by KYW's Dr. Marciene Mattleman
Since 1990, the Institute for the Arts in Education, modeled after and working with Lincoln Center Institute, has been bringing a year round program in the arts to students in the region’s schools.
The program provides professional development for their teachers and teaching artists who work with kids in classrooms.
Students get to see orchestra and ballet performances, hear jazz and see Shakespeare and then are involved in creating their own productions using those art forms, connecting their work to the school curriculum.
How do you convince decision makers that such activities in the arts are important? Research!
Between 2003-5, the Institute worked with 2,500 at-risk students from 6 low-achieving public middle schools in Philadelphia funded by the US Dept. of Education.
Program students showed a 16 point improvement in standardized test scores over non-participants in the same schools and just as important, they showed lower rates of absenteeism and disruptive behavior than their non-participating counterparts.
Arts can and do make a difference. They’re motivating, fun and teach a multitude of skills, yet No Child Left Behind and budget cuts have made the arts less important in too many schools.
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