We develop our teacher identities through our experiences as educators - from preservice into classroom settings. Particularly as arts educators, we can experience and develop our own teacher identities so far removed from our colleagues who work besides us. Why is that? Why does the experience for the arts teacher vary so much - whether it is from other content teachers or even other art teachers in different schools? I have up to this point taught in three very different schools, each located in different boroughs of New York City or different districts, all with their own agendas and goals. However the one thing that remained consistent in each of these schools is the inconsistency in their arts programs - some very poorly managed and some with the right intention but without the actionable follow through. Why are the arts so poorly and inconsistently managed from school to school? Why is there a lack of quality and consistent arts programming? In my first year, I had learned that I was the 9th arts teacher hired in the last 8 years. In my second year I was coming in after a volatile relationship between the previous arts teacher and the administration and in my third year, I came into a program with no clear direction or goals. 

Beyond these inconsistencies I was frustrated with the continual disregard for the arts as their own separate skill based content area. Why must I integrate “best practices” that were specifically created for “core academic” subjects whose skills did not translate in the same way into my content area? Why must I sit through yet another professional development meeting to discuss instructional outcomes based off of a regents exam that has no basis in my subject area? Why must I be evaluated against protocols that were not created for the arts classroom but I am responsible for somehow adjusting these practices into arts teaching because the entity that is requiring it did not even bother to figure it out for the arts classroom? I began to wonder what exactly motivates schools to create the policies and practices in the ways they do? Everyone says funding for the arts is cut first - but why is that, beyond the obvious “Well it's not important.” Why? Why are arts the first to be cut? What makes the arts considered not as important or expendable than other subjects? Is it a lack of understanding? Or is it because of larger frameworks that tell schools what is important to focus on? This is important to note particularly in schools with limited resources that are almost always found in areas with high poverty and majority BIPOC student demographics consistently contend with what to focus their resources on. All the schools I mentioned above had a number of things in common - specifically that they were majority students of color, either in neighborhoods with high poverty or students came from families determined to fall below the poverty line and majority immigrant families. If public schools may be the only places in which these students can get the access to a high quality well rounded education - how does cutting or having inconsistent arts programming contribute to their well rounded education? I ask my students every year at the beginning about their experiences with art and I find that the majority of my students have had really varied but mostly limited meaningful art explorations nor the space or time to build their creative skills. 

The purpose of my study is to examine the frameworks in which our schools operate and what creates the motivations behind schools to organize in the way they do with regards to the inconsistencies in arts programming. How does our educational policy contribute to the inconsistencies? Can review and adjustment of current policies potentially be the answer to some of these issues? 

I hope to learn about the structures that influence and guide decision making at the State, District and School. These structures provide the guidance and language in order for all levels to understand how resources are allocated, what instructional practices are approved and what schools are meant to focus on in order to see student achievement gaps closed. 

In examining these policies and structures, I hope that this will allow for art educators to better understand their circumstances - since we are all in different school communities. How can they operate and advocate for their programs when they understand the “language” that is guiding the decisions. As well, schools administrators, district leaders and policy makers can realize and take the time to recognize what is improving but also where they need to start to bring purposeful attention to in order to truly give students the well rounded education they are trying to set up for their students. Perhaps given some time and true examination, we can begin to rethink how we see the role of arts education in our schools - particularly for our students who need them the most.