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Faced with an ongoing teacher shortage, many California arts education advocates have been championing the use of career technical education (CTE) to attract new arts teachers to help fulfill the state’s historic arts mandate. The sticking point has been that the credential has only been applied to secondary classrooms, leaving elementary students out.
That may change if Gov. Gavin Newsom’s initial 2024-25 state budget becomes law. This proposal, subject to change in May, when the numbers are revised in response to shifting economic conditions and policy issues, calls for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing to create a new Elementary Arts and Music Education pathway for career technical education teachers. This expansion would allow more working artists to share their expertise with California students, a move many arts advocates praise.
“Newsom is paving the way for a more vibrant and well-rounded educational experience, fostering creativity and skill development at every stage,” said Allison Gamlen, visual and performing arts coordinator for the San Mateo County Office of Education. “Empowering CTE teachers with the ability to bring their expertise to elementary classrooms is a positive step that will enrich the artistic learning experience for young students.”
Expanding this credential into elementary schools might help recruit working artists, from musicians to animators, who are passionate about their craft into the school system, which is struggling to find staff in the wake of the pandemic.
“It’s really exciting,” said Austin Beutner, the former superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, who authored Proposition 28. He said the governor’s direction to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing about expanding the career technical education pathways for arts educators to include elementary schools “will help all 6 million children in public schools across California benefit from the additional funding Prop. 28 provides for arts education.”
While many arts advocates are excited, some also caution patience, given the exhaustive nature of the bureaucratic process. The budget may well undergo significant changes during the May revision, for example.
“Teaching artists will now have another pathway into employment at schools to meet the needs of Prop. 28,” said Eric Engdahl, professor emeritus at CSU East Bay and past president of the California Council on Teacher Education. But “knowing how state bureaucracies work and the laws that govern their actions, I don’t think this will produce any new teachers for at least two years, quite possibly more.”
One key concern has been whether artists have sufficient knowledge of best practices for younger children. Some are concerned that teaching third graders requires a different skill set than eighth graders, for instance.
“Elementary has different foundational considerations, including meeting young students’ developmental and reading needs,” said Letty Kraus, director of the California county superintendents’ statewide arts initiative. “The developmental piece is an important one.”
Kraus believes the state should solve the staffing problem by widening the existing arts educator pipeline.
“Rather than push CTE down into elementary, I think it is important to look at our existing credentialing system and consider how to increase statewide access to credentialing pathways, including virtual,” she said, “and also how to remove financial barriers and support credential candidates while they complete their student teaching.”
Some arts education experts warn that teaching a subject is not the same as practicing it.
“I am concerned about having CTE teachers teaching a core subject like arts, math and science —mastering a subject doesn’t mean you can teach it,” said Abe Flores, deputy director of policy and programs at Create CA, an advocacy group. “I know how to read, but it doesn’t mean I can adequately teach a student to read.”
Others say that the new credential should require adequate training in child development as well as pedagogical concerns.
“Since it is now in the CTC’s court, they will have to create a pathway that ensures preparedness,” said Engdahl. “A CTE credential requires classes in addition to industry experience, and the CTC should be looking at those classes closely.”
Engdahl has confidence that aspiring arts educators will apply due diligence to their professional development.
“As for teacher preparedness, I am not really too concerned. When I was a teaching artist, and having worked with teaching artists for many years, I have noticed that their classroom preparedness is generally excellent.”
However, classrooms today are not what they were before the pandemic, and many children are coping with mental health issues as well as learning loss. That raises the stakes for all new teachers, Engdahl notes, not just arts educators.
“If there is an area of concern, it is in the changes in schools after Covid,” said Engdahl. “Students and schools are different now, and it is more challenging helping students to heal and learn.”
This urgency to adapt to shifting school needs is one reason Beutner believes change is called for.
“You have to meet the students where they are,” said Beutner. “You also have to meet the aspiring teachers where they are.”
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Comments (6)
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Gale Caswell 2 months ago2 months ago
As a theatre educator and current president of the California Educational Theatre Association, I am strongly opposed to this idea. Contrary to the comments expressed here, most of the teaching artists with whom I have worked have neither the desire nor the skills to become full-time classroom teachers. Placing under-qualified people in schools to head new or expanding arts programs will destroy those programs probably for many years to come.
