SLPS TO COLLABORATE WITH ST. LOUIS ARTS AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS

The curriculum in several Saint Louis Public Schools will be augmented with an extra measure of arts education this fall. SLPS is a partner in Interchange, a new initiative focused on strengthening the St. Louis community by integrating the arts into education. This project began when St. Louis was one of only eight sites selected in January to receive funding through the Ford Foundation’s Integrating Arts and Education Reform national initiative.

A collaboration of more than 30 St. Louis arts and cultural institutions, as well as business, education, and community organizations, convened by COCA, Interchange is dedicated to enhancing the academic achievement of SLPS students by providing an expanded, arts-integrated curriculum. It will incorporate programming from local arts and cultural resources into most academic subjects taught in kindergarten through 12th grade, not just those traditionally associated with the arts. Teaching artists from each of Interchange’s partners will be tasked with teaching the material and helping SLPS teachers integrate arts programming into lessons.

Interchange will begin in January 2007 with a pilot program in 6 to 8 schools. In August 2007, the program will be expanded to a second cluster and, eventually, there are plans to expand the program to cover the entire SLPS system.

“One of the key principles in the SLPS strategic plan is to foster community collaboration,” said Creg Williams, superintendent, St. Louis Public Schools. “Not only do we welcome Interchange, we are committed to working with it as a partner to ensure that this initiative achieves its primary goal — increasing student achievement.”

Through Interchange, Williams noted, not only students will gain greater access to the community’s cultural resources, but also their families and teachers.

Students will have the opportunity to participate in a variety of programs, across all disciplines, including the Metro Theater Company’s Science Moves program, through which students will make processes like photosynthesis come to life, or the COCA Urban Arts program. The principals and classroom teachers at each school will be responsible for choosing the programs that best meet the needs of their students.

To measure the impact of the program and help align its goals with those of SLPS, Interchange plans to implement a series of detailed academic indicators and measurement tools with assistance from the Ford Foundation