Building a System for Creative Learning

Big Thought Overview

Mission: To make imagination a part of everyday learning

Vision: We envision communities where every learner is immersed everyday in opportunities to imagine, create and succeed.

Big Thought Manages:

•Creative Solutions

•Young Audiences

•Library Live!

•SLANT 45

•ArtsPartners

•Thriving Minds

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Big Thought Overview

Thriving Minds

Thriving Minds is a public/private partnership which coordinates and leverages resources from cultural, educational, youth development and social service organizations in support of student achievement and family engagement.

•Convenes 100+ partners•Provides professional development•Engages parents and caregivers•Raises funds•Coordinates research•Publishes best practices•Consults•Supports enrichment programming

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Environments Today

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HistoryArts Education removed from classrooms systemically

Young Audiences begins to bring back access to the arts

City invests in study of arts equality, shows great inequity in arts experiences

ArtsPartners provides systemic, widespread arts ed through investment of partners

Big Thought publishes research demonstrating how the partnership is helping academics

Wallace Foundation gives grant to grow work of ArtsPartners, early Ford work – turns into Thriving Minds

Arts become priority for city, school district, 100+ partners during school day + in the communities

Texas Education Agency funds Thriving Minds OST programs

Big Thought and partners work in campuses throughout Dallas in renowned education collaboration

1970’s

1987

1997

1998

2003

2005

2006

2006-2007

2008

2011

Ford Foundation funds grant exploring the engagement of family/community in the arts

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1997—Dallas, We Have a Problem

The Problem

• No agency overseeing services

• Some kids received multiple services

• 75% received little to none

• No way to measure impact

The Solution, As We Saw It

• What if we focused on changing the environment, instead of individual programs?

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How Big Thought Works

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The School District

The School District offered arts, but could not

provide:

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Initial Concerns

City of Dallas • Possible funding monopoly• Overstepping boundaries

Dallas ISD • Additional stress on teachers• Little or no academic impact

Arts & Cultural Providers • Cannibalized funding• Homogenized programming• Decrease in artistic quality

Big Thought • Destabilization• Financial drain• Overshadow BT identity

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Strategies to Address Concerns

Conversations with:• Fine Arts Specialists

• General Classroom Teachers

• Cultural Providers

• Individual Artists

• Principals

• Parents

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Influencers Implementers Educators

School Board

Superintendent

City Council

City Manager

Funders

Corporations

Community Boards

Arts Commissioners

Parents

Dallas ISD

Dallas Office of

Cultural Affairs

Park & Recreation

Library System

Churches

Parents

Park and Rec Staff

Fine Arts Specialists

General Classroom

Teachers

Librarians

Childcare Workers

Church staff

Trained Volunteers

Parents

Partnering On All Levels

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• Determine where partner agendas overlap

• Agree on a common language

• Discuss individual partner expectations

• Identify strategies to address concerns

• Articulate desired outcomes

Align Agendas

Influencers Implementers Educators

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Activity: Influencer, Implementer, Educator

Major Ideas:

• Plan/vision from a place of abundance

• Avoid unnecessary bureaucracy – cut red tape

• Build on – never duplicate - capacity in the system

• Acknowledge enabling constraints

• Address barriers and deal breakers

• Bless and release

Principles of Partnership

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It’s the relationship between high quality creative learning

experiences which build capacities in our children and

communitiesOut of School Integrated

In School

Children

Creative Learning Environments

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Shared Civic Outcomes

Livable and Productive City

Successful Students, Strong Families, Vibrant

CommunitiesIncreased

Creative Capital

An Excellent System

An Equitable System

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Shared Civic Outcomes

Everyone has an End Game. What is this Community’s?•Vitality of the arts – audience building, sustenance of cultural community

•Arts for arts sake – ensuring students have access to arts experiences for their inherent benefits

•Arts for personal development – building self-esteem, empathy, etc.

•Arts for academic development – improving test scores, decreasing drop-out rates, etc.

•Arts for community’s sake – ensuring that the arts are “in the water” of communities, making all of the above a part of a child’s life

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Pathways to Success

Sequential Learning over time in multiple neighborhoods

=Increased chance of success

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Pathways to Success

Dallas Neighborhood -- 2007

High School

Middle School

Elementary School

Dance Music Theater Visual Art

Dallas Neighborhood -- 2009

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Pathways Plus

High School

Middle School

Elementary School

Wellness

Academic and College Readiness

Developmental Assets

Dance Music Theater Visual Art

Dallas Neighborhood -- 2009 Dallas Neighborhood -- 2012

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The Critical Equations

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Video: Engaging MS Students

Building Blocks of Our Work

Elementary and Middle School programs share the following elements of success:

Project-Based

Integrated Curriculum

Career-Focused

Maximizing Resources

Community Participation

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Middle School Corporate/Government Partners

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Thriving Minds Partners

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Thriving Minds Artists

Big Thought employs approximately 850 community artists who work in the Thriving Minds system.

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The Adults in The Room

• Share the Vision

• Explain importance of supporting academic development

• Offer professional development

• Engage in dialogue

• Provide feedback mechanisms (surveys, interviews, etc.)

• Offer opportunities to showcase their work

Instructors

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Program Evolution

Developing and Managing

Capacity Building Supporting

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Outcomes

Students: 96% of Thriving Minds after-school students promoted to next grade

81% of students in Thriving Minds summer camps were promoted to the next grade

Thriving Minds students show increased proficiency in reading, writing and positive classroom behaviors

Teachers: 91% report improved behavior and homework completion for Thriving Minds students

83% now show support for arts-integrated teaching after Thriving Minds summer camps

253 classroom observations showed increased instructor proficiency after professional development

TAKS: 70% improved or maintained proficiency26

Video: Summer School 2010 Success

Student Success

• Grade 3 Reading: 18.7%

• Grade 3 Math: 23.3%

• Grade 4 Reading: 8.2%

• Grade 4 Math: 7.3%

• Grade 5 Reading: 17.2%

• Grade 5 Math: 14.6%

2010 TM Summer Camp students grades 3-5 improved their TAKS passing rates by 7-23%.

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“If I was a ners, I would be feeling happy because I get to hwod the babby. And I like this child.”

First Grader’s Classroom Writing Before One-hour Museum Visit

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First Grader’s Classroom Writing After One-hour Museum Visit

“Being playful makees me feel like going to the park. You can see the way I look. Being happy makees me feel like I am made up of all differn kind

of colros on the inside.”29

African-American & Latino students participating in AP outperformed their peers on TAKS reading….

and their strong performance continued in 7th grade, without AP

AP Study 2005 ReportTexas’ Annual Test of Reading Skills

ArtsPartners in Grades 4-6 No ArtsPartners in Grade 7

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Quality: Integration

Investment in Quality Behaviors

Active Learning Behaviors

Experiments in Learning Behaviors

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The Funding Braid

Private PublicAppropriate for building infrastructure

Appropriate for long-term, ongoing needs

Allows for innovation Involves strict compliance

Funds quality needs; professional development, additional resources, etc.

Generally funds most basic needs

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Initial Funding Sources -- ArtsPartners

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Video: West Dallas and the Future

Building a System for Creative Learning