With its media highlights, celebrity artists and White House backing,
the Turnaround Arts Initiative has been showered with praise for
shining a light on the importance of arts in education. And for all the
glitz and glam, there are now some true measures of its success:
schools that are showing data that integrating the arts works.
To get a more in-depth look at the successes and challenges of the
effort, we interviewed** Sarah Dougherty from Des Moines Public
Schools in Iowa. Des Moines - and its very own Findley Elementary
School - was one of the pilot programs for the Turnaround Arts Initiative
and Sarah is currently serving as both the district’s Visual Arts
Coordinator and Turnaround Arts Program Director.
Tell us a little bit about the Turnaround Arts program and why
Findley Elementary was chosen to participate.
Turnaround Arts is a partnership among the President’s Committee on
the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) and private foundations and
organizations that uses the arts to help narrow the achievement gap,
increase student engagement, and improve culture and climate in the
country’s highest poverty schools. In 2011 PCAH published a landmark
report, Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future
through Creative Schools. It was the first federal report in more than a
decade to survey the challenges and opportunities in providing arts
education to our nation’s children. The findings of this report inspired
the development and design of Turnaround Arts.
In 2011 Findley Elementary was designated a Tier I Persistently
Lowest-Achieving School. As part of the “Transformation” improvement
model building administration was replaced and Findley was awarded
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Actor Forest Whitaker connecting with Findley students in the classroom.
Photo Credit: Des Moines Public Schools