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Q&A
Using data to drive changes in arts education programs
0:54:43
ยท
3 min
Council Member Rita Joseph asks about how data is used to make changes in arts education programs. Cordelia Veve and Paul Thompson explain the process of using data to improve arts education across the city.
- Data is disaggregated by districts to allow for targeted improvements
- Superintendents play a crucial role in implementing changes based on district-specific data
- The Arts Office has increased focus on supporting principals, not just teachers
- Real-time data is used to implement practice changes, such as facility upgrades based on principal surveys
Rita Joseph
0:54:43
And that's one of the domains for principals as well, having arts and being evaluated.
0:54:50
And when you take that data, right, how do you make changes if you see any changes that are needed?
0:54:56
What does that look like?
Cordelia Veve
0:54:59
So thinking about the citywide data?
Rita Joseph
0:55:02
Yeah.
Cordelia Veve
0:55:02
So I think one of the things that the Arts Office has done with their data reporting is to disaggregate it by districts.
0:55:10
Because again, this is a huge city and superintendents are really the ones who are going to be able to make shifts and changes in their districts.
0:55:20
Actually I was just meeting with council member Dinowitz, right, talking about if we wanted to see a change in the way that reading is happening across a district, that a superintendent really has to take that on and believe that that is a priority and communicate to their principals.
0:55:37
And so by disaggregating the data by districts and then sharing that with superintendents and having distinct conversations with superintendents about the data from their district, then we can really think about what is the approach that is appropriate for your district and reflects the needs of your specific district.
0:55:55
As we know each district across this city is very, very different, and we have to address specific needs of those districts.
Rita Joseph
0:56:02
Of course, we don't expect a cookie cutter model, of course.
0:56:05
But once they get that data and they apply the recommendations, have you seen any of the recommendations applied?
Cordelia Veve
0:56:15
I'm gonna turn that over to Paul to speak about the specific work that they've done in districts.
Paul Thompson
0:56:23
Yes.
0:56:24
Thank you.
0:56:24
So one of the ways, and again to reiterate, historically the arts office was exceptional at supporting teachers.
Rita Joseph
0:56:32
Right.
Paul Thompson
0:56:33
One of the things that we brought in is a real focus on supporting principals.
0:56:37
I can tell you from firsthand experience in the eighteen years of being a principal of an art school for unscreened, no audition students, I didn't have a relationship with the arts office, which to me was kind of crazy because I'm actually an artist.
0:56:53
And so one of the things that we wanted to do was make sure that we emphasized the way we reimagined our office so that it actually worked within the model of how the bureaucracy works.
0:57:06
And so of the 70 principal fellows that we have, an example of some direct work is we recently surveyed a 70 of them.
0:57:16
Again, within forty eight hours, a 40 plus of them replied.
0:57:23
And the thing that we were surveying was trying to understand how we could best support them with new facility upgrades.
0:57:30
And so we are in the process right now of supporting all of those schools that replied to our survey with facility upgrades.
0:57:37
And so look, those are the real in time ways in which we're using data to implement our practice.
Rita Joseph
0:57:44
And that's real time investments as well.
Paul Thompson
0:57:46
Absolutely.
Rita Joseph
0:57:46
So thank you for that.