“This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about kids—the ones who are naturally drawn to the arts over sciences, for whom cutting the arts is depriving them of their very nature, and those who badly need an introduction to the arts to balance their gifts in other subjects. We must be able to promise all of them that the arts will have a well-loved and revered place in the curriculum. This powerful book will help us to do so.”
—Carly Simon, author and musician

“In this book, Jessica Davis equips educators and advocates alike with a rich vocabulary and clear examples of how to teach and how to make the case for the essential and unique place of the arts in the school curriculum.”
—Richard J. Deasy, Director, Arts Education Partnership

This inspiring book leads the way to a new kind of advocacy—one that stops justifying the arts as useful to learning other subjects, and argues instead for the powerful lessons that the arts, like no other subject, teach our kids. Jessica Hoffmann Davis, a leading voice in the field of arts education, offers a set of principles and tools that will be invaluable to advocates already working hard to make the case and secure a strong place for the arts in education. She also reaches out to those who care deeply about education but have yet to consider what the arts uniquely provide. This book is for anyone willing to brave a new terrain in which the arts are finally embraced without apology!

Book Features:

• “Nuts and bolts” information, including a glossary of relevant terms, recommended readings, and websites.
• An accessible overview of the shape and content of education in and across the arts.
• Discussion of the unique features of the arts and the invaluable learning they provide.
• A list of common objections to including the arts in our schools, with suggested responses for countering these arguments.
• Guidance for advocates that addresses mistakes of the past and suggests directions for the future.
• Personal narrative interludes that bring to life with humor and style the importance of the topic.

Jessica Hoffmann Davis is a cognitive developmental psychologist and founder of the Arts in Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is the author of Framing Education as Art: The Octopus Has a Good Day