Do you see a need to create a new program in arts education? Is there an opportunity to better integrate the arts into student learning? Would you like to develop a partnership between teachers and community arts resources? Do you want to make a contribution to the field and to children's lives? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, the Arts Education Project Designer's Toolbook will be useful to you. It has been developed for the Idaho Commission on the Arts to help its constituents plan and evaluate their programs. For artists and community members working in an educational setting, it will provide an introduction to educational planning and related terms. For teachers, it will provide a helpful review. Using the Toolbook will help you develop superior programs and competitive grant applications for local, national, or private funding. The Toolbook has four sections. These mirror the powerful approach often known as "backward design": I. Identifying Program Outcomes What should students know, understand, and be able to do? This section shows you how to set goals or objectives (we call them outcomes) that are worthwhile, measurable, and feasible. II. Developing an Evaluation Plan How will we know if students have achieved the desired results and met the standards? This section helps you design processes that will determine whether your outcomes are attained. III. Designing the Project Activities What teaching methods will be most suited to achieving the desired results and meeting the standards? In this section, you will design activities to bring about the outcomes you plan. IV. Reporting and Using your Results How will the evaluation be used? This section helps you present your results to others. The Toolbook includes examples of quality grant applications funded by the ICA. Each section follows those examples through the planning process. The end of the Toolbook contains worksheets that you can complete to design your own program. Question: Why should I use this apparently "backwards" sequence? Why develop the evaluation plan before I determine the program activities? Answer: If you design your evaluation around the desired outcomes, you will develop a plan that measures your success. Planning the activities first often results in an evaluation that merely records those activities. You need to evaluate the attainment of your outcomes, not whether the activities took place.

The Arts Education Project Designer's Toolbook has been developed to help plan and evaluate programs. For artists and community members working in an educational setting, it will provide an introduction to educational planning and related terms. For teachers, it will provide a helpful review. Using the Toolbook will help you develop superior programs and competitive grant applications for local, national, or private funding.