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PS 144: Col. Jeromus Remsen Elementray School, Forest Hills, Queens.

Welcome to Arts Powered Learning

Arts Powered Schools are schools in which the arts are an integral part of all students education—just as reading, math, and science are fundamental building blocks—and can improve and enliven traditional teaching and learning. Arts Powered Schools are also Arts Partnered Schools in which student and adult learning is enriched by partnerships with teaching artists, arts organizations, and the resources of entire communities.

Get Arts Powered at Your School
During more than a dozen years of revitalizing and supporting quality arts teaching and learning in New York City public schools, CAE has developed the concept of Arts Powered Schools as well as the tools and resources to help transform any school into a center of arts learning. 
 
Meet Three Arts Powered Schools—Your Guides Through the Modules

PS 144: Col Jeromus Remson Elementary School
PS 144With 700 students from pre-K–6th grade, the student population is 8 percent black, 16 percent Hispanic, 36 percent white, and 38 percent percent Asian. The school's focus is on integrating arts and technology by collaborating with cultural institutions. Test scores are above city averages. The school has participated in citywide ballroom dancing competitions and was featured in the film Mad Hot Ballroom.
Elementary School
Forest Hills, Queens		 IS 259: William McKinley Intermediate School
IS 259With 1,356 students from grades 6–8, IS 259 serves a traditional immigrant neighborhood with students primarily from China, Latin America, and the Middle East. It offers a strong integrated arts and science curriculum.
Middle School
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn

Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School
Fannie Lou Hamer FreedomWith 492 students from grades 9–12, the students are 32 percent black, 66 percent Hispanic, and 1 percent Asian. More than 90 percent enter below grade level, but the school's emphasis on intellectual development and political/society involvement has helped elevate the graduation rate 15 percentage points higher than the city average.
High School
South Bronx

CLICK THE MODULE BELOW that best fits your role or the interest and needs of your school
to find out how Arts Powered Schools are created and sustained through the contributions of 
 IS 259 hallway mural, "The Power of Myth."


Each module provides
• Tool and strategies to develop, implement, and sustain Arts Powered Learning
• Information about the benefits of and need for arts education
• Tips on how to advocate for the arts in your school

 Every child in every school deserves an arts education and an Arts Powered School. 

Arts Powered Results
If New York City continues to build on the work begun by The Center for Arts Education and its collaborators, then every public school could offer a baseline arts education guaranteed by New York state law, which has rigorous standards and regulations for arts learning in public schools.  The New York City Department of Education’s Blueprints for Teaching and Learning in the Arts provides a standards-based, rigorous approach for teaching music, dance, theater, film, and the visual arts.
 
What Arts Powered Results do you want to achieve?
Whether or not your school is in New York City, you can use CAE's Arts Powered Tools (see below) to assess the state of the arts in your school.  What are the regulations of your school system? How Arts Powered is your school now? 
 
  Staff Baseline Arts Survey
  Arts Education Partnership Readiness Quiz
  Prospective Arts Partner Questionnaire
  Learning Walk-Through for the Arts 
  Observation of Teacher–Teaching Artist-Led Session and Site Visit

A Quick History of Arts Powered Learning
Though it's a new term, the idea of Arts Powered Learning has a long and thoughtful history, particularly in urban schools. German philosopher Friedrich Froebel, who coined the term kindergarten, felt the arts were essential to early learning. Pioneering American social worker Jane Addams insisted that art and music be part of her famous settlement, Hull House. And renowned Italian educator Maria Montessori used colors, shapes, and patterns to spark learning in her revolutionary schools for Italy’s urban children.

 
Friedrich Froebel: "The plays of childhood are the germinal leaves of all later life.”        Jane Addams: "America's future will be determined by the home and the school. The child becomes largely what he is taught; hence we must watch what we teach, and how we live."        Maria Montessori "We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry."
~rollover for quote~

Proceed to Module 1 ►  ►  ►

Get Arts Powered with School Leadership