Research and Results

Bugg A+ teacher integrates movement

Upon launching the A+ Schools Program in 1995, the Kenan Institute for the Arts made a commitment to evaluate the program.  Years of evaluation have concluded that the sustainability of the A+ Schools Program is attributed to three primary factors:

• The use of the arts
• The high quality, practitioner model of professional development
• The maintenance of a strong network to support teachers and administrators

Evaluations over the first eight years of the program’s history identified the whole school, residential Five-Day A+ Institute as the primary change agent leading to high implementation levels for the arts integration approach to school reform.

The initial four-year evaluation of the program, “The Arts and Education Reform: Lesson from a Four-Year Evaluation of the A+ Schools Program,” showed significant effects on schools, communities, teachers and students that included the following:

• Schools increased their organizational capacity and leadership to sustain the innovation
• Schools developed a more focused identity and increased channels of communication among staff and with parents
• Schools developed new community partnerships
• Parents increased and deepened their affiliation with the school
• Teachers changed their instructional strategies, resulting in more engaging and experiential learning for all students
• Teachers developed richer, more substantive and authentic classroom assessments
• School staff and parents found the A+ approach to teaching equally beneficial to all groups of students, regardless of cognitive development, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status
• Teachers designed enriched academic environments-more ways for students to understand and demonstrate understanding and mastery of the curriculum with improved assessment results
• Students were more engaged in the curriculum and improved their attitudes, attendance and behavior
• Students achieved assessment gains without teachers “narrowing” the curriculum

To obtain a copy of the initial four-year evaluation, please contact the A+ Schools Program offices.

To obtain a copy of the initial four-year evaluation, please contact the A+ Schools Program offices. Copies of Creating and Sustaining Arts-Based School Reform by George Noblit can be obtained from Routledge at  http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780805861495 or through Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Sustaining-Arts-Based-School-Reform/dp/0805861491 or your local bookseller.