Educators Tapped for National Advocacy Leadership Role

Ten members have been selected for the inaugural class of the Advocacy Leadership Network (ALN), a new three-year pilot initiative designed to train and empower members of the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA) in grassroots advocacy efforts on behalf of theatre and other arts education. Up to ten representatives will be selected annually in a competitive process.

The members are: Teri Turner, Smith-Cotton High School, Troupe 4261, Sedalia, MO, teacher; Shannon Horn, Pinewood Preparatory School, Troupe 6926, Goose Creek, SC, teacher; Alison Johnson, Santa Fe High School, Troupe 1209, Whittier, CA, teacher; Anthony Cimino-Johnson, Rock Ridge High School, Troupe 8104, Ashburn, VA, teacher; Mallory Nonnemaker, Dawson County High School, Troupe 8172, Cleveland, GA, teacher; Helen Duranleau-Brennan, Davenport, IA, EdTA state chapter director and educational consultant; Jennifer Morgan-Beuchat, Leavenworth High School, Troupe 287, Leavenworth, KS, teacher; Zachary Schneider, Natrona County High School, Troupe 1, Casper, WY, EdTA state chapter director and teacher; Michael Daehn, Ball State University, Burris Laboratory School (at Ball State), Troupe 712, Muncie, IN, theatre education professor; Michael Fischer, Academy of Arts and Academics, Springfield, OR, administrator.

EdTA is a national nonprofit organization with approximately 100,000 student and professional members that supports and promotes school theatre. EdTA is the home of the International Thespian Society, an Honor Society for middle and high school theatre students, which has inducted more than 2.2 million members since 1929.

The goal of the ALN pilot is to create an effective and self-sustaining network of advocates who monitor and share state-based arts education policies, legislation, and advocacy successes that can be modeled by others. This is an opportunity for EdTA members to become part of the arts education team of experts who can serve in this capacity.

Jim Palmarini, the Director of Educational Policy for EdTA, elaborates, "We are in a new era of public education. The new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), signaled the renewed ownership of state and district decision makers to determine how and what education is delivered to their K-12 students."

While the arts are included in the law's language regarding "well rounded subject areas" that must be addressed in state plans, theatre, unlike music, he notes, is not specifically identified within ESSA.

"Beyond ESSA," Palmarini adds, "It is critical that state advocacy leaders monitor other state and district issues-standards adoption, certification and teacher evaluation, and data tracking of student participation in theatre, for example."

Palmarini is a nationally-recognized expert in arts education policy, serving in 2016-17 as a task force member, consultant, or presenter with the National Core Standards (for theatre education) coalition; Americans for the Arts; Theatre for Young Audiences; Arts Education Partnership Forum; the U. S. Department of Education Arts in Education Conference; the American Alliance for Arts in Education; the State Education Agency Directors of Arts Education Arts Assessment Conference; and the Southeastern Theatre Conference.

The announcement is being made in conjunction with two related national observances--Theatre in Our Schools Month, which is a grassroots awareness campaign led by EdTA, and Arts Advocacy Day led by Americans for the Arts, which takes place in Washington, D. C. on March 20-21.