Education Week - March 5, 2014 - Leaders to Learn From - S42

ARTS EDUCATION
Dennis W. Creedon
ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT
School District of Philadelphia
BY CARALEE J. ADAMS
F
or Dennis W. Creedon, teaching children about art
is as important as teaching them math or reading.
"People see it as a frill, but it's not a frill. It's actually
the center of the core," said the 59-year-old assistant
superintendent in the Philadelphia school district. "If
you cut these out of schools, you are really cutting the
heart out of our children and their future."
A big part of Mr. Creedon's leadership has involved
championing the arts, connecting community resources
with schools, and using research and findings
on brain development to make his case. He reminds
arts groups that young artists are future ticket holders
and cites the artistic and scientific outputs of Sir Isaac
Newton, Galileo, and Leonardo da Vinci to argue to educators
that "science and creativity go hand in hand."
His advocacy strategies were sorely tested last year,
when the 131,000-student district faced a $304 million
budget deficit that led officials to cut 3,800 positions
from the schools. The arts weren't immune from
the reductions. Some art-teaching positions were
eliminated, but most were later restored, thanks to
an infusion of cash from the city. Still, funding for
the arts is down 70 percent from the year before, but
today there are more arts and music teachers than
there were 20 years ago. Despite the recent bumpy
ride, many feel it could have been worse if it weren't
for Mr. Creedon's leadership.
"Last year, Dennis was in a horrible position to sail
the ship. The ship was sinking," said Don S. Liuzzi, the
conductor of the school system's All-City High School
Orchestra. "But it didn't sink. He was a very persuasive
and avid supporter of the arts. ... Dennis is one of
the reasons we are still afloat."
'Something for Me'
Mr. Creedon's aggressive advocacy stems from his
own belief in the importance of arts education, especially
for disadvantaged children, who make up 87 percent
of all public school students in his city. He often
says arts lessons can help disadvantaged children deal
with the stress in their lives because such activities are
believed to trigger the body's production of endorphins,
a stress-reducing chemical, and less-stressed brains are
better primed for learning. He also cites research from
his own district that linked higher reading-test scores
to students' participation in a program known as Arts
Bridges that built literacy skills through the arts.
A singer himself, Mr. Creedon speaks from experi-
ence. He has dyslexia; he failed the 2nd grade and was
on the verge of giving up. Then through art therapy, for
the first time, someone told him he was "gifted" with
his artistic ability and singing voice.
"At that point, I knew there was something for me,"
he recalled. "Music and art became the two things I
could hold on to while I struggled."
Mr. Creedon started in the Philadelphia district as
a teacher in 1987 and worked as a theater education
specialist on assignment with the Opera Company of
Philadelphia, where he wrote grade-by-grade lessons
linking the content of "Don Giovanni" and "Madame
Butterfly" to the history curriculum and making it
fun with puzzles and activities. Nearly 160,000 public
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EDUCATION WEEK * March 5, 2014
school students have attended the opera for free since
he started the educational outreach program. He joined
the district's central administration in 2002 and was
director of comprehensive arts education and deputy
chief in the office of academic support and enrichment
before moving into his current role as assistant superintendent
in 2012.
When the budget crisis struck last year, Mr. Creedon
advised arts teachers to get on a school leadership
team, beef up their certification, and explain to their
colleagues how arts were linked to learning. And,
while adhering to the cuts brought about by the district's
dire fiscal situation, he deftly worked behind the
scenes, asking members of the Philadelphia Orchestra
and others to write letters and plead with politicians
to fund the arts.
Tapping Connections
Mr. Creedon rebuilt the school system's connections
with the private sector to fill in the gaps. The district
leader is known for being politically savvy and a great
connector, thanks to his roots as a native Philadelphian,
his background working at the opera as an arts provider,
and his long-running tenure in the district.
