Integrating Arts and Academics

Over on the Priority Schools Campaign website (click here), teachers and education support professionals are invited to submit stories of school improvement from around the country. Jennifer Little in Somerset, NJ writes:

“Franklin High School, a Model School of Excellence for the Arts has struggled to bring those same results to the academics. However, we have made AYP for the past 3 years and have been building a program that integrates arts with academics to engage more students, diversify teaching styles and reach at risk students. Our critically acclaimed yearly docudrama brings social studies, civil studies, theatre, video and dance together in a moving, engaging and demanding piece of theatre for social change which inspires our students to reflect not just on history but on their role in their community both within the school and within the community. One student last year said, “We live in a fishbowl in a big ocean. We have to look outside and see what the rest of the world is doing. Get involved with others outside our lives.”