Mission
Art is Education ensures that every child has equitable access to a quality education that includes the arts, preparing them for the 21st century.
Featured Story
A Key to Success: Teacher Professional Development
One of the best ways Art is Education can spur positive change within CMSD is by providing teachers with engaging skill-building professional development opportunities. All teachers in Art is Education schools receive multiple opportunities throughout the year to participate in hands-on workshops that cover topics like student assessment, arts-integrated lesson planning, conflict resolution through the arts, and building literacy skills. AIE staff host three Best Practices sessions every year, as well as a three-day Summer Institute which focuses on national and state education policy and trends. Additionally, schools are provided with the means to address professional development topics specific to their staff's needs.
This week, teachers at Luis Munoz Marin participated in a two-hour professional development session led by Bill Morgan, a theater artist from Signstage Theater. The session focused on using theater techniques in the classroom to break down students' mental barriers to learning. Bill walked teachers through several theater activities that could easily be used with students to open their minds and engage them in learning concepts like the differences between fables and myths, the use of prepositions, creating sequential stories, and developing vocabulary. Teachers who participated now have a grab-bag of theater tools to use regularly in their classroom to engage reluctant learners.
What is Art is Education?
Through a partnership of 30+ arts, cultural, philanthropic and educational institutions and with support from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD), the Art is Education initiative provides standards-based, integrated arts experiences to children. Art is Education schools have equitable access to local arts resources and educators are empowered to incorporate arts learning across the curriculum. By supporting a whole school model, Art is Education addresses important issues of academic achievement and school climate.
Art is Education is also about advocacy on behalf of arts education. The only way to ensure that students in Cleveland receive a truly equitable education is to mobilize the greater community to support the arts as a vital component in the education of all students.
Through shared goals for a quality education for all students in Cleveland, the Art is Education initiative supports the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in its goal to become a premier school district in the United States.
The Goals of
Art is Education
- Integrate the arts across the curriculum to improve academic achievement and enhance students’ cognitive, social, and personal development
- Develop the capacity of teachers and cultural organizations to design, implement, and assess the arts and arts integrated curriculum through regular professional development
- Support schools in developing standards-based arts-infused curriculum for all students and disseminate successful practices throughout CMSD
- Promote collaboration among teachers, and with community organizations to positively impact school culture
- Increase parent/family and community participation and engagement with the school
- Build public will in support of an equitable education that includes the arts for every student in Cleveland Metropolitan School District
Partners
The Art is Education Collaborative is made up of 30+ arts, cultural and educational organizations in the greater Cleveland area, all of which serve a number of programmatic, advisory, advocacy and administrative roles in the project.
