LBJ ECHS Family of Schools Joins Creative Learning Initiative

The LBJ family of schools has been selected to be the next vertical team to join the Creative Learning Initiative in 2016–17.

The Creative Learning Initiative provides professional development, community arts partnerships, dance and theatre specialists, and additional support to vertical teams to ensure that each and every student has access to arts learning and benefits from creative teaching. CLI is a community-wide effort between Austin ISD, the city of Austin, MINDPOP, local artists, businesses and philanthropic organizations.

The LBJ Vertical Team will join the Crockett and Eastside Memorial vertical teams in the Creative Learning Initiative. The McCallum and Travis vertical teams will have both entered the sustainability phase of implementation.

During the 2015–16 school year, more than 2,000 teachers and principals received trained in arts-based instructional strategies, and approximately 26,000 students were given the opportunity to experience creative learning and the arts in and out of school.

Reports provided by the AISD Department of Research and Evaluation have shown that:

  • Students were three times more likely to pass the state standardized reading and science tests (STAAR) when their teachers were more receptive to and more interested in the Creative Learning Initiative.
  • Students had better attendance when their teachers were more proficient in creative teaching, boasting a 96.19% attendance rate.
  • Schools with more community arts partners had greater student engagement than schools with fewer arts partners. The Creative Learning Initiative provided students with more creative learning opportunities during in- and out-of-school time through community arts partners.

Vertical team applications for implementation in 2017–18 will be available in the fall of 2016.

To schedule a presentation for your faculty, CAC or vertical team to learn more about the Creative Learning Initiative, please contact Yesenia Herrington at 512-414-4731 or at yesenia.herrington@austinisd.org.