My testimony to the School Reform Commission - Where are the arts?

My name is Tamara Anderson, an educational advocate, parent, educator, and a professional actress speaking as a member of Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools and Opt Out Philly. And my daughter is an artist. The culture of Standardized Testing is in direct opposition to the altruistic mission set forth by the School District of Philadelphia, which is “to provide a high-quality education that prepares, ensures, and empowers all students to achieve their full intellectual and social potential in order to become lifelong learners and productive members of society.” The problem is that this is not in align with the purpose of state testing that is overly connected to severe accountability measures that can lead to handing over a poor performing school to a charter school operator, eliminating teachers and support staff, or simply destroying a community in order to increase test performance. 

The truth about testing is that it is a multi-billion dollar business that has questionable unethical political alliances created to encourage and sustain this growing testing culture. Another truth is that it is a flawed measurement. It only measures individual performance and not overall growth. The evaluation does not take into account any non-cognitive measures for the individual students (things, like hunger, stress, and/or test anxiety). Tests continue to be at the center of political debate and judgment. More importantly they lead to teaching to the test and a school environment devoid of the humanities, art, and creativity. You may ask what does that have to do with anything? Well your own mission statement and the global market that every education deformer buzzes about want to create lifelong learners and productive members of society. And high performance on a flawed test that does not measure overall growth does not accomplish that.  “High-tech industry leaders seek employees who possess the skills provided by an arts education, because these skills have been proven to increase cognitive development; inspire motivation and discipline; develop confidence and inventiveness; and hone communication and problem-solving skills.” And affluent parents can provide art opportunities that low income parents cannot.

The United States Department of Education released a study that included 25,000 students and it “revealed that those students with high levels of arts participation outperform "arts-poor" students by virtually every measure.”

Well many of Philadelphia students are arts poor and test rich. The arts and humanities help students critically evaluate who they are and how to participate fully as citizens. Children who participate in the arts actually vote more than those who do not! The arts are Academic, Basic, and Comprehensive. They are academic because they make the learning of reading, language, and math more accessible and sustainable. They are basic because they help students develop motivation, thinking, and positive social behaviors. And I have seen firsthand how they are comprehensive when a low performing, high poverty, and high need school without a new operator was transformed by committing to the development and building of a comprehensive arts program. It increases parental involvement, school pride, student self-awareness and behavior, and for the education deformers in the room, it also increases test scores.

Maybe the next Richard Gere, Will Smith, Marian Anderson, Mary Cassatt, and Zoe Strauss can come from Philadelphia Public Schools.

Despite the struggling economy the arts industry continues to attract tourism dollars and is the fastest growing economic market in the country. Maintaining the arts, humanities and creativity attracts and keeps amazing teachers to the field of education. Please reinvest in our schools by reevaluating this test centered reform and asking yourself what would I want my own children to receive? Society as a whole is starting to reap the negative benefits of schools devoid of the humanities and the peasants are no longer buying the scare rhetoric surrounding testing and simply opting out.