Tailored Partnerships

Arts-Based Collaborative has created Professional Learning Program in Arts Integration in response to research that has shown that effective professional development must be ongoing, experiential, and engaging; contain focused and relevant content; and become job embedded to effectively impact teacher change. The basic program includes summer workshops and onsite mentoring throughout the academic year.

Arts-Based Collaborative staff act as facilitators and mentors for learning communities of educators who explore learning in, about, and through the arts. Educators examine arts integration pedagogy, investigate instructional and assessment practices across grade levels and subject areas, and devise site-based curriculum aligned with state and national educational standards.

The program recognizes that teachers bring varying levels of expertise to the table and invites them to work with their Arts-Based Collaborative mentor in an individualized way. However, the collaboration between teacher and Arts-Based Collaborative mentor branches out into the entire school. As teachers work through the program, Arts-Based Collaborative mentors facilitate many opportunities for teachers to partner and co-teach with their colleagues. As a result, teachers become more effective collaborators with their surrounding community.

A vital piece of this program is establishing an onsite Arts Leadership Team that consists of teachers, school administrators, and other community stakeholders. The Arts Leadership Team provides a forum in which all educators have a voice in the management and execution of the arts integration initiative. Maintaining ownership among stakeholders is critical for the program’s long-term success and sustainability.

Recent Professional Learning and Mentoring Programs

Sallie B. Howard School for the Arts & Education

Mt. Pleasant Middle School for the Visual and Performing Arts

Mentoring

Schools Where Arts-Based Collaborative Directors have served as Mentors