Arts Education | NW Education

Picasso in the Wilderness, Part 6.
OVATIONS

Students' newly gained arts expertise has been a boon to their self-esteem. Like other small, rural communities, Borowicz points out, Elk City doesn't have enough students to field sports teams. "Now," she says, "they can go out and meet kids from other schools and have something unique to share."

"For children in a remote area, who otherwise would not have had exposure to a world outside their own, there has been a whole broadening of perspective," says Judy Leuck, Director of Supervision and Personnel for the Grangeville School District. In addition to simple exposure to the arts, Leuck has also seen much more curriculum integration in general. And she's seen the results on standardized testing, more proof that the approach is working where it matters most-in student performance.

Test scores have risen significantly since the arts-integration project was instituted. On the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), the school average for grades two through 10 rose from 30.4 in the 1995-96 school year to 52.3 in the 1996-97 school year. There have also been high increases in writing assessment scores. In fact, last year, Elk City eighth-graders' scores surpassed all other eighth-graders in the district in direct writing and math assessments.

Surprising? Not really. As more and more programs like Elk City's reach students, indications are that the left brain knows what the right is doing. And vice versa.

"All the evidence points to a relationship between the arts and other academic disciplines that is clear and compelling, indicating to both fields that one cannot really flourish without the influence of the other," says Jerold Ross, Director of the National Arts Education Research Center at New York University.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Education recognized the improvement in performance in Elk City by awarding the school Title I Accelerated School status.

Elk City has managed to keep the attention of the Albertson Foundation, receiving a second-year grant from the foundation, and the Idaho Commission on the Arts which has designated Elk City as a partner site.

"And the kids aren't the only ones growing around here," Boro-wicz adds. "We teachers are learning, too."

In fact, although the arts grant funds are waning and will not afford the school an arts facilitator for a third year, Elk City teachers are confident that arts integration is here to stay.

Loomis has indicated an interest in overseeing the Grant Room resources. And mentor teachers can help new staff learn the strategies for arts integration.

"If I ever leave here," says Nelson, "I'll take it with me. The only problem is that the new school might not have such incredible resources."

Renny Parker is the school librarian at Elk City. Thom Parker, her husband, is bus driver, custodian, and the morning-address speaker at the school. They are also parents of one of last year's students who, by many accounts, "blossomed" under the arts program. This year, their daughter Bryn is attending high school in Grangeville, a two-hour drive down that twisting, turning road. Growing up in Elk City has taught generations of young people to be resourceful and to appreciate the beauty of the natural world. But the Parkers credit Elk City's new arts program with helping Bryn develop the skills and confidence to go for a part in the high school play. She landed the lead.

"The arts program was a great intro to what's out there-the possibilities," Renny Parker says. "For the kids that go for the challenge, they profit. I mean, for a lifetime."

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