Arts For Learning Maryland, formerly known as Young Audiences of Maryland, has been awarded a significant grant from the U.S. Department of Education. This federal funding will empower the organization to implement and study innovative arts-integrated programs in schools with limited resources. The goal is to demonstrate how embedding arts into the curriculum can boost academic performance and enhance the emotional well-being of students.
Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen announced the substantial five-year grant, totaling $3,970,442. This funding will support a groundbreaking initiative in Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) called “Start with the Art: Arts Integration + Co-Teaching—A Transformative Approach to Increasing Academic Achievement and Fostering Socio-emotional Development in Elementary Students.” Arts for Learning Maryland, a leading non-profit dedicated to enriching the lives of Maryland children through arts integration, is the sole organization in Maryland to receive this prestigious Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant in FY2021.
This EIR grant, the largest in Arts for Learning Maryland’s impressive 70-year history, will enable the organization to rigorously examine the effectiveness of integrating arts and teaching artists into kindergarten through third-grade classrooms within Prince George’s County, Maryland. The core of the project lies in establishing a strong collaborative framework between PGCPS classroom teachers and Arts for Learning Maryland’s skilled teaching artists. Together, they will co-plan and co-deliver engaging lessons that aim to re-ignite students’ enthusiasm for learning, especially after the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The “Start with the Art” program will strategically incorporate four key arts-integrated instructional strategies designed to foster both academic success and socio-emotional growth in students, particularly those at risk due to poverty. These strategies leverage the power of the arts to:
- Boost Classroom Engagement: Utilize arts-based activities to captivate students’ attention and make learning more interactive and enjoyable.
- Expand Emotional Range: Provide avenues for students to explore and express a broader spectrum of emotions than typically experienced in traditional classroom settings.
- Develop Perseverance: Reframe setbacks and failures within artistic endeavors as valuable learning opportunities that build resilience and determination.
- Foster Positive Peer Relationships: Capitalize on collaborative art projects to encourage teamwork, communication, and positive interactions among students.
A crucial component of “Start with the Art” is the professional development provided to classroom teachers. They will participate in a specialized Training Institute, an extension of the well-established Prince George’s Artist Teaching Institute (PGATI). This institute will equip teachers with the skills and knowledge to effectively integrate arts into their teaching practices.
The “Start with the Art” initiative began its groundwork in early 2022, focusing on recruiting the initial group of participating schools, classroom teachers, teaching artists, and instructional coaches. The program’s first student-facing activities are set to launch in Fall 2023, with the ambitious goal of reaching 2,500 students in kindergarten through third grade from low-income backgrounds within PGCPS.
This comprehensive program is a collaborative effort involving PGCPS, WolfBrown, and West Chester University (WCU). Leading researchers from WolfBrown and WCU will jointly oversee all aspects of the program’s evaluation. This includes participant recruitment, program implementation monitoring, data collection, in-depth analysis, reporting of findings, and dissemination of results to the wider research community. These partners bring significant expertise in evaluating arts education programs and understanding the impact of poverty on early childhood development.
The EIR grant covers a substantial 75% of the total project cost, amounting to $4,962,000 through 2026. This significant funding underscores the U.S. Department of Education’s commitment to supporting innovative approaches to education.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Innovation and Research Program is specifically designed to fund projects that create, develop, implement, replicate, and scale evidence-based, innovative solutions to enhance student achievement, particularly for students with high needs. A key focus is rigorous evaluation to validate these solutions and support the expansion of effective programs to serve a larger student population.
Stacie Sanders Evans, President and CEO of Arts for Learning Maryland, expressed her enthusiasm for the grant award: “This grant is a powerful validation of our dedicated artists, staff, and board, and the transformative work happening within our community. It recognizes the core strategies that have driven the success of our Summer Arts for Learning Academy—collaborative lesson planning and co-teaching—which have fostered academic and personal growth for nearly 9,000 students in Title I schools. ‘Start with the Art’ will generate further compelling evidence of the profound impact our arts integration work has on children, paving the way for even more students to benefit from this enriching approach to learning in the future.”
Senator Van Hollen commended Arts for Learning Maryland for this achievement, stating, “A student’s educational quality should not be dictated by their zip code. As we continue to prioritize investments in public education, I am proud to champion the work of organizations like Arts for Learning Maryland that are pioneering innovative strategies to ensure all students can thrive. Arts for Learning Maryland’s vital work enriches students’ lives, equips them for future success, and elevates their academic performance through hands-on engagement with the arts and their community. I remain committed to supporting Maryland students and expanding educational opportunities across our communities.”
Dr. Monica Goldson, Chief Executive Officer of PGCPS, added, “The PGCPS Department of Creative and Performing Arts has cultivated a strong and valued partnership with Arts for Learning Maryland for many years. This collaboration will provide invaluable support to both our educators and our youngest learners through enriching arts integration experiences, offering diverse, creative, and engaging instructional methods to meet the varied needs of all learners.”
Dr. Steven J. Holochwost, Principal and Director of Research for Youth & Families at WolfBrown, shared his excitement about the partnership: “The research team is thrilled to collaborate with Arts for Learning Maryland and PGCPS to conduct a rigorous evaluation of the impacts of arts integration on student development. We believe the findings from this evaluation have significant potential to inform not only arts-integrated instruction within Prince George’s County but also to shape best practices nationwide.”
For further information about Arts for Learning Maryland and their impactful programs, please visit their website.
About Arts for Learning Maryland:
Founded in Baltimore in 1950, Arts for Learning Maryland, formerly Young Audiences of Maryland, is the Maryland affiliate of the nation’s largest arts-in-education network. The organization is dedicated to enriching the lives and education of Maryland’s youth through diverse and engaging arts programs. Arts for Learning Maryland collaborates with professional artists across various disciplines, as well as with educators and community leaders, to deliver over 7,000 hands-on arts learning experiences annually, reaching over 190,000 Maryland students. Arts for Learning Maryland envisions a future where the arts are recognized for their transformative power and where every student has the opportunity to imagine, create, and achieve their full potential through arts-rich education.
About WolfBrown:
WolfBrown is a consulting firm dedicated to helping foundations, non-profit organizations, and public agencies realize their potential, define strategic priorities, and fulfill their missions. WolfBrown operates on the core belief that every individual possesses a unique creative voice of inherent value and that every community has a responsibility to cultivate, support, and sustain its cultural vibrancy.
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