Guidelines for Contributors

AEPR uses The Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, for all matters of style, including references in author/date format (authors may use Humanities-style capitalization; see CMS 16.7). Authors are responsible for checking that all quotations are accurate and obtaining permission to reprint where necessary. Please include full bibliographical information, including page numbers, for all quotations.

E-mail: We only accept articles submitted electronically as a double-spaced Word file with minimal formatting. Please do not use forced section or page breaks. Use endnotes, not automatic footnotes, and please insert your endnotes manually in the text, using a superscript for note numbers. E-mail tables in one file and figures in a separate file.

E-mail tables in one file and figures in a separate file. Send a hard-copy version of text, tables, and figures as backup.

Policy Review

Contributors should make sure that any submission is a policy article, complete with policy recommendations about arts education from pre-kindergarten through postsecondary education. Articles about college education should focus on teacher preparation for these grades or teacher retention.

AEPR intends to bring fresh analytical vigor to perennial and new policy issues in arts education. AEPR presents analyses and recommendations focused on policy. The goal of any article should not be description or celebration (although reports of successful programs could be part of an article). Any article focused on a program (or programs) should address why something works or does not work, how it works, how it could work better, and most important, what various policymakers (from teachers to legislators) can do about it. Many articles are rejected because they lack this element.

AEPR does not promote individuals, institutions, methods, or products. It does not aim to repeat commonplace ideas. Editors want articles that show originality, probe deeply, and take discussion beyond common wisdom and familiar rhetoric. Articles that merely restate the importance of arts education, call attention to the existence of issues long since addressed, or repeat standard solutions will not be accepted.

AEPR is an open forum. Its purpose is to present and explore many points of view. Its overall purpose is to help readers think for themselves, rather than to tell them how they should think.

Policy Orientations

AEPR respects scholarship and research, but these alone do not constitute policy content. Policy analysis often involves educated opinion about the meanings of ideas, events, decisions, decision-making frameworks, and educational content, such as the following:

• gathering and interpreting information about simple or complex issues in order to suggest what should be done;
• taking a body of research or scholarship and exploring its ramifications;
• focusing on decisions in process or decisions already made, explaining agreement or disagreement or developing a list of potential promises and pitfalls.

These orientations can be applied to many issues—from the structure and results of psychometric research to the values climate that would support the arts as an educational basic. They can deal with the relationships of teacher preparation to cultural development, the problems of curriculum building, the particular challenges of teaching specific art forms, and the impact of political, economic, cultural, artistic, and other climates on decision making for arts instruction. The list is endless; the permutations cover a rich and vast territory for intellectually based work.

Reminders:

1. Do your homework before submitting articles; check our indexes; read guidelines carefully.

2. Make sure any submission is a policy article, focused on pre-K–12 arts education.

3. Articles should not be merely descriptions or celebrations of programs; why something works or how it could work better is key.

4. Do not promote individuals, institutions, methods, of products or repeat commonplace ideas. We know arts education is important. We know it could use more funding. What should we do if we get it and why?

5. Always include policy recommendations in your article.

Send manuscripts to: aepr@heldref.org.