If you look carefully at the federal No Child Left Behind Act, art education is given equal emphasis along side core subjects such as mathematics and reading. However, art curriculum in many school districts across the nation is being cut to make room for preparing students for end of year testing; ironically it's the same testing that is required by NCLB.

There are, however, educators who are willing to step forward with data that proves cutting art education is a mistake. And while educators such as Elizabeth City/Pasquotank School District Assistant Superintendent Frank Heath extol the virtues of the schools' current approach to the arts, some say it's not enough.

Justin Falls/Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

Able Sutton is the new director of Arts in Education for the Arts of the Albemarle Arts Council in Elizabeth City. He is seen here in the council gallery Tuesday, Jan. 15.

File photo (ENLARGE)

H.L. Trigg School student, Maneyella Williams, 14, works on a mural with help from volunteer Donna Seymour. The mural was part of an arts in education project headed by Tunde Afolayan and depicted scenes from the Great Dismal Swamp. Afolayan is on the board of directors for the new Arts in Education progam launched by the Arts of the Albemarle Arts Council.

Enter Arts of the Albemarle Arts Council (formerly Pasquotank Arts Council) and its push for arts in education, a proposed partnership with the local school district that, by some estimation, has the potential to change the way students learn.

In December, Arts of the Albemarle Executive Director Lisa Winslow hired local musician and playwright Able Sutton to become the organization's first-ever director of arts in education. Sutton, 23, is known to Albemarle area residents for his family's work as the popular singing group, Faithway Doves.

While Sutton was attending East Carolina University, studying health care management, he says he had a vision to bring a performing arts school to Elizabeth City. He shared that vision with Winslow and eventually was taken on as an intern at the arts council. That internship led to his current position.

"It's best to do something you have a passion for," says Sutton of his decision to champion the arts in education.

His new position, he explains, is dedicated to building a partnership with the area school districts in an effort to enhance education through the arts. With a board of directors consisting of a number of area residents, Sutton says the arts council is beginning to work with the school district to plan for the future of arts in education, not just art education; the distinction is important, Sutton says.

Frank Heath, the assistance superintendent in charge of curriculum and instruction, says the Elizabeth City school district has always promoted the arts and believes that it's an important component when molding young minds. Heath offers several examples of programs that have been brought into the schools and says he sees work with Sutton and the arts council as a benefit to area schools.

"They can assist with funding, coordination and knowledge (of the arts)," says Heath of working Sutton and the arts council. "They can provide access to various groups and artists that they are familiar with."

Studies have shown that students who study the arts respond better to core subjects such as mathematics and reading than those who eschew arts studies. When Sutton was attending ECU he worked as a substitute teacher for the Greenville area schools and says he could see first hand the effects of the arts in the classroom.

"I saw students that were well-rounded in many areas of the arts and they seemed to do better," he says.

Indeed, nationwide studies show that students who study the arts do better in a number of areas, including higher scores on the SATs. But that's just the tip of the iceberg, according to artist and educator Tunde Afolayan.

Afolayan, who is serving on the Arts in Education board of directors, knows a great deal about art in education. It was his work that, in part, inspired the arts council's current push to integrate the arts in the classroom. Afolayan has been working with children through schools and his own Art Zone, a summer program designed to enrich at-risk kids through art, for years.

He says art education such as a painting class or music is important, but it shouldn't stop there. Rather, arts in education should be the next step, folding the arts into everyday curriculum.

He says the current push to integrate art into the classroom is more than simply offering classes in the arts. Rather, it's an entirely new approach to educating that would not only offer enrichment to the students, but also make learning more accessible to children; something that many educators agree is needed in this day and age of drill and practice teaching methods.

What Afolayan envisions is sort of a two-tier approach. First, artists can come into the classrooms and show students various aspects of the arts, applying those methods to any subject, he says. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is to create workshops for teachers in an effort to teach them how to integrate the arts into everyday teaching methods for any subject, from social studies to mathematics.

"The teachers get development in a workshop so when the artist is gone, the teacher will learn and carry on the process," says Afolayan. "The teacher doesn't have to be an expert artist to do that. They just motivate the students and bring out imagination in them."

Ultimately, the goal is to enhance the students' learning experience and create a learning environment where the students want to learn.

"The bottom line is, in addition to the standard rhetoric you will find about test scores going higher, the students will be enriched by that experience," says Afolayan. "And in the classroom, learning will become fun."

But it's going to take a passion for the arts and a commitment to applying that passion to make any program work. Sutton appears to have that passion as he heads into his second month as director of the new program.

Sutton grew up in a family where the arts were a primary focus. Aside from his family's singing, he says they are also dramatic artists, performing plays like one he's recently penned.

In fact, he says he chose to stay in Elizabeth City after graduating from university because of his "strong family ties" and because, he says, he believes his hometown is on the verge of change insofar as the arts are concerned.

"I believe we're on the cusp of great things in the Elizabeth City community," Sutton says.

Sutton also emphasizes that the arts are a serious discipline that require serious attention. He says people should not make the mistake many have in the past and push art to the side, relegating to the status of hobby or a way to "keep busy."

Like Afolayan, Sutton believes that the arts will enhance students' desire and ability to learn.

Sutton says Arts in Education is also working with College of the Albemarle. He says the community college will be an important part of the partnership and is already on board to bring area public school students opportunities to learn through art.

Next month, for example, students will have the opportunity to see a one-man play, "Brown v. The Board of Education," depicting the landmark decision to end separate by equal school facilities in the U.S.

As for Heath and the Elizabeth City/Pasquotank School District, they're looking forward to expanding opportunities for the arts in the classroom as well. All in all, Heath says Sutton and the arts council will be assisting with "general education excellence," but how that looks in the future still remains to be seen.

Sutton says he hopes to see the program up and running and in full form by the next school year.