Passages: Fostering Community, Heart, and Spirit in Adolescent Education by Rachael Kessler.

A new program offers guidelines for teachers and parents to help teenagers in their transition from child to adult.

Adolescence Is a Syndromeby Fred Mednick.

A high school principal tells all. What you don't know about your teenager can cause unnecessary strife and conflict. Fred Mednick's humorous and wise advice to parents experiencing fun and frustration with their adolescent children. (Teachers will find his insights useful, too!) His new book is entitled Rebel Without a Car: Surviving and Appreciating Your Child's Teen Years.

Eric Oddleifson and Harriet Fulbright and the dedicated staff at CABC deserve to take a bow for orchestrating a chorus of experienced, successful voices in support of integrating the arts into every classroom. Watch for more CABC papers during the period of this issue of the newsletter, and look for an announcement of a floor on the arts here in the Building.
New CABC papers:

The Arts At the Heart of Learning

Harriet Mayor Fulbright calls for "art lovers ... to raise our voices a few decibels. Maybe more than a few decibels - because just a few weeks ago millions of American children started back to schools that offer no arts in their curricula... And with out the arts, we are failing them because we are blocking their abilities to learn."

Building a School Culture of High Standards

A portrait of a classroom in a school where art is part of the school day, and excellence is the standard. Experienced teacher Ron Berger shows why his school and classroom place an emphasis on real work in a meaningful context, shared experience and teamwork, and why it works. Most would not call his students "gifted" children, but Ron Berger knows they are.

To Perceive and to Imagine: Unleashing the Talent and Energy of Teachers and Students

Why are the arts so important? What does current research tell us about the arts and learning? Eric Oddleifson explores research into intelligence, cognitive development, and achievement and shows why the arts are not extra-curricular frills, but are fundamental to the development of lifelong learners.

The Arts Are Nice, But . . .

Stephanie Perrin presents a dozen compelling reasons why serious study of the arts is the best way to prepare children for whatever they may choose to do in life.

Still to come from CABC, another, longer paper by Stephanie Perrin and Eric Oddliefson on "The Power of the Arts in Education" and a study of Arts-Integrated learning in the Boston Public Schools.