[Teaching, Learning, and School Improvement Questions] Page: 3 of 22
This text is part of the collection entitled: D. Jack Davis Art Education Collection and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries Special Collections.
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audience for the newsletter was Mitchell's faculty and parents. Although parental support
of and involvement in the school is historically high, the newsletter informed parents about
the art program and its contributions to the school's academic program. Mitchell is part of
the Plano Independent School District, which is predominantly a middle and upper income
Caucasian suburb of Dallas.
D.) Mitchell's previous art specialist, Angie Zarvell, started an auction of student artwork
that continued after her departure from the school. This evening event is very successful.
Parents bid on the artworks during an evening of school activities. The proceeds are
donated by the student body to the education department of the Dallas Museum of Art. The
museum uses the money to produce a brochure highlighting its programs for schools. The
Mitchell students' donation is credited on the brochure each year. Mitchell's students,
faculty, administrators, and parents take great pride in this event.
5. l low successful was the Challenge project in encouraging innovative ways to hold
teachers, principals and other educators accountable? What obstacles did you encounter on
this front? What lessons did you learn?
Holding principals and teachers accountable for TETAC occurred through the evaluation
process built into the grant through Westat. NTIEVA staff did not initiate any further
accountability measures. Several principals took their own initiatives to hold teachers
accountable for the project by requesting that they see an art-integrated lesson when they
visited teachers' classrooms for evaluative observations. In the case of Russ Chapman at
Shady Brook Elementary School, this procedure became institutionalized in the school. The
major obstacle to working with principals on accountability issues was simply the limited
opportunities to meet with them. Another significant inhibiting factor to the development of
innovative accountability strategies was the belief of the NTIEVA staff that such measures
were the internal responsibility of the school, and not something to be pushed by an outside
organization such as the Institute. In Texas, as in many other states, schools are under
enough pressure from state and district mandates regarding high-stakes testing.
6. Did your schools use data to drive reforms and/or to find ways to hold educators
accountable? Did the Challenge project help bring better information into the equation?
I low important was that in reaching your goals?
No. 'l'l'TAC brought better information to the schools in terms of principles of curricular
reform, not in reference to accountability.
7. 1 lave your students and schools improved their performance since the Challenge began?
Which students? Which schools? (Compare results by students and schools; racial/ethnic
and economic backgrounds.) Have there been any setbacks?
With the exception of the information provided in the response to the first question
(regarding Oakhurst's TAAS results), this information is not available from NTI EVA.
Tracking of student test scores and other measures of academic achievement, as well as the
corresponding demographics, was sent directly to Westat by each school.
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[Teaching, Learning, and School Improvement Questions], text, 198X; (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1915887/m1/3/: accessed June 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.