Roundtable:
Researchers and Practitioners Coming Together to Improve Arts Education in One Large Urban School District
(Education)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
This proposed roundtable discussion will convene researchers and practitioners together to discuss how results from a collaborative evaluation conducted in one large urban school district can be used to improve upon issues of equity as it relates to K-12 arts education. More specifically, the panel will: first discuss the larger context for historically underserved students to access consistent and high-quality arts programs in the district; 2) then, discuss results from findings examining the effects of arts instruction on student outcomes; and lastly, 3) discuss how findings from the research has and will continue to be used to improve on the arts education offered at every school in the district. The larger purpose of this roundtable is to illustrate the importance of establishing research-practice partnerships to define and investigate a policy question of interest in K-12 settings and to use the results from the research to help address and potentially solve problems of practice.
The roundtable discussion will begin with a brief overview of the context for arts education in a large urban school district. The first speaker will present an overview of arts education models used across schools and elaborate on current and past efforts to improve upon the delivery of and access to arts instruction for all students in the district. She will also highlight both the promises and key challenges in ensuring that every student has the opportunity to access high-quality arts instruction.
The second speaker will share out empirical results from an ongoing study examining the effects of arts instruction on student outcomes. She will also highlight findings from examining the probability of different student groups to access a high-quality arts education in the district.
The third and last speaker from the district will highlight key takeaways from reviewing case study data collected by a researcher in partnership with the district to learn more about the quality and features of arts instruction offered. Case studies were conducted at a purposive sample of schools with varying populations of historically underserved students. The third speaker will address how reviewing the case study data and how findings from the empirical analysis has helped or will inform strategic plans to work toward resolving inequities across students to access a high-quality arts education. The moderator for this roundtable will facilitate interactions and questions between speakers and between speakers and the audience.
