New Online, Interactive Handbook for Arts Education Professional Development

The online resource Designing the Arts Learning Community: a Handbook for K-12 Professional Development Planners by Dawn M. Ellis combines a handbook of information and tools with a searchable database of 50 model programs from across the U.S. It is a carefully designed, thoroughly researched, and amazingly comprehensive reference resource for anyone who plans professional development (PD) for K-12 arts learning. This resource focuses on practices and programs that foster a systemic, ongoing collaborative approach to arts learning PD. (And I am proud to announce that Lincoln Center Institute is one of the model programs highlighted–more on that below!)

Each chapter of the handbook section centers on a concept designed to strengthen PD programs: systematic inquiry; vision and planning; collaboration; customization of PD approaches for audiences of differing backgrounds; connections to classroom practice; the power of arts-based PD to transform education; and the challenges of sustaining professional growth over time, for each of these topics outlining “Lessons Learned,” “Promising Practices,” and “Useful Tools.”

The profiles of model programs are intended to provide case studies to help individuals understand how the structures and practices for systemic, collaborative arts education professional development play out in specific settings. LCI’s profile examines the history and structure of the organization (including National Educator Workshops, Online Courses, and Consultancies), before describing in more detail some “Findings” and “Lessons Learned” from the work in the Institute’s programs.

Designing the Arts Learning Community is a project of the Los Angeles County Arts Commission, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Santa Clara County Office of Education.