It Takes Two to Tango: Implementing Dance in Public Schools through Collaboration between the Department of Education and the Creative Community

Abstract

This thesis explores the place of dance in United States public education. It begins with laying the groundwork for how dance education has been affected by national education policies in the United States, noting that the No Child Left Behind Act’s emphasis on standards-based learning and high stakes testing required schools to focus on reading and math, which devalued arts programming. Even after NCLB was replaced with the Every Student Succeeds Act, NCLB’s changes in objectives for education left a lasting mark on schools’ budgets and perceptions on where to place value in educational practices. This pattern was seen throughout the nation, and I look to New York City Public Schools as one example of a district that saw massive changes to its arts programming in in the 2000’s. These policies have created two large barriers to entry for dance education across the nation: a lack of standardized objectives and assessments, and a lack of appropriately qualified dance teachers. The New York City Department of Education provides us with strategies for overcoming these barriers through the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance, the development of assessments for learning in dance, professional development programs for teachers, and a strong relationship with community dance organizations. For these reasons, New York City stands out as an example by which to base policy recommendations for States or school districts to follow. Furthermore, this thesis argues that quality dance instruction for all students advances the goals and responsibilities of public education in the United States. As such, it is necessary to find strategies that will enable schools to implement dance, and by extension, all the arts, into their curricula. Therefore, I propose that school districts dedicate specific funding towards dance education programs, create attainable yet challenging benchmarks for learning and assessing dance instruction, make professional development programs in dance available for all teachers, and expand partnerships with community dance programs to best meet the needs of all students.