Arts Education Advocacy Plan

Develop an Advocacy Plan

Your plan consists of informing these 6 groups:

1. Students – Survey your students with questions such as:

What are you learning?
How does it apply outside of school?
Post your credentials in your room.
Inform students of your goals and the place of the arts in their education (use posters in your room)

2. Colleagues – Inform them about your curriculum, why you do what you do, how you integrate into their discipline

3. Parents – Insert advocacy leaflets in all event materials. Form a Parent Group for constant distribution of advocacy materials and to act as your advocacy “voice” at school board meetings, with administration, etc. (When calling, they call themselves the parent of…or the tax payer…not a member of the Parent’s Group or Boosters)

4. Administration – Share advocacy materials, calls, meetings of Parent’s Group

5. School Boards – Share advocacy materials, calls, meeting of Parent’s Group. Win School Board Support for Arts Learning by sharing A Toolkit for Action!

6. Community – In a large district, form an advocacy group of teachers to put out advocacy materials to all arts teachers in the district, plan group advocacy projects, i.e. billboards, district events, publications, etc.

Teacher’s Role:

1. Gather and distribute the Tips for Parent Arts Education Advocacy advocacy information and materials.

2. Materials can be selected for above groups and distributed on a monthly scheduled basis on a calendar set at the beginning of the year.

3. Annually, the teacher sets up a school board presentation of their yearly program.