Return to News Room

Houston A+ Challenge, formerly the Houston Annenberg Challenge, has awarded $1.25 million in grants to five elementary schools in four districts for a five-year initiative to integrate fine arts into the teaching of core subjects such as math, science and language arts.

• The schools, each of which will receive $50,000 a year for five years contingent on progress, are:
• Gregory-Lincoln Education Center (Houston Independent School District)
• Neff Elementary (Houston Independent School District)
• Pine Forest Elementary (Humble Independent School District)
• Pine Shadows Elementary (Spring Branch Independent School District)
• Aldine Elementary (Aldine Independent School District)

In addition, Houston A+ Challenge has partnered with The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to provide “Learning Through Art” as professional development for the five schools. LTA is a multidisciplinary resource curriculum for grades 1 through 6 that integrates works of art from the MFAH collection into a school’s curriculum for art, language arts, math, science, and social studies.

Research shows that students engaged in the arts are more motivated to learn, learn more easily, and do better in school. In addition, students in a quality fine arts education program acquire basic skills in kinesthetic, musical, spatial, and visual intelligence. According to the SCANS 2000 Report (The Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills), students who learn the rigors of planning and production in the fine arts will be valuable employees in the idea driven workplace of the future.

The schools were selected by a team of 12 outside reviewers with art and education backgrounds who reviewed and scored grant applications from 21 schools. Each school was required to put together a Leadership Team to apply for the grant. The team consists of:

• two teachers from at least two of the fine arts disciplines (drama, music, art, dance)
• at least one non-fine arts teacher
• school principal
• one other administrator
• an external arts partner

The team will lead the school as it works to meet the Guiding Principles of the initiative:

• restructuring to feature fine arts prominently in teaching and learning across the whole school both as distinct disciplines (such as music, theatre, visual arts, and dance) and as processes infused into other subject areas through an integrated arts curriculum. 
• making fine arts available to all students, regardless of educational placement, and tailored to students’ needs and interests.  While every student may not participate directly in all experiences offered during a single year, every student must, in some way, benefit from the presence of the fine arts in school.
• participating in staff development, such as Critical Friends Group training from Houston A+ Challenge, to broaden the capabilities of teachers, arts specialists and artists in such diverse roles as instructor, coach, mentor, and exemplar and enable teachers to develop team-teaching practices with other teachers, arts specialists, or teaching artists as a way to stimulate and sustain the fine arts education program.
• creating structural and/or organizational improvements to improve teaching and learning.  Elements of school change may include, but are by no means limited to:  revised assumptions about fine arts learning; flexible schedules that allow for immersion into learning; commitment of adequate space, time and staff; arts infusion based on interdisciplinary and/or thematic units; collaborations among teachers and artists; use of existing staff in new ways; use of non-arts funding for the arts; alternative strategies for assessing student learning; and increased parental involvement.

Each school will be evaluated for progress toward this arts-integrated model of teaching based on the Houston A+ Challenge Peer Review Accountability Process.

The schools also will apply the lessons learned and the best practices that emerged from creation of Bethune Academy, a Houston A+ Challenge Beacon school in Aldine ISD in the Acres Home community. Started seven years ago, Bethune Academy for Mathematics, Science and Fine Arts is nationally recognized as a highly successful magnet school for its accomplishments in innovative program design and academic achievement.

A summary of each school’s plan follows.

Houston A+ Challenge K-5 Fine Arts Initiative Summary

1. Gregory-Lincoln Education Center (Houston ISD)
   The goal of the partnership with Young Audiences of Houston and Gregory-Lincoln Education Center will be to develop strong academic links between the core subjects and the fine arts.  The project will be social studies/ literature-based. This year's focus will be on the foundations of the United States and the diversity of the American people with a special emphasis on Hispanic and African American cultures.  The objective of this partnership will be to restructure the way students are currently receiving instruction in the fine arts using an integrated approach thus making learning more meaningful.
2. Neff Elementary (Houston ISD)
   Neff will be working with the Houston Grand Opera toward the integration of fine arts into all areas of the curriculum, especially in Language Arts. The school will focus on fourth graders in the first year. Neff will be using music and visual arts to increase student engagement. Professional development for teachers will include Theory of Arts, history of Opera and performance interpretation.
3. Pine Forest (Humble ISD)
   Pine Forest is working with Young Audiences to integrate performing arts into math and science and to establish co-teaching relationships with these core content teachers. Pine Forest also is partnering with Kingwood Community College Fine Arts Department to bring college students to work in the school as part of the initiative.
4. Pine Shadows (Spring Branch ISD)
   Pine Shadows’ Project AIM (Arts Integration Model) will partner with Young Audiences to provide teacher professional development through programs, workshops, and artist residencies. Teachers will learn to create lessons that integrate fine arts into subjects such as math and science and that are relevant to students. Students will gain from experiential learning through various fine arts genres ranging from peer programs within Spring Branch I.S.D. (art museum, playhouses, etc.) to professional performances by Houston's cultural arts venues such as the ballet, symphony, opera, and various museums.
5. Aldine Elementary (Aldine ISD)
   Aldine Academy, in partnership with Cynthia Woods Core Program, The InterActive Theater and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will bring awareness and working knowledge of the major role arts infusion plays in the developmental success of the whole child in the academic arena. We will blend the arts, Primary Years International Baccalaureate program and Arts Partnership into a program that is forever moving, rigorous, engaging, and creative.