Published Monday, October 23rd, 2017
Participants in the grant-funded Mastering the Arts program will enroll in a master’s degree program of study through Wayne State College.
Wayne State College is proud to announce that its School of Education and Counseling will engage in a new partnership with Educational Service Unit 2 (ESU2) teachers who aim to integrate arts into their content area. A $1.5-million federal Arts in Education – Professional Development for Arts Educators grant will fund tuition at Wayne State College for ESU2 teachers who wish to take part in the program.
Educational Service Unit 2 was awarded the grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The department awarded 20 projects across the nation, representing 14 states. The project, “Mastering the Arts,” is a four-year program designed to improve classroom teacher appreciation of the arts while improving their ability to integrate arts into classroom instruction in American history, science, math, and language arts.
“It is an honor for us to collaborate with Diane Wolfe and ESU2 through their Mastering the Arts grant,” said Dr. Nicholas Shudak, dean of the School of Education and Counseling. “Diane is a creative person and the project she created to help teachers conceptualize how they might better integrate the arts into and through content areas is paradigm shifting. The Mastering the Arts project is supported by years of research in this area and Wayne State College is excited to serve this project through targeted and intentional programming. Dr. Craig Pease, professor in the School of Education and Counseling, will serve as a liaison and advisor for teachers accepted into this project.”
Participants in the program will enroll in a master’s degree program of study through Wayne State College. Workshops will be held each fall, winter, and spring during weekends as well as a summer institute. Seven target schools were identified to participate in the program and include Niobrara, Santee, Schuyler, Walthill, West Point, Winnebago, and UmoN HoN Nation. The four-year program will begin with workshops in January and focus on American history during year one of the project.
This program specifically supports the implementation of high-quality model professional development programs for arts educators and other instructional staff in the areas of music, dance, drama, media arts, and visual arts, including folk arts, for students in kindergarten through grade 12 (K-12) in which 50 percent or more of the students are from low-income families, according to the Department of Education. Projects funded by this program use innovative instructional methods and current knowledge from education research and focus on the development, enhancement, or expansion of standards-based arts education programs and/or the integration of standards-based arts instruction with other core academic area content.
For teachers interested in this opportunity, whether in or outside of the target districts, please apply online at: goo.gl/forms/G2xD3mQi7uOWnuym2. Application deadline is Nov. 22. For specific questions about this grant opportunity, please contact Diane Wolfe at [email protected] or at 402-721-7710, ext. 220
Further information about the program is available through the U.S. Department of Education’s website at: arts.ed.gov/#program