Over the course of his tenure, Mr. Creedon has helped
integrate the arts into the core curriculum and expanded
opportunities for students in all forms of art
from visual arts to dance. He worked with the Philadelphia
Arts in Education Partnership to start a summer
arts-enrichment program and to bring visiting artists
into classrooms across the city the rest of the year. The
response to that program helped get traction for his
call for a fine arts or music teacher in every school.
By 2008, it was mandated that each school have art
or music so that every student could have at least one
lesson per week. Mr. Creedon has tapped government
and foundation grants for visual arts, dance, music, and
cultural programs.
"Dennis knows who is doing what. Where the arts can
flourish and where they are needed," said Phil J. Juska,
the director of community partnership and the administrator
of the School of Pennsylvania Ballet, which offers
extensive free dance programs in the schools.
When Mr. Creedon joined the central office, cultural
partners wanted to work with the schools but often
faced resistance from teachers who felt threatened by
the outside professionals. He declared to his arts teachers
that the war was over.
"We are not in the position to think that we know
best," he told them. "We must be collaborative and
share, as well as learn. Then people would start coming
to the door."
Mr. Creedon helped usher in private and public support
for the arts in challenging schools, such as General
George G. Meade School, a K-8 school in a neighborhood
plagued by violence.
"The arts for my students are like a safe haven-a
way to express themselves," said Raqueebah S. Burch,
the principal of the school, where nearly all students
qualify for federally subsidized free lunches. "Students
don't have the coping mechanism to deal with the family
situations. They have experienced so much loss."
There was no music at Meade 10 years ago. To get a
program started there, Mr. Creedon offered to provide
an itinerant music teacher if the school would promise
to hire one the year after. He then connected Meade
with Musicopia, a local nonprofit organization that
helped the school get instruments and has since been
an active supporter in other ways, such as paying for
poetry and percussion workshops, ballroom-dancing lessons,
and visits from hip-hop artists.
Finding Partners
Musicopia Executive Director Denise M. Kinney said
she appreciates Mr. Creedon's help in linking her organization
with the right schools. "Without the right
partner, it's a waste of people's money," she said.
The combination of public and private money has
made it possible for Meade to fill a classroom with
all sizes of xylophones, cymbals, and bells. Some 25
4th graders can create a rich, full sound playing together-no
sheet music required-under the direction
of Rashawn Davis, 11. "I like being a leader," said
Rashawn, who also plays clarinet. His secret to getting
his friends' attention: "being loud."
With the 26 principals that he now supervises, Mr.
Creedon wants to inspire them with exposure to the
arts by holding professional-development workshops at
local museums and performing arts centers.
At another public school, General George A. McCall
School, teachers have integrated arts into classroom
instruction in other subjects. The funding for math
and science arts integration comes from a U.S. Department
of Education Arts Link grant to the district
and the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership,
a nonprofit organization that works with more than
90 arts institutions, schools, and universities supporting
and delivering arts education. Through the program,
students in one class sewed quilt pieces as they
learned about geometry.
"Art gives them an access point to the curriculum
in ways traditional teaching cannot do," said McCall
4th grade teacher Meghan S. Merlini. It's especially
effective in teaching math terms in her class, which
has a high concentration of Chinese-speaking students,
she said.
In another effort at the school, arts are infused into
literacy. Leslie A. Greenberg, an 8th grade literacy
teacher, has her students write an essay describing a
landscape and then swap papers and try to draw that
landscape based on the text. "Anytime a project has an
art component, the students run with it," she said.
Evaluation of an earlier federal education grant, Arts
Bridges, at another set of Philadelphia schools, found
that the program reduced absenteeism and suspensions
and increased test scores-with particular success in
helping boys engage.
Over the years, Mr. Creedon said, he's learned to
tailor his approach in working with donors, teachers,
and administrators.
"Depending upon the audience, I can then speak so
they can hear me," he said. "It's being able to do a twostep
or a tap dance. ...With children and their needs, I
will do whatever I have to do to support their growth."n
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Education Week - March 5, 2014 - Leaders to Learn From

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