The Oklahoma Alliance for Arts Education (OAAE) in cooperation with the Oklahoma State Department Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA) and the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administration (CCOSA) is pleased to recognize local school administrators, school boards, and arts educators for outstanding support of arts in education. These awards are presented annually to school administrators, school boards, and arts educators who have demonstrated support for and commitment to high quality arts education in their school district, community, or state. Award recipients are chosen by a selection committee of educators, including representatives from the Board of Directors of OAAE, OSSBA, and CCOSA.

The arts are included in the Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS), and the selection committee will look favorably upon those school administrators, school boards, and arts educators who have made a significant effort to integrate PASS in the arts across the curriculum for all students. The selection committee will also look favorably upon those school administrators, school boards, and arts educators who have been instrumental in developing/supporting one or more of the arts (visual arts, music, dance, and theatre/drama) in the district’s schools. This should include superior programs of sequential, curriculum-based arts education.

In addition, the selection committee will be looking for strategies used by administrators, school boards, and arts educators to encourage partnerships between school arts programs and cultural resources in the community.

Award recipients will be recognized at the State Superintendent Awards for Arts Excellence, scheduled for Tuesday, April 22, 2008, at the Masonic Temple in Guthrie, Oklahoma.