What would you say if you could speak with him directly?

Join the “National Town Hall Meeting” will be held on September 15th from 8-9PM EST.

From the flyer (click here for a .pdf of the details):

On this special edition of Education News Parents Can Use, Secretary Duncan will engage in a live, interactive discussion with parents across the nation by telephone, email, and with a studio audience. [...] Throughout the hour-long program, parents will have a chance to offer the Secretary their suggestions and their hopes about reforming education in the United States in a public dialogue addressing topics of importance to schools, families, and communities, including:

• What is working and what needs to change in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act?
• What do we need to do, and what do we need to do differently to ensure our students are successful?
• What does a quality school look like, and how can more schools become consistently high achieving?
• How can parents become more involved with and engaged in their child’s education?
• What are some effective practices for recruiting, retaining, supporting and compensating highly effective teachers?
• What steps are schools at all levels of education taking to ensure a safe and healthy learning environment?

PURPOSE: The public is asked to submit to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s attention, original commentary by telephone, email or via video about America’s education system. Mr. Duncan is currently conducting a national conversation on education as he travels throughout the country to engage a broad group of education stakeholders—including parents—in an open and honest conversation about federal education policy in anticipation of the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

(Learn more about the Elementary and Secondary Education Act at www.ed.gov)

CONTRIBUTE TO THE DISCUSSION!

1. Call the show during the live broadcast at 1-888-493-9382, between 8:00 – 9:00 PM Eastern.
2. Email: submit your comments electronically by 5:00 PM EDT, Wednesday, September 9, 2009 to Education.TV@ed.gov (Type in the subject line: September 15 Town Hall Meeting)
3. Video: submit original video comments – must be received by Wednesday, September 2, 2009 (Address for uploading digital files is: http://drop.io/ ENPCU)

Critics of such programs claim that the students who are already motivated to learn receive the most talented teachers and best resources.  [Joy] Berry argues that academically gifted children are “driven towards intellectual exploration and discovery and they cannot be derailed. They are so resourceful at getting their needs met. They will seek out libraries, museums, and experts for those conversations.”

Advocates for gifted education disagree, responding that gifted programs are more than just enrichment for successful students. “The myth that gifted children will be okay on their own … is just that – a myth,” Jane Clarenbach, public relations director of the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC), has noted. “We’re failing to develop the talent of some of our top students, which leads (for some of them) to underachievement and lack of interest in school.”

…read the rest, rate the article, and join the conversation at Education.com

Image: Radiant Baby by Keith Haring

When we speak of “gifted students” we are not just, or even necessarily, talking about high performing students. We are talking about students whose educational needs are different enough from the general population that they require a special plan to appropriately address those needs.

Like arts programs, gifted programs are often seen as “extras” to be cut during difficult economic times.

While gifted programs may have important benefits for gifted students, they are not in and of themselves a plan for a gifted student’s education. A gifted student’s educational needs may be met with or without a formal gifted program.

My concern about the elimination of gifted programs is that we are removing an important resource that can engage gifted students in school. Gifted students, especially those who are members of traditionally marginalized minority groups and lower socio-economic families, have a disturbingly high drop out rate. One of the common reasons cited is lack of investment in the school and its social environment. Gifted programs can help these students understand their own learning process, promote self-esteem and confidence, and connect these students with their school community.

Gifted programs are not just training camps for smart kids to increase already high test scores, they are resources to help meet the needs of individual students and giving them access to an appropriate educational environment.

The arts are incredibly important because creative expression gives students a way of processing their experiences and emotions, provides a way of engaging students who traditionally feel left out of the educational process, and makes children active participants in culture.

As in the past, arts are cut during economic downturns. The article points out that arts programs still manage to survive due to resourceful and passionate arts professionals and teachers who always find a way to make due with less.  When funding dries up, you can still create art with found objects, take advantage of free programs (although these often rely on the same disappearing grants), perform guerrilla theater, and make music on nothing more that re-purposed cans and other household objects on a small or non-existent budget.

Reassuring as that is, I am still concerned.  Arts teachers shouldn’t make martyrs of their credit ratings just to buy supplies, professionals should be compensated for their work, and talented young artists should have access to supplies, tools, and instruments.

More worrisome is the message we send when we slash arts budgets to next to nothing.  Artistic expression is not superfluous, a nice extra only to be enjoyed during the fat times.  Rather, the arts are the air we breathe and essential to, if not literal survival, at least a rich life and thriving culture.

Photos: Smashed by Tim Parkinson and Smash it! by rhobinn