Are you a PreK-12 public school or public charter school music educator seeking learning, leadership, networking, and growth opportunities? NAfME is accepting applications for teacher participants in the CAN project. For more information on how to apply, contact LaSaundra Belcher at lasaundrab@nafme.org.
The Connected Arts Networks (CAN) is a five-year grant initiative to create nationwide virtual Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) with educators in visual arts, music, theatre, dance and media arts funded by the United States Department of Education.
Through the (CAN) project, NAfME is part of a large, diverse national network of almost 500 Teacher Participants taking part in multi-year PLCs. NAfME’s eight PLCs include more than 100 PreK-12 music teachers (Teacher Participants) and 15 PreK-12 Teacher Leaders. CAN is in partnership with the Educational Theater Association, the National Association for Art Education, the National Dance Education Organization, and the NYC Dept. of Education’s Arts Office which launched Connected Arts Networks (CAN). Last year, hundreds of thousands of students throughout the United States were impacted through this important work.
The NAfME CAN PLCs have been meeting virtually each month since January 2024 and will continue school-year monthly sessions throughout the 2025-2026 school year. These PLCs are dedicated to working specifically on equity, diversity, and inclusion; social-emotional learning; and teacher leadership within standards-based arts instruction through a variety of professional learning methods, meaningful discussions, and the development and exchange of action research projects.
Connected Arts Networks (CAN)
Leveraging Arts Learning Communities for Teacher Leadership and Student Achievement is a 5-year federal grant project funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) is proud to be partners on this project with the National Art Education Association (NAEA – the project lead), the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO), the Educational Theatre Association (EdTA), and the New York City Department of Education’s (NYCDOE’s) Office of Arts and Special Projects (OASP). A comprehensive evaluation of the project will be conducted by Metis Associates.
The CAN project focuses on fostering, nurturing and facilitating:
- Equity, diversity, and inclusion (ED&I)
- Social-emotional learning (SEL)
- Teacher leadership through professional learning communities
All work is aligned to the National Core Arts Standards which recognizes arts education as dance, media arts, music, theatre, and visual arts. Learn about the Music Education Standards.
The project is based on a New York City program in which music and arts educators across disciplines and grade levels meet monthly in professional learning communities to investigate how to incorporate best practices into music and arts education content, instruction, and leadership. The methodology has proven successful, so national music and arts education organizations want to take the approach nationwide.
After the initial recruitment by NAfME of 15 Teacher Leaders in year one of the project, music educators at the elementary, middle, and high school levels representing diverse schools/districts/communities nationwide, NAfME’s Teacher Leaders took part in over a year of training involving workshops with national experts and guided peer-to-peer learning through their own national Teacher Leader PLC. Starting in January/February 2024, they will be paired up with other Teacher Leaders and begin facilitating and supporting eight national PLCs of PreK-12 music educators from throughout the United States, each with approximately 12 Teacher Participants.
The virtual PLCs meet monthly, with additional opportunities to learn and develop leadership skills through quarterly workshops and summer institutes involving all of the CAN grant partners and participating teachers and organizations.
Bookmark this page and stop back often for regular project updates, resources, toolkits, and other information and ideas for teacher professional development, ED&I/DEIA, SEL, and standards-based instruction and teacher leadership.
NAfME Staff Contacts
LaSaundra Belcher
Professional Development/Grant Project Content Manager
lasaundrab@nafme.org
Angela Keedy
Professional Development Specialist
angelak@nafme.org
John Donaldson
Assistant Executive Director for Professional Development and Publications
johnd@nafme.org