention, and support-we also real- ized that a requirement might hurt rather than help us if additional fine arts classes weren't put in place to help meet the increased demand for fine arts classes. The already overloaded vocal music/drama teacher seemed particu- larly vulnerable. The solution was to

hire a separate speech and drama teacher to free the present teacher to concentrate on vocal music. This new position could be paid for because the retiring P.E. teacher would not have to be replaced. (This idea particularly appealed to our principal, who had diffi- culty keeping teachers in the challeng- ing vocal music/drama combination).

Next, we enlisted the help of our Assistant Superintendent, a known arts advocate, who had only recently been put in charge of the arts in the district. She provided much moral support and supplied the results of the sixth Louis Harris poll on cultural issues, which strongly supported our project. She also let us present our ideas to a gather- ing of all the arts teachers in the dis- trict. This group helped brainstorm strategies and enthusiastically spread support for the requirement through- out the district. Next, we met with the high school's Accountability Committee, which suggested that we

develop a nonperformance humanities course and clarified how our school's "bumping" of Advanced Placement course grades actually discouraged stu- dents from taking regular "4 pt. A" elec- tive classes. The Accountability Committee's survey of recent gradu- ates also proved helpful. Additional arguments for the requirement were mined from our district's Strategic Plan and our most recent North Central Association Exit Report. We built a broad consensus of opinion by enlisting the help of many people, groups, and doc- uments.

The resulting proposal was present- ed to and discussed by the high school Heads of Department, the high school faculty, and the Cheyenne Mountain District School Board, which passed it unanimously in January of 1993. To pro- mote the passage of a fine arts gradua- tion requirement, arts advocates may use many strategies including:

* gaining a voice in the decision- making of the school,

* schieving power through num- bers,

* using arguments based on research,

* Appealing to idealism. * linking the requirement, whenev-

er possible, to other goals to gain sup- port, and

* building a broad consensus of opinion by enlisting the help of many people, groups, and documents.

Roger Hayden Johnson is an artist and art instructor in the Cheyenne Mountain School District in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he chairs the DistrictArt Department and the High School Fine Arts Department.

ART EDUCATION / JULY 1995

This group helped brainstorm strategies and enthusiastically spread support for the requirement throughout the district.

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