Arkansas A+ Serves Arkansas, Shares Tools With Teachers to Promote Student Interaction, Success

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Landmark Elementary School teachers participate in the Arkansas A+ summer institute.

Arkansas A+ is a school transformation organization that views the arts as fundamental to teaching and learning.

A+ operates in the College of Education and Health Professions and supports schools across Arkansas. Over the summer, the team was incredibly productive, working with 161 teachers and 53 school districts through workshops and whole-school summer institutes.

A+ Workshop Growth

A+ fellows provide ongoing professional development that focuses on collaborative, research-based practices. They come from various backgrounds, including education and visual or performing arts. This summer, fellows had the opportunity to connect with educators across the state and introduce them to the A+ Essentials and proven strategies they could immediately use in their classrooms.

The fellows visited nine different education service cooperatives to provide professional development workshops for teachers. Each workshop focused on integrating the arts into a school's curriculum to promote student engagement and help make learning fun for both students and teachers.

Sarah Hively, a K-12 art teacher in the Nemo Vista School District, said she loved the relatability of the A+ professional development content. "Oftentimes, you go to these and don't take away anything," she said. "I learned so much today."

Ideas and strategies from these workshops have the potential to impact over 14,800 students across Arkansas by equipping teachers with practical tools to enhance student participation and achievement.

Katie Books, a kindergarten teacher at Parkers Chapel Elementary School in El Dorado, said the workshop she attended was fun and well-planned. "I walked away with tangible concepts and items to use in my classroom," she said. "I also walked away with lots of new ideas."

A+ created a video showcasing its summer programs.

A+ School Growth

A+ truly shines through "Whole-School Transformation," a process that reshapes an entire school through the A+ model over a three-year period. Over the summer, the organization worked with three new "whole schools."

Landmark Elementary School, in the Pulaski County Special School District, is located about 20 minutes from downtown Little Rock. The school started its first A+ summer institute in July with several goals in mind. Student achievement and school climate were high priorities as they set out to engage and nurture their kindergarten through fifth grade student population. Another significant goal was to improve teacher collaboration and culture. The school's summer institute began on July 15 and included five full days of team building and A+ strategy. Landmark's principal, Neely Claassen, said she learned the power of intentional engagement and how to use it with staff and students. "The [summer institute] went by so quickly since it was so engaging!" she said.

A+ Program Director Allie Mitchell said the team is excited about helping Landmark meet its goals. "We look forward to the continued collaboration with Landmark as they grow in A+ this school year," she said.

Guy-Perkins School District committed to A+ across its entire K-12 district this summer. It's currently the only Arkansas district integrating A+ across all grade levels. Co-principal Susan McKinney said, "An A+ school, to me, is truly seeing each kid in their possibilities and in their best way of learning. It's about making sure that everybody has every opportunity to grow and become everything they want to be."

She added, "The more places in our brain that we can connect to information, the better chance we'll have of retrieving that information at some point — be that art, be that music, be that movement. Whatever it's going to take. The more connections we have, the better we are."

As part of its three-year transformation process, the elementary school met in early August for a second summer A+ institute. Mitchell recalled that during the school's first year, the group consistently demonstrated how well they collaborate and support one another. "It has been such a pleasure to see them grow even stronger as a team during this year's institute," she said.

Guy-Perkins High School participated in its first summer institute in early August. Alyssa Wilson, Arkansas A+ executive director, noted, "It was an absolute joy to watch this group of educators experience visual art and movement and find ways to integrate these art forms into their classes. We cannot wait to visit Guy-Perkins this fall and spring as A+ continues to grow and thrive throughout their schools."

Mitchell said the values of the College of Education and Health Professions contribute to the design and development of A+ programs so the organization can best serve Arkansans. "The work of Arkansas A+ is based on the Eight A+ Essentials, one of which is experiential learning — a critical part of the college and its WE CARE values to develop and enhance meaningful and transformative educational experiences for students," she said. "We're excited about the recent programming expansions as we continue to strive to unite the arts with academics across Arkansas."

For more information about collaborating with A+ or the program's whole-school arts integration program for Arkansas schools, contact Wilson at alyssaw@uark.edu.