Fine Arts | District Information | Polk County Public Schools

2010-2011 State of the Arts Report

Please read our current State of the Arts report here! We are proud of Fine Arts in Polk County!

Polk Named as "Best Communities For Music Education"

The NAMM Foundation announced the results of its 11th annual “Best Communities for Music Education” survey, which acknowledges schools and districts across the U.S. for their commitment to and support of music education in schools. Polk was selected as one of only 174 districts nation-wide. This year's roster represents schools and school districts in 30 states. The complete list of “Best Communities” can be viewed online here.

Polk County Public Schools earns "Excellence in Arts"

THE KENNEDY CENTER Announces the Recipient of the 21st Annual Award Recognizing Outstanding School Board Support of the Arts.... POLK COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

"The Board's commitment to the arts has truly made them a model for arts education in Florida and throughout the country. - KENNEDY CENTER ALLIANCE FOR ARTS EDUCATION NETWORK

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Eloquent Evidence: Arts are Critical to Learning

Current research now substantiates what some teachers and parents already knew intuitively - that the arts are critical to education and learning. "During the past quarter century, literally thousands of school-based programs have demonstrated beyond question that the arts can not only bring coherence to our fragmented academic world, but through the arts, students' performance in other academic disciplines can be enhanced as well." Ernest L. Boyer, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Benefits of an Arts Education:

An education in the arts encourages high achievement.
Study of the arts encourages a suppleness of mind, toleration for ambiguity, a taste for nuance, and the ability to make trade-offs among alternative courses of action.
The study of the arts helps students to think and work across traditional disciplines. It brings thinking "outside the box."
An education in the arts teaches students to work co-operatively.
An education in the arts builds an understanding of diversity and the multicultural dimensions of our world.
An arts education insists on the value of content, which helps students understand "quality" as a key value.

Trends in Arts Education:

There is growing consensus among policy makers and parents that the arts should be an integral part of education.
The National Conference of State Legislatures emphasized the importance of the arts in all aspects of education in its comprehensive study.
In Goals 2000: Educate America Act, the arts are recognized as part of the core curriculum, along side other challenging subject matter.
The Improving America's School Act approved by Congress in 1994, reinforced the importance of the arts in relation to other subjects and as vital subjects in themselves.
Surveys show that a majority of parents think that the arts are as important as reading, writing, math, science, history or geography. The vast majority of parents want their children to have more experience with the arts than they had when they were young.

Staff

All phone number area codes are 863

Name:	Title:	Phone:
David Lewis	Associate Superintendent for Learning	534-0624
Patricia Lamb	Senior Coordinator of Fine Arts	647-4730
Beth Cummings	Senior Coordinator of Music	647-4729
Madalyn Walton	Fine Arts Resource Specialist (Dance/Drama)	647-4733
Mary Grace Gordon	RTTT Performing Arts Assessment Grant Manager	647-4728
Stacy Mallard	Fine Arts Clerk	647-4731

Visit our Staff Directory to contact any staff member via e-mail.