Please Note: All grants for FY2004 have ended. The available abstracts are for historical purposes only.

Four (4) new awards were made in FY 2004. These grants were the four highest-ranking applicants from the FY 2003 competition. These grants support the further development, implementation and expansion of standards-based arts education programs and the integration of arts instruction into the core curriculum. Grants were awarded to both local educational agencies (LEAs) and nonprofit arts organizations that work in partnership with LEAs.

The Dramatic Developments project will bring together five Boston middle schools and their extended-day after-school programs, serving students in grades six to eight, with a group of Boston-based arts education organizations. Artists and teachers from local cultural organizations will join with teachers and school administrators to form project implementation teams designed to support the advancement of the arts and students' academic achievement. Using drama as a tool to enhance the academic and social growth of participating middle school students, the project will link the performing arts to student literacy development.

Partnering with the Boston Public Schools Office of Curriculum and Instructional Practices in the Arts and the City of Boston's Office of Cultural Affairs will be The Brown University Department of Education. Northeastern University's Department of Cooperative Education and the Cultural and Arts Policy Research Institute will conduct the project evaluation.

Dramatic Developments has three primary goals: high quality planning and professional development leading to appropriate implementation; improving the academic, artistic, and social performance of participating students; and transforming teaching and learning through district expansion and dissemination practices. The Dramatic Developments model will promote literacy, exposure to drama and the arts, and creative expression through writing, literature, and public speaking. The project consists of both professional development and curriculum development components offered in three settings, and a rigorous evaluation.

Dramatic Developments incorporates extensive research on language development, literacy, and arts education that suggests that the multi-sensory learning involved in theatre work—acting, speaking, writing, planning, and organizing for a performance—is a powerful tool for improving students' engagement in school and literacy activities. The project brings together research and practice in the fields of English language arts, theatre, literature, teacher education, and evaluation.

The project will form a partnership of leaders in the arts and education fields to advance a best practices model with implications for local and national replication. Furthermore, the project will enhance the capacity of the local public school system to strengthen student achievement in the arts and literacy, while developing materials and pedagogy designed to improve and expand the integration of arts education in Boston's middle school curricula.

The Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) of Montgomery County, Maryland has selected three elementary schools to participate in an Arts Integration Model Schools program (AIMS). AIMS is a multi-arts program to integrate visual arts, music, theatre, and dance as an intensive arts integration professional development program. The schools were selected based on their commitment to arts as exhibited by administration leadership and ongoing staff development focused on enhancing learning through the arts.

Currently, the AIMS program is in the pre-implementation stage. Teachers in the three schools are developing an understanding of arts integration through preliminary workshops, in-service training, and lectures and have begun to establish a network to share "best practices." Art professionals and consultants from The John F. Kennedy Center's Changing Education in the Arts, Maryland Artist/Teacher Institute, Imagination Stage, and other local arts organizations have provided the foundation for a professional development arts integration program for school teams. The Arts Education in Maryland Schools (AEMS) Alliance is working with representatives of arts organizations in the state to develop an arts integration professional development program. This training would be supported by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) and Towson University and would result in a state arts integration certification program. Parents and community members have been introduced to the concept of teaching and leaning using the arts as instructional strategies.

The Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination Grant Program funds will expand existing state and local partnerships and establish new partnerships to improve upon this program model and insure the sustainability and replicability of the project. An important focus of the Arts in Education Model Development Program for MCPS is to demonstrate that the commitment of the school leadership is important to implementing a professional development program and to integrate the arts into an instructional program to improve academic achievement.

The grant will develop, document and implement an innovative interactive arts education model for integration into the core curriculum of one middle school of the Kansas City Kansas Public Schools district. This program model is designed to address the needs of inner city students at risk for academic failure. By engaging the youth in creative projects, the program seeks to address not only academic achievement but also students' attitudes toward school and their investment in the community. While addressing the needs of students, the program will enable teachers to benefit from curriculum and resource development with the assistance of professional artists. Artists and teachers will work together to develop a well-documented process that will be evaluated and improved upon over the three-year program period. School staff will be updated on the progress during the development, implementation and evaluation of the program. Achievements of the program will be recognized and celebrated after each session of implementation. Throughout the duration of the program, materials will be developed to facilitate replication of the program model in a variety of settings.

Pan Educational Institute and The Storytellers Inc. Artist Collective will facilitate the program in cooperation with the Kansas City Kansas Public Schools, KCKPS Prevention Services, Kansas City Mentoring Initiative and Research Development Institute.

Eight professional artists from The Storytellers Inc. Artist Collective will work in teams of two with the KCKPS science, mathematics, English language arts and social studies teachers to develop curriculum and plan innovative arts projects for each academic year. The program will develop gradually, with the focus for the first year on concept introduction, development, implementation and problem solving. The emphasis for the second year will be placed upon increased project facilitation, evaluation and continued development. During the third year, artists will assist teachers with resource identification and proficiency in integrated programming. In addition, an emphasis for the third year will be placed upon the development of materials and resources for replication of the project. Research and evaluation based on a quasi-experimental design using matched comparison conditions will continue throughout the duration of the program, and follow-up studies will be conducted as appropriate.

The Patagonia Educational Arts Coalition (PEAC) project will address the critical educational needs of improving the performance of students at-risk of educational failure by developing an arts curriculum that is based on accepted research and best practices and integrating this curriculum into the core curriculum of the Patagonia Elementary and Middle Schools. These schools serve students from seven unincorporated townships, the incorporated town of Patagonia, and the 900 square mile rural area bordering on Mexico. The project is located in the designated Enterprise Zone, Arizona border of Santa Cruz County. PEAC will serve as many as 100 students from one elementary school and one middle school.