Building & Sustaining A Quality System Thriving Minds Building & Sustaining A Quality System Gigi Antoni, president/chief executive officer Jessica Malek, associate vice president Seattle, WA June, 2009 © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved. 1

A Common Vision & Working Strategy Our community believes that it’s the relationship between a variety of high quality creative learning experiences,  designed to build over time, that results in lasting benefits. Communications Research & Evaluation Technology Advocacy Before we started designing the Thriving Minds we held community conversations through the city. We listened to hundreds of parents, caregivers, educators and service providers to find out their ideas and thoughts on the kinds of arts learning activities our city needs. From those conversations came this vision of what a high quality creative education should look like. The common vision was to provide all Dallas children with equal access to high quality creative learning opportunities and to create & sustain a city-wide system that yields successful children, strong families & vibrant communities Thriving Minds realizes this vision by bringing creative arts learning experiences to Dallas children and their families in their neighborhoods and schools, during the school day and in out of school time. We’re doing this in part by: increasing the amount & quality of arts learning in Dallas ISD elementary schools better positioning arts as a teaching tool in science, math, social studies & language arts through arts integration creating networks that coordinate arts programming through schools and city agencies at neighborhood level Fundraising Curriculum & PD © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved.

Building A Shared Definition of Quality Need for a shared definition of quality Community conversation & contributions from influencers Principles of Learning (School District) National standards (Arts Community) Six dimensional tool developed Tool refined by artists & instructors © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved. 3

Quality of Teaching & Learning Six Dimensions Supports for Learning Climate that Supports Learning Engagement & Investment in Learning Dialogue & Sharing Rigorous & Creative Learning Skills, Techniques & Knowledge of the Art Form Creative Choices Expectation, Assessment & Recognition © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved. 4

Quality of Teaching & Learning Six Dimensions © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved. 5

Quality of Teaching & Learning Who measures quality? Quality Review Panel Community Artists Dallas ISD Fine Arts Teachers Researchers from Dallas ISD & area universities National Experts © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved. 6

Quality of Teaching & Learning Panel Review Process Objective: Collaboration of artists & fine arts teachers from multiple disciplines, settings & time frames. Three Day Quality Panel Agenda: Day 1 Learn 6Ds & documentation of evidence Calibrate scoring in teams & full panel Day 2 Observe notified & scheduled sites Day 3 Identify strengths & areas for investment Share recommendations & plan next steps Plan next 5 years of Thriving Minds Later today you’ll received observation sites that represent both in school and after school settings. Instructors and administrators for all these sites have been contacted and are prepared for you to attend. When the full panel is convened this afternoon we review these sites in detail, for now we need to prepare you to be a strong observer. First you need to understand the lens through which we want you to investigate quality teaching and learning. Dr. Dennie Palmer Wolf will share the community constructed rubric we will be using. © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved. 7

Quality of Teaching & Learning What are we learning? There is room for improvement across disciplines & settings. Highest rated dimensions: Climate that Supports Learning Engagement & Investment in Learning Lowest rated dimensions: Classroom Dialogue & Sharing Creative Choices When looked at by type of program: In school program quality exceeded after school Summer programs were not as strong as after school Community-based summer programs exceeded school-based, HOWEVER tuition-based programs drove this result © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved. 8

Overall Quality Citywide Quality of Teaching & Learning By Quadrant Overall Quality Citywide Citywide is everything and this average serves as a baseline. Everything averaged together is 50 the exact middle of a 100 point spread. Thus, everything is compared against this average and is either “above average” or “below average”. Very revealing Maybe label the citywide, citywide average? © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved.

Overall Quality Citywide Quality of Teaching & Learning By Discipline Overall Quality Citywide Wow -- Does this suggest that what is being offered in school without partners may be weaker? That the partnership can make a difference to quality? © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved.

Overall Quality Citywide Quality of Teaching & Learning By Setting Overall Quality Citywide © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved.

Overall Quality Citywide Quality of Teaching & Learning In School & After School Overall Quality Citywide Would title something like Dimensions of Quality in Arts Teaching and Learning in School and After School Interesting to note that while After School (Community) is has a lower overall quality than In School (see the preceding graph) After School (Community) exceed In School quality in Skills & Techniques and is comparable in the area of Creative Choices. Is BT the afterschool (school)? If so this is a real call to action © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved.

Overall Quality Citywide Quality of Teaching & Learning In School & Summer Overall Quality Citywide Important messages laid out below Are there bigger messages about partnerships for learning that could be raised in a final slide as part of what to think about? Again, Community-Based programming excels in Skills & Technique which indicates that it has something to share with In School. Likewise, In School has much to share with Community Providers who offer programming in a “school setting” whether it be after school or summer learning. Community providers can clearly offer high quality programs on their “home turf”, but need the school fine arts teachers’ and administrators’ support and expertise to fully maximize their potential in a school setting. © June, 2009 by Big Thought. All Rights Reserved.