Welcome to Creative Leaps

Spring 2004

This is the first issue of our Educator’s Edition, created expressly for teachers, school administrators, teaching artists, arts-in-education advocates, and educational leaders at all levels.

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Rekindling the Spirit of Education: An Interview with ASCD President Elect Jim Collins

NH: …What do you think an encounter with the arts does for educators and individuals? How does it help them to be better learners?

Jim: For any profession to be successful, we have to have deep knowledge and skills about the profession. But we also have to keep our spirit, and the value of spirit in education, our continuing desire to change the lives of kids…We try very hard to do our best job, and some people get defeated by it and their spirit dies. I’m always interested in finding ways to rekindle that spirit, to remind us why we came to education in the first place.

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Something Left Behind: Council for Basic Education Reports on NCLB and the Liberal Arts in American Classrooms

The first comprehensive study on the effects of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation in schools and classrooms has been released by the Council for Basic Education (CBE). The good news is that schools show increased commitment and instructional time to basic curriculum. The bad news is that this focus comes at the price of fundamental ‘liberal arts’ areas, including social studies, history, foreign languages, and the arts.

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Review: Releasing the Imagination by Maxine Greene

Rather than cry the beloved country of most critics of the public education system—plummeting test scores, overcrowded classrooms, inadequate funding, incompetent administration—Greene takes a higher road with a much broader view, placing the responsibility of education (the process of becoming, whether it be in the classroom or beyond) on the bulk of society.

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Creative Leaps Artists Headline at Mid-Hudson Leadership Academy

In the summer of 2003, Creative Leaps President and CEO John Cimino offered a daylong workshop, "Leadership Development, Knowledge Integration, and the Mind Processes of the Arts," at the Mid-Hudson Leadership Academy. The Academy is a yearly renewal opportunity for higher officials in the field of education, and last year's session brought approximately 200 attendees from the surrounding Hudson Valley area.

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