University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations August 2013 Arts Education in an Urban School District: Principals' Perspectives and Practices in a Standards-Based Environment Coupled with an Economic Downturn Kristin Ann Steinbach University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.edu/etd Part of the Art Education Commons, and the Educational Administration and Supervision Commons Recommended Citation Steinbach, Kristin Ann, "Arts Education in an Urban School District: Principals' Perspectives and Practices in a Standards-Based Environment Coupled with an Economic Downturn" (2013). Theses and Dissertations.edu/etd/311 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact open-access@uwm.
ARTS EDUCATION IN AN URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT: PRINCIPALS’ PERSPECTIVES AND PRACTICES IN A STANDARDS-BASED ENVIRONMENT COUPLED WITH AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN by Kristin A. Steinbach A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Urban Education The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee August 2013 ABSTRACT ARTS EDUCATION IN AN URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT: PRINCIPALS’ PERSPECTIVES AND PRACTICES IN A STANDARDS-BASED ENVIRONMENT COUPLED WITH AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN by Kristin Steinbach The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2013 Under the Supervision of Professor Latish C. Reed and Professor Kimberly J. Cosier This case study explored perspectives of urban principals towards the values of arts education within the context of accountability coupled with economic strain, which has worked to undervalue arts education, and has impacted urban students’ access to quality arts education (Chapman, 2004 & 2005).
Since differences in access to arts education has been drawn along differences in ethnic, racial and socioeconomic status, ii this was understood as a social justice issue (Theoharis, 2007). Specifically, this research addressed the roles of principals and investigated the research question: How do urban principals and school leaders perceive the value of the arts within a climate of accountability and financial strain? Informed by critical theory, this question was supplemented by the following attendant questions: 1a.) How do urban school leaders make decisions about offering arts education at their schools? 1b.) What do urban school leaders consider when they make these decisions? 2a.) How are urban school leaders maintaining access to arts education within a climate of accountability and financial strain? 2b.) To what extent are urban school leaders who are maintaining this access aware of the relationships between arts education and social justice? Qualitative sources of data were collected including transcripts, observation notes and analytical memos. Participants included six urban, high school principals and additional staff members from three of the high schools. Findings revealed that principals believed that students who participated in arts education were engaged, were able to enjoy and escape from the rest of the school day, and finally, were able to express themselves.
Principals who valued arts education were able to maintain access to arts education on limited levels. Their decisions were largely guided by evaluation requirements, available resources and tradition. Principals supported the accountability movement and felt their schools were improving; however, principals also revealed that providing quality arts education remained a major challenge iii and indicated a need for more to be done. Although principals expressed a concern with social justice issues, most did not indicate an awareness of arts education curricula as a means to engage students in critical thinking or social activism that could challenge the status quo.
Keywords: arts education, school leadership, education for social justice, accountability movement, budget cuts, urban education iv © Kristin A. Steinbach, 2013 All Rights Reserved v DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this work, first and foremost, to my husband and best friend, John, for encouraging me to keep going and to see this project through to completion. Throughout this process, he was a continuous source of support as he served as unofficial editor as well as my main cheerleader. As one of the smartest people I know, he spent countless hours talking with me, helping me to articulate the purpose of this research.
This work is also dedicated to my family, especially my parents, Gordon and Jackie, for their continuous support, friendship, faith and love. I thank my mom and dad for raising me in a way that has instilled within me a work ethic that has helped me not only to complete this project but to finish it with a sense of pride. I thank my father, who learned from his own father, that if the work you are doing is not worth your best effort, then it is not worth doing at all. In other words, he has taught me to do my best in all of my endeavors.
I am equally grateful to my mother who has always believed in me and has helped me to see my talents and abilities when I doubted myself. My older siblings, Brian and Shelly, have also been great sources of inspiration as they have both lives as shining examples of hard workers, who approach their careers and lives with unwavering dedication and integrity. I am honored and blessed to have such a great network of support. In addition to family, several good friends have helped me along the way.
They have reminded me why I began this journey as a doctoral student in the first place. Without this network, vi the energy and stamina needed to see this through to fruition would certainly not have been possible. My greatest and most heartfelt thanks goes out to all who have been here for me. Finally, this work is dedicated to my research participants who were honest, open and willing to share their experiences with me.
I am in awe at the work they, and countless others like them, do every day to help students reach their potentials. The world is a better place because of what they do. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I could not have two better co-advisers for this project. Latish Reed and Dr.
Kimberly Cosier joined forces to help make the final research clear, compelling and important. They have been professional and supportive during this process. I admire them for their brilliance, their expert knowledge and, mostly, for their commitment to social justice, made clear through their work in their respective fields. Reed came to this project halfway through, and has lead with enthusiasm and dedication, and even a bit of humor when necessary.
She has been a constant “reality check” with her intimate knowledge of the challenges urban school leaders confront daily. From the beginning, Dr. Cosier has enriched my understanding of the arts and has introduced me to artists working as social critics, and to scholarship about arts education for social justice that helped to build and strengthen my own convictions. Without the inputs from these two admirable scholars, my work would be seriously lacking.
Leigh Wallace deserves special mention for the close work she did with me to clear up my research methods and design this study in a way that made the most sense. She treated me with kindness and respect during the infant stages of my scholarship, something that all budding doctoral candidates need. Her knowledge of qualitative research methodology helped me to create a study that has importance and validity that those in academia will recognize. Expert scholars, Dr.
