Jan. 22, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bob Anderson
(805 ) 756-1511
Grants Help Cal Poly Support Arts Education in County Schools
Cal Poly's Liberal Studies Program -- an interdisciplinary program designed
especially to prepare elementary school teachers -- has received an award of
$211,000 from the Eisenhower Foundation and the California Postsecondary
Education Commission to help five rural schools expand arts education.
Schools in the Atascadero, Paso Robles, Shandon and San Miguel
districts will be part of the project.
The latest grant is the third the Liberal Studies Program has received
in the past year to improve arts education in county elementary
schools. It previously received $150,000 from the California Arts
Council to work with visual arts in Lucia Mar Unified School District
third-grade classrooms. And the program is completing the final year of
a grant from the Institute for Educational Inquiry that has provided
$20,000 a year over three years for arts education in four San Luis
Coastal district schools.
The projects give elementary teachers new opportunities to improve
their skills and support additional performances and instruction in all
the art forms. Cal Poly students participate in the projects, helping
teachers develop curricular materials to meet new state standards.
Liberal Studies faculty members Susan Duffy and Kathleen Friend
supervise the projects. For more information, contact Duffy or Friend
at 756-2935.
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