Publications
Creative Teaching in the Classroom: A Case Study Using the Hot Seating Strategy in English Language Arts
In this report, we give a comprehensive description of how an AISD 2nd-grade teacher, Mrs. Theresa Wood, integrated a drama-based Creative Teaching strategy into her guided reading lesson. This Creative Teaching strategy, called hot seating, involves students interviewing characters from the story they have read. This case study will provide a vivid understanding of why teachers choose hot seating to amplify their instructional goals in English language arts lessons, how a teacher facilitates the strategy in the classroom, and how it can be extended and modified to fit different needs.
Creative Learning in Adverse Times
This paper describes the work done to advance CLI goals despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among many successes resulting from CLI’s resourcefulness and adaptability was an increase in secondary arts enrollment for students in special groups (e.g., special education, economically disadvantaged, and emergent bilingual). In addition, CLI’s novel Season of Arts Experiences provided 28 schools who would not have otherwise participated access to 27 unique arts partners, contributing to over 107 total arts partnerships in the 2020-2021 school year.
2017-2018 ACE Afterschool Program Climate Highlights
More students feel safe in their afterschool programs than feel safe during the school day, according to 2017-2018 climate surveys. In addition, in afterschool, many desirable climate factors increased from the 2016–2017 school year to the 2017–2018 school year, while they decreased in the school-day environment.
Creative Learning Initiative: Implementation Summary, 2018-2019
The Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) is a community-wide effort to bring creative learning and the arts to each and every student in Austin. Lead by MINDPOP, the City of Austin, and Austin Independent School District (AISD), CLI designs systematic and sustainable programs that integrate creativity, creative teaching strategies, and the arts with classroom teaching, campus programming, and campus improvement. Overall, CLI implementation in 2018–2019 was comparable to prior years and continues to have a positive impact on students. This report summarizes the CLI implementation activities.
Creative Learning Initiative 2016–2017 Annual Report
Report of program evaluation activities for the 2016-2017 school year.
Afterschool Centers on Education Foundation Communities Cycle 9 Final Report, 2019-2020
The Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) is the program administered through the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grants. The ACE Foundation Communities’ Cycle 9 program provides intentional afterschool program experiences that are high quality, challenging, and inspiring. Across activities and centers, the afterschool program focuses on three primary objectives: decrease school-day absences, decrease discipline referrals, and increase academic achievement. This report examines outcomes for participants.
Afterschool Centers on Education Austin Independent School District Cycle 10 Final Report 2019-2020
The Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) is the program administered through the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grants. The ACE Austin Cycle 10 program provides intentional afterschool program experiences that are high quality, challenging, and inspiring. Across activities and centers, the afterschool program focuses on three primary objectives: decrease school-day absences, decrease discipline referrals, and increase academic achievement. This report examines outcomes for participants.
Afterschool Centers on Education Austin Independent School District Cycle 9 Final Report 2019-2020
The Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) is the program administered through the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grants. The ACE Austin Cycle 9 program provides intentional afterschool program experiences that are high quality, challenging, and inspiring. Across activities and centers, the afterschool program focuses on three primary objectives: decrease school-day absences, decrease discipline referrals, and increase academic achievement. This report examines outcomes for participants.
Afterschool Centers on Education Boys and Girls Clubs of the Austin Area Cycle 10 Final Report, 2019-2020
The Afterschool Centers on Education (ACE) is the program administered through the Texas Education Agency (TEA) for the federally funded 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) grants. The ACE BGCAA Cycle 10 program provides intentional afterschool program experiences that are high quality, challenging, and inspiring. Across activities and centers, the afterschool program focuses on three primary objectives: decrease school-day absences, decrease discipline referrals, and increase academic achievement. This report examines outcomes for participants.
Sequential Fine Arts in 2017-2018
AISD promotes access to sustained learning for all students in music, visual art, drama, and dance. This report discusses the relationship between sequential fine arts participation and student outcomes for the school year 2017–2018 and how the relationships differ between based on student characteristics (i.e. race, ethnicity, special education status and limited English speaking status). To view the interactive report, click on the link below, then use the green drop down menu in the upper left corner to select “Secondary Visual and Performing Arts Participation (2017-2020).”