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From June 19, 2009

Survey Shows Little Progress in Eighth Graders’ Art Skills
A report released this month by the federal government finds that, according to Americans for the Arts, since 1997, our nation's students have not made significant progress in developing their skills and knowledge in the arts. The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) in the Arts report is the only continuing, national measure of academic achievement in America's schools. The assessment, done in 2008, looked at 7,900 eighth graders from across the nation in both private and public schools. They were measured on their ability to create and respond to the visual arts. Questions on music were scaled back in relation to the last time such a study was done, in 1997 -- the study measured only a student's ability to respond and identify music.  Unfortunately, theatre and dance skills were not assessed at all due to budgetary and data collection constraints, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

A New York Times story on the study begins “Music and art instruction in American eighth-grade classrooms has remained flat over the last decade, according to a new survey by the Department of Education, and one official involved in the survey called student achievement in those subjects “mediocre.” Read the full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/education/16scores.html?ref=music. 

Celebrate New Hampshire Poets Laureate
The Poetry Society of New Hampshire will celebrate New Hampshire’s Poets Laureate with “Reading under the Dome,” a reading by Walter Butts and Patricia Fargnoli, the current state poet laureate and his immediate predecessor. The event happens Saturday, June 20, at 3 p.m. at the New Hampshire State Library, 20 Park Street, Concord. Participants may bring a favorite poem by any of the New Hampshire poets laureate to share, time permitting. Light refreshments will follow. Contact poetrysocietyofnh@gmail.com for more information.

Last updated: August 13, 2009