DEPARTMENT: Pre-K 4 SA
DEPARTMENT HEAD: Sarah Baray, Ph.D.
COUNCIL DISTRICTS IMPACTED: Citywide
SUBJECT:
USAA Grant Award
SUMMARY:
This item approves Pre-K 4 SA to accept a grant totaling $50,000 from USAA for continued work with Wolf Trap.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The Wolf Trap Institute is a proven national model for utilizing the performing arts to support young children’s cognitive, emotional, and physical development, while enhancing academic skills in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) content through developmentally appropriate arts-integrated professional development and coaching for teachers, while providing engaging learning for children in content that is infrequently taught to young children. Wolf Trap addresses two primary concerns: first, the school readiness of children, many of whom live in educationally disadvantaged circumstances, and second, access to effective professional development and coaching for teachers who work with these children.
A recent independent study funded by the U.S. Department of Education in Fairfax County, Virginia indicates that teachers who use the Wolf Trap Institute's arts-integrated early childhood strategies have a significant, positive impact on children's learning in math. Additionally, a new analysis released in 2016 shows that students in the classrooms of Wolf Trap-trained teachers gain the equivalent of more than a month of additional math learning. Participating teachers also developed skillsets to engage students in performing arts learning experiences (music, dance, drama) that develop early childhood mathematics learning skills in number and number sense, measurement, geometry, algebra, data analysis, statistics, and probability. Students in these classrooms received the equivalent of 1.3 additional months of learning, or 26 additional days, compared to their peers in the control groups. In the second year, a sustained impact was found amounting to 1.7 additional months of learning, or 34 additional days, even though not all students in the second year continued in classrooms with teachers participating in the program. Pre-K 4 SA will measure the success of this program by comparing GOLD data (research validated early childhood assessment) for participating teachers and non-participating teachers in Math and Science.
The Wolf Trap Institute’s art-based teaching method taps into children’s innate desire for active, multisensory learning and utilizes these methods to teach challenging content. Pre-K 4 SA would like to provide each of our four education centers with five Wolf Trap teaching residency artists. The Wolf Trap classroom artist residencies provide an opportunity for the resident and classroom teacher to work together to (1) demonstrate how to use performing art experiences to get children more engaged; (2) improve learning in areas specified by the required curriculum;(3) ensure the performing arts become integrated into the teacher's daily routine.
ISSUE:
Pre-K 4 SA would like to partner with The Wolf Trap Institute through their Wolf Trap eight-week residency program. Throughout the 8 week residency, teaching artists and teachers collaborate on goals, formal planning, classroom implementation and assessment. Once the resident artist completes their residency, the teacher has a tool box of arts integrated techniques, hands on experience and lesson plans at their disposal.
In order to meet this need, Pre-K 4 SA applied for a grant from The USAA Foundation. The grant was approved for a total of $50,000. Through this funding, Pre-K 4 SA can fund 20 of the program’s teachers to receive STEM educated through the integrated art approach. This item requests Board approval for Pre-K 4 SA to accept the funding.
ALTERNATIVES:
If the Board chooses not to accept the funding, Pre-K 4 SA cannot move forward with the Wolf Trap collaboration.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Funding in the amount of $50,000 will be deposited into a Pre-K 4 SA Contribution Fund with the specific purpose of funding the Wolf Trap collaboration.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the Board approve for Pre-K 4 SA to accept the funds from The USAA Foundation to do additional work with Wolf Trap.