<p> Due to federal laws requiring standardized testing of only a select few of the core subjects, many students have been divested of fine arts instruction (Chen, 2008; Garcia, 2010; Jacobsen &amp; Rothstein, 2009; Maxwell, 2008; Suzuki, 2009). Moreover, school officials have reduced funding allocated to non-tested content areas as one means of balancing district budgets in a poor economy (Chen, 2008; Garcia, 2010). This mixed method study examined music educators' and curriculum directors' perceptions of how federal education laws have affected public school fine arts. Analysis of data from interviews of six music educators and six curriculum directors were conducted concurrently with the distribution of a Likert online survey. The interview and survey methodologies provided descriptive data of educators' perceptions regarding the consideration of fine arts as a core subject in policy and practice, the role of public school fine arts in the education of the whole child, the overall value of the fine arts in light of brain research, and the controversy surrounding the standardized assessment of the fine arts. The findings of the study revealed that even though all curriculum directors and music educators agreed the fine arts should be included in a child's holistic education, music educators possessed stronger beliefs regarding the fine arts being considered a core subject, Curriculum directors indicated their districts valued the fine arts as a public relations tool and as a means to boost achievement in other subjects, while music educators in the same district spoke of feeling devalued, indicating a disconnect in communication between administrators and staff. Finally, though many educators oppose the standardized testing of the fine arts, the assessments would provide valuable data.</p>

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Ce travail cherche à comprendre comment le cinéma d’animation en Tunisie, une pratique artistique « en marge », à la fois dans son monde de l’Art et dans la société dans laquelle elle est produite, puisse s’ériger en tant que vecteur de contestation dans un contexte autoritaire. Il s’agit de tracer l’histoire méconnue de cet art depuis sa genèse et sur toute la période étudiée (1965-1995). Une histoire qui se confond avec celle des changements sociopolitiques du pays sous les deux régimes autoritaires postindépendance. Nous entendons dégager la ou les forme(s) de contestation en interrogeant, d’une part le matériau filmique etd’autre part les sources orales, mémoires vivantes de cet art. Nous confrontons deux discours celui du régime (du centre) et celui de l’art (la périphérie) afin de révéler le mécanisme de formulation du propos contestataire dans le cinéma d’animation tunisien. / This work seeks to understand how animation in Tunisia – an artistic activity on the fringes, both in the art world and in the society in which it is produced - became a vehicle for political protest within an authoritarian context. It recounts the hitherto untold history of this art form together with the socio-political changes under the two post-independence authoritarian regimes. We intend to reveal the form(s) of protest by examining, on the one hand, the cinematic material and, on the other, live testimonials, first-hand memories of the art form. We confront two different types of rhetoric, that of the regime (core values) and the art of animation(marginal culture) to reveal the mechanisms used to formulate the protest statements in Tunisian animation.

This research focuses on agencification and quangocratisation (AQ) through a comparison of the experiences of South Korea and the UK. Although a number of studies of AQ have been produced recently, these reforms remain inadequately understood. Since AQ involves the structural disaggregation of administrative units from existing departments, executive agencies and quangos have distinct characteristics which are quite different from ordinary core departments. There are a number of factors which influence these changes; and this thesis explores nine existing theories which are available to explain these phenomena. Case studies are presented of Tate Modern in the UK and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), which are carefully analysed to examine the validity of those nine arguments. Although cultural agencies, which show some unique features, have become increasingly an essential part of the national economy, they have scarcely been researched from the viewpoint of public policy. This thesis endeavours to explore distinctive characteristics of this policy area; and moreover, it examines the diverse variables which have an impact on policy formation and its results through the process of comparison of arguments. The major tasks of this thesis are to investigate the applicability of the nine arguments and to weigh their merits. As a corollary of this comprehensiveness, it examines the whole public sectors of both countries, in order to show the broader picture and to understand the processes of changes and their backgrounds. More profoundly, similarities and differences between both countries are compared from both macro and micro perspectives. At the same time, the results of AQ are analysed through the comparison of outputs or outcomes before and after these changes, with a view to exploring whether their rationales are appropriate. Furthermore, it also examines the institutional constraints which influence not only the change of agencies but also their performances. Besides which, it seeks to find strategies for overcoming these constraints. This thesis adopts systematic and comprehensive approaches regarding basic concepts and data. It draws on theories of comparative research, the scope of the public sector, the classification and analysis of agencies and quangos, and theories underlying the detailed components of each argument and epistemological assumptions. Therefore, it suggests various aspects which enable us to broaden our understanding of the changes within the public sector; and to generate practical understanding to inform real world reform.