It’s no secret that No Child Left Behind’s had an impact on schools. Many educators say the focus on testing math, reading and science doesn’t leave much room for anything else, especially the arts. But some Chicago educators are working hard to protect the arts, despite pressure to improve test scores.

ambi: sound of classroom

Artist Mary Tepper leans over a student who’s having a hard time sewing two pieces of felt together. The student is working with other fifth-graders at Columbia Explorers Academy on the Southwest Side to design a quilt. Tepper asks him what a basic stitch looks like.

STUDENT: The little lines in the street, or the expressway?
TEPPER: Yup. They’re straight, and they kind of look like little dashes. This stitch, what does this stitch look like to you?
STUDENT: That one goes straight, and this one goes diagonal? No.
TEPPER: Yup.

These fifth graders are learning about design and teamwork through an artist residency program with Hyde Park Art Center. In a very sneaky way, they’re also learning math.

Andy Sarabia giggles as he looks at his felt square.

ANDY: I was trying to make a tater tot.
KALSNES: Seriously?
ANDY: (Laughs.) Um-hmm. But it looks like a circle.
KALSNES: Are you making your lunch?
ANDY: Sure.

Andy says the class is "fantabulous."

ANDY: It’s very creative, and it’s good for your imagination. If you want to make something, you can color it and stuff. And you get to use clay and put it in your own funky design.

Columbia supplements its weekly art classes with after-school programs and artists in residence. This isn’t the scene in all public schools.

Julie Simpson heads Urban Gateways, an independent agency that provides art programs to more than 300 public and private schools.

SIMPSON: The arts have unfortunately been forced out of the school day, and have, in lucky cases, are now still existent in the out-of-school hours, but in some cases, children do not have them in their educational life at all.

Public grade schools in Chicago with more than 750 students are supposed to have a full-time art teacher, and those with fewer students, get somebody part-time. But some schools don’t have anyone teaching art.

The district’s Office of Arts Education is trying to determine the extent of the problem. The office was formed nearly two years ago to help schools offer more arts education. David Roche is the director.

ROCHE: We’ve heard of programs where they’ve had instruments for a band program, but no band teacher for a number of years, so the instruments are locked up somewhere. So as a nation, where are we putting our money? I mean, it’s not in the public schools.

Art educators say part of the problem is "No Child Left Behind". Since reading, math and science get tested, that’s where schools put their resources.

Principals get some discretionary money. But budget problems can mean that schools have to use those funds on security or reducing class size, rather than the arts.

Blake Bradford is education director at the Hyde Park Art Center.

BRADFORD: It’s a kind of impossible choice that we present for principals and administrators. We’re asking them to look at really cutting out things that are essential to how kids learn.

So some principals are looking outside the district. They’re aggressively seeking grants and partners like Urban Gateways, Art Resources in Teaching and Hyde Park.

Again, David Roche:

ROCHE: There are some principals and teachers who have basically woven gold out of straw because of their resourcefulness and how clever they’ve been at getting materials, for instance, and getting people to donate things.

Up on the North Side, Greeley Elementary is his star example.

Ambi: dancing sounds

It’s a neighborhood school. But it seems like a fine arts academy. In the gym, a folkloric troop is dancing with a swish of colorful skirts.

Ambi: dancing sounds. 

There are programs before and after school, plus music, visual arts, drama and dance during the regular school day.

This emphasis on the arts hasn’t come at the expense of reading and math. ISAT scores have shot up 38 points in the last 6 years, and Greeley earned the federal Blue Ribbon award.

Carlos Azcoitia is the principal.

AZCOITA: Learning should about being engaged and having a good time, and so, when you cut arts programming, you’re cutting such a vibrant part of learning that it really is a sad thing.

Parent Anthony Ramos supports the arts.

RAMOS: I want my son to experience as much as he can. And I’m pretty clear on the fact that I’m not going to be able to give him everything that I want to give him. So any opportunity that he has to expand his horizon, I’m always up for that.

One of the girls in the folkloric troop, Heidi Trejo agrees. She says the arts give kids something positive to think about, instead of watching TV or getting in trouble.

HEIDI: It’s important for us to have arts so we could express ourselves. And maybe by doing something really little, we could get to be something really big.

Heidi says she can’t wait to go to school each day, and dance.