“I started dancing when I was 4,” says Diane Rawlinson, now 63 years old. “If someone had told me, when I was 18 or 20, that I’d spend half of my life teaching dance in public schools, I wouldn’t have believed them!” Now retired from teaching K–12, Rawlinson has embarked on her next career: mentoring future educators as a teacher in Loyola University Chicago’s master’s degree program in elementary education with a dance concentration.
Loyola is one of only a handful of universities that make it possible for dance instructors to graduate with certification to teach in kindergarten through 12th-grade classrooms. “If we want the arts to be a fundamental part of our culture, to exist in ways that students across the nation have access to, then we need dance teachers in public schools,” says Amy Wilkinson, a senior lecturer at Loyola. “The arts cannot be privatized to such an extent that people don’t have access to them across demographics. It’s necessary for the health of our dance audiences, for the health of young artists, and for the future of the field.”
Loyola’s master’s degree program was developed to address a critical gap, namely dance teachers who are certified to teach in public schools. Wilkinson says data showed “more than 100 Chicago schools were lacking in arts education, and the greatest need within the arts education program was dance.”
Loyola was uniquely situated to fulfill this need. “We have a very strong undergraduate BA dance program, small but mighty, with well-trained dancers and high-quality faculty,” says Wilkinson. “Because a lot of us on the faculty are educators, we started to think about creating a program that trained teacher candidates.”
A Unique Collaboration
That was in 2017, and the timing was fortuitous for Loyola to create a model that involved a unique collaboration with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). “The CPS Residency Program, which is ancillary to Chicago Public Schools, had launched a successful teacher preparation program and was partnering with other institutions in Chicago,” explains Wilkinson. “I worked with colleagues in Loyola’s School of Education to write a proposal. Loyola was selected as the institutional partner to provide dance teacher training.”
Loyola’s CPS Residency Program is distinctive in offering substantial classroom experience. “Many programs place a teacher in a school for eight weeks. In our program, candidates are embedded for the year,” says Rawlinson. “They understand what it means to be part of a school community.”
Through the CPS Residency Program, master’s candidates received a 30 percent discount on Loyola’s tuition and a $40,000 annual stipend. The program ran from May to mid-June, and graduates were guaranteed a two-year teaching contract in a Chicago Public School upon completing the program. With a master’s degree, the salary of a public school teacher increases significantly.
Practical Experience
Allison Volkers, formerly co-director of Evanston Dance Ensemble and a longtime teacher in studio settings, is a recent graduate. “I appreciated that the program was fast-tracked, and that I gained real-world classroom experience. The opportunity to work with mentor teachers in Chicago Public Schools has been invaluable during this career transition.”
Candidates also learn how to articulate the value of dance to a broad population of students. “We discuss the purposes of teaching in a public school—the ‘why’ of dancing,” says Rawlinson. Wilkinson notes that being in the classroom helps prepare teachers for the realities of teaching in a K–12 setting. “Student populations can be incredibly diverse: There are non-English speakers, students who have experienced trauma, students who are experiencing poverty. You are part of this community, and you see the challenges that students and families are facing.”
A New Path Forward
The Loyola CPS Residency Program successfully graduated three cohorts of teachers, with a third group set to graduate at the end of this school year. At press time, the Chicago Public Schools announced a decision to end partnerships with several local institutions, including the Loyola CPS Residency. “Loyola will be working to transition operations to offer a year-long dance teacher training graduate program that includes a tuition discount and scholarship funding,” says Wilkinson, who notes that, in the immediate future, the program will likely proceed without a residency.
While this partnership was temporary, its design and intentions remain vital. Wilkinson hopes that it can serve as a model and “these kinds of programs can take root in communities and flourish.” For her part, Rawlinson loves her new role as a teachers’ teacher. “This Loyola program has been a blessing because I’m mentoring educators. I can keep supporting those visions.”
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