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Letter from Natick School Committee to David Driscoll, Commissioner of Education:

Dr. David P. Driscoll

Commissioner of Education Massachusetts Department of Education

350 Main Street

Malden, Massachusetts 02148

August 13, 2007

Dear Mr. Driscoll,

The Natick School Committee strongly urges the DOE to retain the arts as part of the Massachusetts’s core curriculum in MassCore.

Arts instruction and practice are critical to the development of the skills DOE seeks to bolster with MassCore. Learning to communicate clearly, solving difficult problems, and developing cognitive and technical skills are exactly what students do in studio art, music, theatre, dance, and other arts classes – in ways not possible in other learning settings.

Not mentioned in the goals for MassCore are other important points. The arts can be sources of insight and delight. Without arts instruction and practice, most students cannot understand the cultural canon with any degree of sophistication, which means they are less likely to emerge from high school culturally literate. Not least, artistic understanding and expression can be the best way for some students to learn: indeed, they are vital tools with which to meet the diverse needs of all learners.

Natick has no plans to downgrade the importance of the arts in its curriculum. DOE’s doing so, however, could result in pressure on communities to transfer resources away from the arts. Without arts instruction and practice, Massachusetts students would be put at a serious disadvantage in pursuing higher education, finding success in employment, and living lives as educated adults.

Respectfully,

The Natick School Committee