Anchorage Daily News

The National Endowment for the Humanities has donated 40 reproductions of American masterpieces to every Anchorage public school.

The reproductions will become tools to teach about history, politics, philosophy and art, the endowment said.

The "Picturing America" program was piloted in January and is rolling out to 26,000 schools and public libraries across the country this fall. It includes photos of Native American baskets, reproductions of paintings by Norman Rockwell and Edward Hopper, and a photo of Frank Lloyd Wright's modern architecture.

The endowment has given the artwork and accompanying teaching materials to the Anchorage public schools, as well as more than 100 schools across Alaska.

"We're trying to reinforce that there's a lot more to comprehensive education than just reading, writing and math," said Anchorage School District superintendent Carol Comeau. "And that's what's happening around the country, the social sciences, the social studies, the arts, if you will, the humanities, are being given short shrift just because of the pressure of No Child Left Behind."

The 2001 federal No Child Left Behind law calls for tracking student's test scores in math, reading and writing to get every child in America at a proficient level for their grade by 2014. Critics say it has made schools too focused on passing tests and not on comprehensive education.

"I just see this as an opportunity for teachers to integrate some of this into what they are teaching," Comeau said. "Get that higher-level thinking."

The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent agency of the U.S. government dedicated to research, education, preservation and public programs in humanities.

ADVERTISEMENT