Innovative Arts Programming Enhances Siskiyou County K-12 Education

“Art has an incredible ability to engage children to want to be in school. Students look forward to it, to expressing themselves. It’s hands on, its’ creative, it’s fun,” says Andrea Marchyok, arts education specialist, Siskiyou County Office of Education. “It helps retain students all the way through school. Schools with strong arts programs have higher graduation rates.”

Opportunities to experience and create art in school fosters creativity, critical thinking and emotional expression, helping students develop essential skills for personal growth and academic success. Photos provided by SCOE.

Arts education conveys lifetime benefits for students

A multitude of studies have shown that participation in arts activities contributes to children’s social-emotional nervous system regulation. “The arts help us to identify and process our feelings,” Andrea says. “Having access to music and arts has been found to be very healing, especially for those who may be neurodivergent.” Andrea believes learning about artists, understanding the purpose and meaning of the art they create and the process of creating art promotes compassion for others.

Arts education also has a wider community benefit: providing opportunity for the public to gather to attend arts exhibitions and performances and, as Andrea puts it, “collectivize people to support children and the arts.”

Arts education in California schools, past and present

Despite the many academic, social and emotional advantages of arts education for children, state funding for arts education has been declining for many years and in many cases has been cut altogether. “There are schools in Siskiyou County that have never had an art teacher,” Andrea says. “We still invest in sports and most children have access to a variety of sports activities. But for kids who are not interested in sports, there are not a lot of other options. There are a lot of children we could be reaching through the arts that we are not reaching.”

However, in 2022, California voters approved Proposition 28, the Arts and Music in Schools Funding Guarantee and Accountability Act. The measure required the state to establish a new, ongoing program supporting arts instruction in schools beginning in the 2023–24 school year.

The Siskiyou County Arts Alliance; valuing and integrating arts education

The Siskiyou County Office of Education (SCOE), aware of the value and need for quality arts education in Siskiyou County, invested a portion of the proposition 28 funds they received to create a new arts education specialist position to provide arts education to schools throughout the county, especially to rural schools that cannot afford a full time art teacher.

To better understand the needs of both rural and more urban schools and to gauge interest in increased arts education opportunities, SCOE sent out a survey to county schools. Based on the enthusiastic response they received from the survey, SCOE established the Siskiyou County Arts Alliance Program and modeled the arts education specialist position on their successful and well-established science education program.

Integrating art into the classroom enhances learning on all levels

With 23 years of arts education experience, many spent teaching and supervising youth arts programs, Andrea was the perfect person to fill the arts education specialist position. One of her most rewarding experiences was helping bridge the language barrier through art in a school with recent immigrants who spoke many different languages. More recently she worked with children on open-ended arts projects on the Siskiyou County Arts Council Arts Bus.  Andrea has a multiple subject teaching credential and was a classroom teacher for seven years before her role at SCOE.

As arts education specialist, Andrea travels to schools throughout Siskiyou County to teach art classes, lead workshops and guide students on school-wide art projects such as a recent project painting a mural at Scotts Valley Jr. High.

      She brings all materials and lesson plans that teachers can follow and integrate into other subjects. Andrea encourages teachers to incorporate art in all subjects they teach. “It helps children to understand subjects on a deeper level,” she says. “Arts integration into any subject creates the opportunity to capture visual thinkers and is great way to help children to understand the subject matter they are being taught and to help them retain the information and internalize it. If a child can draw a picture – do something to connect all their senses in the learning process – they can more easily understand and retain information.”

After just a year and a half working with schools throughout Siskiyou County, Andrea has already made a big impact, as expressed by many teachers and administrators like Golden Eagle Charter School program manager, Justin McCollum. “Andrea’s middle and high school art workshops foster creativity, critical thinking and emotional expression, helping students develop essential skills for personal growth and academic success,” says Justin. “They also encourage cultural awareness and empathy, preparing students to navigate and appreciate the diversity they will encounter in our global community. We are deeply appreciative of our partnership with SCOE and hope Andrea is able to share her knowledge, expertise and passion with our students for years to come.”

Siskiyou Arts Alliance’s expansive vision and strategic plan

SCOE’s vision for arts education goes beyond Andrea’s hugely impactful work. With a grant from the California Superintendents’ Arts Initiative, SCOE is implementing a strategic arts plan for Siskiyou County schools. Through a series of four meetings early next year, they will bring together administrators, regional educators, arts organizations, parents, students, artists, gallery owners and anyone who is interested in expanding equity and access to the arts for all Siskiyou County students.

“By California education standards we should be offering five disciplines of arts to students: music, dance, visual, media and performing arts,” Andrea says. “Strategic planning will identify needs and gaps in student access to arts education and develop a plan to offer these opportunities to students in collaboration with arts resources in the community.”

As part of this new arts initiative, SCOE invites local teaching artists and art galleries to share their skills and resources with children in public schools. Teaching artists can be paired up with teachers looking for artists to work in their classrooms or schools to facilitate workshops

Contact Andrea at amarchyok@siskiyoucoe.net for more information on artists’ participation in this remarkable, innovative, paradigm-shifting program to strategically enhance the educational opportunities for all Siskiyou County schools.