The Chicago Board of Education on July 24 adopted the district’s Arts Education Plan 2, a five-year road map that seeks to expand arts staffing and to create new measures of instructional quality.

Nut graf: The plan, presented by Arts Education Executive Director Cesar Turoya and the department’s new director Jeff Orxa, keeps the district’s Creative Schools Certification as the access measure and adds a second goal to measure and improve classroom-level arts instruction and assessment.

What the plan does: CPS said the plan sets a staffing objective of roughly one certified arts teacher per 350 students as a district target, reiterates a goal of 120 minutes per week of arts instruction in elementary grades where practicable, and commits to building curriculum, assessment and professional learning that define and support “quality” arts instruction across pre-K–12. The district reported that it now employs roughly 1,400 arts educators and that the percentage of “excelling” arts schools has risen from about 30% to 39% since the earlier plan.

Why the change: Presenters said access alone was insufficient and that a new system of curriculum, teacher development and student-level assessments will help ensure that arts learning is rigorous and culturally responsive. Turoya said, “For Chicago Public Schools, arts education is not extracurricular. It is essential.” The plan was developed with partners including Ingenuity, Civic Consulting Alliance and community arts organizations; CPS said more than 2,000 students responded to a survey used to shape the work.

Board action: The board adopted the arts plan as a resolution (RS 3). Several members praised the focus on culturally relevant instruction and pointed to recent events that showcased student work. The district will host a professional learning summit for arts teachers in September and will publish annual status reports tied to the Creative Schools Certification rubric.

What to watch: Implementation milestones will include updates on staffing ratios, the release of pilot curricula and the creation of districtwide tools for measuring arts learning. Schools identified as “emerging” on the certification will be offered targeted supports and creative-schools funding opportunities.

Ending: With the resolution passed, the district moves to the implementation phase this school year; board members and arts advocates said they will watch staffing and program rollouts for evidence that the plan raises both access and classroom quality.