Results

Dr. James Catterall, Professor Emeritus of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Executive Director of the Centers for Research on Creativity (CRoC), led a research team to study three schools new to the LAA+ program. All three schools were high poverty and failing academically prior to joining LAA+.  Dr. Catterall's team followed the schools for two and a half years, administering surveys, conducting focus groups, and observed and participated in LAA+ professional development, and conducted over 50 classroom observations to assess the impact LAA+ training had on teachers' understanding of arts integration and their ability to utilize it as an instructional strategy.

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Insights included:

 

• The LAA+ model has proven to be effective in training teachers to be engaging arts integration practitioners.

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• Students in LAA+ schools are provided with numerous opportunities to grow as critical thinkers and artists on a regular basis.

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• Students had opportunities across the curriculum to think critically and creatively while collaborating with their peers.

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• Student engagement in arts integrated lessons was significantly high.

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• LAA+ teachers employed an interactive teaching approach more frequently than a lecture-based approach. This aligns with  several of the Eight A+ Essentials including multiple learning pathways, collaboration, and experimental learning.

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• Schools yielded tangible successes in school climate improvement, student engagement, and arts integration.

 

• Teachers who attended the LAA+ Summer Institute were significantly more likely to implement arts integrated lessons that were highly effective at deepening students' content knowledge through the arts.

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• Teachers actively shared arts integration strategies and supported one another as arts integration practitioners.

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• Parental involvement increased following each school's adoption of LAA+.