Gail Schneider and Dr. Thomas Joynt also served on my committee and were integral to ensuring that this work could hold weight. As viii practitioners and scholars, they grounded this study and I sincerely appreciate their time, input and efforts. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………ii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………….vii Chapter I- Introduction…………………………………………………………….3 Documentation of the Problem……………………………………………………………4 Purpose of the Study………………………………………………………………………7 Research Question……………………………………………………………………….10 Limitations of the Study………………………………………………………………….11 Chapter II - Review of the Literature…………………………………………………13 Context of Arts Education: Effects of the Standards Based Reform Movement and Financial Strain………………………………………………………………….14 Research on Arts Education…………………………………………………………….21 Academic benefits for students of arts education……………………………….22 Social benefits for students of arts education related to social justice………….29 The arts for critical pedagogy……………………………….30 The arts for critical multicultural pedagogy………………….43 The arts for social change ………………………………………………….55 Principals as instructional and organizational leaders.56 Transformational and democratic school leadership……….59 Principals as agents for social justice…………………………….62 x Connections among Social Justice, School Leadership, and Arts Education………….73 Critical multicultural pedagogy………………………………………………….76 Chapter III: Methodology………………….…………………………………………82 Review of the Problem………………………………………………………….82 Review of the Research Question……………………………………………………….85 Social constructivist research paradigm.86 Critical theory informed by social justice.87 Role of researcher bias in qualitative research….89 A Nested Case Study Design…………………………………………………………….92 Contributions of other participants………………………………………………94 Data collection……………………………………………….…………………95 Semi structured interviews………….99 Researcher Limitations…………………………………………………………………100 Summary….100 Chapter IV……………………………………………………………………………102 Review of the Research Question…………………………………………………….102 xi Overview of Arts Education within the District……………………………………….104 Description of schools…………….105 Profile of the participant group…………………………………………………106 Urban Principals’ Perceptions of the Values of Arts Education……………………….108 Arts education as a fun escape………………………………………………….112 Arts education as empowering………………………………………………….117 Other secondary themes…………………………………………………….126 Favorable perceptions of accountability…………………………………….…127 Accountability’s effect on arts education…………………………………….…129 Conclusions about accountability and arts education………………………….133 Enrollment preserved arts education………………………………………….133 Where cuts were made to arts education……………………………………….134 Unique challenges………………………………………………………………136 Principals’ perspectives of the AMP fund………………………………………139 Perceived effect of budget cuts on curricula in arts education……………….143 Influence of accountability on budget decisions……………………………….144 Conclusions about financial strain and arts education……………………….146 Decisions about Arts Education……………………………………………….148 The influences of accountability……………………………………………….149 xii The role of tradition…………………………………………………………….150 The influence of teacher quality……………………………………………….154 Conclusions about principals’ decisions about arts education………………….162 Maintaining Access to Arts Education…….163 Deciding to fund arts education……………………………………………….163 Making arts education students’ successes public………………………….…164 Encouraging creative alternatives………………………………………………166 Conclusions about maintaining access to arts education……………………….168 Awareness of Relationships between Arts Education and Education for Social Justice……………………………………………………….169 Student achievement……………………………………………………………170 Democratic practice…………………………………………………………….…173 Interrupting oppression…………………………………………………………179 Summary of Research Findings……………………………………………………….182 Chapter V: Conclusions, Interpretations and Recommendations…………………183 Review of Research Problem………………………………………………………….184 Discussion of Research Results………………………………………………….187 Decisions about and maintaining arts education………………….………190 Implications related to theory………………………………….193 Recommendations for theory………………………………………………….194 xiii Implications related to research………………………………….195 Recommendations for research……………………………………………….197 Implications related to policy………………………………….198 Recommendations for policy………………………………………………….199 Implications related to practice………………………………….202 Recommendations for practice ……………………………………………….208 Appendix A: Research Timeline……………………………………………………….206 Appendix B: Open Ended Questions………………………………………………….207 Appendix C: Site Observation Guide………………………………………….………209 Appendix D: Open Ended Questions for Support Participants……………………….210 Appendix E: Field Work Log Template…………………………………………….…211 Appendix F: Research Protocol……………………………………………………….212 Appendix G: Results of Initial Coding, Phase 1……………………………………….213 Appendix H: Results of Inititial Coding, Complete…………………………………….214 Appendix I: Results of Focus Coding………………………………………………….216 xiv 1 Chapter I: Introduction Studies show that quality arts education and coequal arts integration has benefited students cognitively, physically, socially, and emotionally (Upitis, 2003; Chessin & Zander, 2006; Gullat, 2008).
Furthermore, many arts educators have been using their classes to engage students in social justice issues (Henderson, 2013; Bell & Desai, 2011; Medina, 2009). However, due in part to the current economic recession, all around the country, states have been cutting budgets by billions year after year, significantly decreasing the amounts of aid that the public schools receive (Singsen, 2010). Despite research that has demonstrated the benefits of arts education for students, significant financial strain on public schools coupled with a standards-based reform movement (SBR) that left the arts out of the tested areas, arts education has been allowed to dwindle (Wood, 2004; Mishook & Kornhaber, 2006). This economic condition meant that school leaders had to make difficult compromises in order to distribute limited educational resources and, at the same time, deliver educational programs that could offer students opportunities to develop academically.
This challenging economy had special meaning in urban districts, where funding for arts education was more likely to suffer from the effects of testing mandates originally instituted under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation and the subsequent demands of meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals (Chapman, 2005). These demands forced many school leaders to cut arts education in order to afford services and materials aimed to boost achievement in the tested areas of math and literacy. Urban districts have been more likely to serve higher poverty and higher minority populations than districts in rural and suburban areas (Miron & St. This has 2 been partly due to the fact that urban schools exist where there are densely concentrated populations (Ahram, Stembridge, Fergus & Noguera, 2011).