Nicole Robinson 3 months ago3 months ago
As the president of the California Dance Education Association, I am very disturbed by this move. We already have a process to help folx become credentialed teachers. This is unnecessary and a waste of resources. We would be horrified if there was some way for uncredentialed people to become K-12 math or science teachers. While professional artists can be a great resource at the secondary level in conjunction with a credentialed teachers, CTE teachers do … Read More
As the president of the California Dance Education Association, I am very disturbed by this move. We already have a process to help folx become credentialed teachers. This is unnecessary and a waste of resources. We would be horrified if there was some way for uncredentialed people to become K-12 math or science teachers. While professional artists can be a great resource at the secondary level in conjunction with a credentialed teachers, CTE teachers do not have the pedagogy to teach and assess the four artistic processes of Creating, Performing, Connecting, and Responding to the arts, which are found in the California Arts Standards for Public Schools, adopted in 2019 by the State Board of Education.
This is a hard NO for K-12 Dance Education.
Anne Fennell 3 months ago3 months ago
Multiple pathways towards certification can be found on this website: https://www.sdcoe.net/educatorpathways/pathways/degreeexperience
Anne Fennell, President - California Music Educators Association 3 months ago3 months ago
The California Music Educators Association opposes using CTE credentialed educators for elementary arts instruction. For all subjects, including the arts, elementary education represents foundational knowledge for children. Historically, teachers with CTE credentials teach a secondary specific pathway or course, which is aligned to their professional experience and an emphasis in career training. Elementary students need developmentally appropriate instruction to address the needs, knowledge, and skills of children within the arts and not towards a career at … Read More
The California Music Educators Association opposes using CTE credentialed educators for elementary arts instruction.
For all subjects, including the arts, elementary education represents foundational knowledge for children. Historically, teachers with CTE credentials teach a secondary specific pathway or course, which is aligned to their professional experience and an emphasis in career training. Elementary students need developmentally appropriate instruction to address the needs, knowledge, and skills of children within the arts and not towards a career at such a young age. Our students should have the opportunity to explore and create while they learn about the various art forms.
Credentialed Arts Educators are highly qualified educators with an expertise and training in education and the arts, including classes in curricula design, pedagogy, classroom management, and educational psychology to support elementary students’ needs. Our students in the state of California deserve the best to ensure their artistic future.
Single subject credentialed arts educators have the necessary pedagogy to teach and assess the four artistic processes of Creating, Performing, Connecting, and Responding to music for children. These are found within the California Arts Standards for Public Schools, which were adopted in 2019 by the State Board of Education. Our students deserve standards-aligned instruction that clearly articulates a sequence of skills to ensure all students receive a high quality education.
The arts have been marginalized historically, and to suddenly lower the teaching requirements of arts educators when there are currently many pathways to becoming an teacher, is simply not acceptable. Please see the support website identifying the multiple ways one can become a credentialed teacher. If the arts do move towards a CTE credential at the elementary level, will this also happen with the multiple subject or physical education certificates? Why is there a double standard in instruction between the arts and other subject matter?
Michael D Stone 3 months ago3 months ago
There is strong opposition to the idea of an Elementary CTE Credential for the Arts in California. And, rightly so! Career Technical Education (CTE) in Grades 7-12 can provide a valuable pathway to connect some arts courses to career pathways after foundational learning has been established in lower grades. But, the idea that "teaching artists" can do the work of a professional credentialed teacher is simply misguided. First, teaching artists would not have to hold … Read More
There is strong opposition to the idea of an Elementary CTE Credential for the Arts in California. And, rightly so! Career Technical Education (CTE) in Grades 7-12 can provide a valuable pathway to connect some arts courses to career pathways after foundational learning has been established in lower grades.
But, the idea that “teaching artists” can do the work of a professional credentialed teacher is simply misguided. First, teaching artists would not have to hold Bachelor’s degrees under CTE Guidelines. The result would be that our most vulnerable children in elementary schools could have individuals teaching the Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts who have little or no education beyond high school, zero experience in the crucial pedagogy of teaching the Arts, and inadequate ability to teach and assess the California Arts Standards embedded in the California Arts Framework. Furthermore, pigeon holding a first grader into a career pathway at age 7 is an absurd idea.
el 3 months ago3 months ago
Unlike many other subjects we teach in schools, there is a fairly large cohort of private arts instructors for people of all ages, and a lot of working artists also come with some experience instructing non-artists. There is no question that additional training is valuable, and especially training that is specifically about skill development for building a person versus simply skill development in an artistic technique. (That is, we are finding projects to develop, say, … Read More
Unlike many other subjects we teach in schools, there is a fairly large cohort of private arts instructors for people of all ages, and a lot of working artists also come with some experience instructing non-artists. There is no question that additional training is valuable, and especially training that is specifically about skill development for building a person versus simply skill development in an artistic technique. (That is, we are finding projects to develop, say, fine motor skills, rather than to create paintings or sculpture per se.)
It is wonderful that we will be able to tap into this pool of experienced instructors and give them access to additional training that will help them succeed in the public school setting. There are some amazing people out there with fabulous skills and ideas and our kids will benefit.