Our Model
P.S. ARTS’ programs follow a model where student success is viewed as the product of excellence in designing curriculum and delivering instruction, fostering a healthy and productive learning environment, and engaging student’s support community.
CURRICULUM & PEDAGOGY EXCELLENCE
P.S. ARTS’ curriculum, instruction, and program implementation reflect current education policy, standards, and best practices.
P.S. ARTS faculty will:
- Maintain a high degree of knowledge and professionalism in their arts discipline and teaching practice
- Deliver a program that supports students’ artistic and academic growth
- Deliver a program that is inclusive, responsive, and relevant to students and the broader community
As part of the P.S. ARTS Professional Learning Community program, we appoint, as appropriate, a Discipline Specialist or Master Trainer in music, theater, visual arts, dance and/or the IOCA Extended Learning program. The role of the Discipline Specialist/Master Trainer is to help develop and review all P.S. ARTS curricula and provide initial and ongoing coaching to novice and veteran Teaching Artists/Artist Leaders.
P.S. ARTS faculty participate in a pre-service orientation intensive and a rigorous ongoing training series. Full-time P.S. ARTS faculty are required to attend a minimum of 20 hours of professional training and development per year. In addition to reviewing the P.S. ARTS model framework, scope and sequence, and approach to curriculum development and documentation annually, P.S. ARTS faculty participate in select training modules related to arts education theory and practice.
P.S. ARTS offers professional development workshops for classroom teachers on a range of arts education related subjects, including arts integrated curriculum design and STEAM. For more information about our professional development services for classroom teachers and a menu of offerings and fees, please email info@psarts.org.
P.S. ARTS faculty work alongside credentialed teachers in classrooms to co-develop and/or model integrated arts learning into academic curricula and support implementation of the State Common Core Standards. For more information about our model residencies for classroom teachers and a menu of offerings and fees, please email info@psarts.org.
Community Engagement
P.S. ARTS’ programs increase community and intergenerational engagement in students’ lives and education.
P.S. ARTS staff & faculty will:
- Increase intergenerational interaction and family involvement in schools
- Support preservation and celebration of community arts and cultural traditions
- Contribute to fostering a communal sense of civic leadership and accountability
- Increase support for the arts at the family, school, and/or district level/s
P.S. ARTS coordinates with school principals and parent groups to provide family arts education and community outreach services. P.S. ARTS hosts Family Art Nights in an effort to engage family members across generations with each other, schools, and the arts. These events feature free, hands-on family themed arts projects lead by P.S. ARTS faculty.
An integral component of the TakePART Initiative facilitated by P.S. ARTS, the free, family-friendly TakePART Arts Festival is an annual event for participating communities to come together and celebrate the arts and their students’ achievements. The half-day event includes hands-on art activities, a student art exhibition, and dozens of dance, music, and theater performances by youth of all ages. In recent years, approximately 2,500 people have attended the TakePART festival, including students, family members, district leaders, and public officials.
P.S. ARTS programs culminate with an informance, an informal showing designed to reduce performance pressure, give observers a window into students’ experience in arts classes, and highlight the learning that is taking place by narrating classroom activities, or a more fully-produced performance (that takes place in a professional venue, when possible).
P.S. ARTS creates P.S. ARTS To Go! projects (available in both English and Spanish) that encourage families to engage in art-making together and can be completed with basic supplies commonly found in the home. Explore our P.S. ARTS To Go! projects here.
Healthy & Productive Learning Environment
P.S. ARTS’ programs contribute to a healthy learning environment that is inclusive, creative, and aspirational.
P.S. ARTS staff and faculty will:
- Contribute to a positive and collaborative school climate
- Contribute to an aspirational school environment
- Foster students’ academic and career goals
We have the freedom to imagine.
We have the power to create.
We are P.S. ARTISTS!
In 2013, P.S. ARTS, in partnership with LAUSD and the Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, launched inclusive arts programs at Grand View Blvd. and Walgrove Elementary Schools. Since then, P.S. ARTS has been providing weekly in-school arts classes to all students at participating schools, including students with moderate to severe special needs, in an inclusive classroom environment.
P.S. ARTS believes that campus aesthetics contribute to a positive school climate. P.S. ARTS faculty lead community mural projects to engage the entire school community in the creative process and cultivate greater investment in the learning environment. Check out our latest community mural project at Warren Lane Elementary School!
We’re always looking for professional artists to speak to a P.S. ARTS classroom as part of our Guest Artist series, which provides an opportunity for our students to hear from creative professionals and reinforces the idea that the arts can provide career pathways. Interested? Send us a message!
Student Success
P.S. ARTS programs advance students’ knowledge, skills, and character traits linked to success in the arts, school, and life.
P.S. ARTS students will:
- Increase engagement in learning and school
- Develop as proactive learners
- Acquire grade-level appropriate arts knowledge and skills
- Develope creative, critical thinking and social-emotional competencies that are associated with success in school, career, and life
P.S. ARTS is the only organization in Southern and Central California that provides weekly arts instruction to every child in a partner school for the entire school year. P.S. ARTS provides two models of its Classroom Studio program:
Arts Intensive
30 weeks of in-school instruction in a single fine arts discipline
Arts Rotation
10 to 15-week in-school instructional rotations covering multiple fine arts disciplines
In 2014, P.S. ARTS acquired the award-winning after-school arts organization Inside Out Community Arts to further expand our scope of service. Learn more about our inaugural extended learning program here.
Each year, P.S. ARTS faculty customize their curricular content to reflect a unifying program theme, as well as their individual interests, talents, and artistic expertise. All curriculum content, regardless of theme or specific activities, follows a knowledge and skills scope and sequence that aligns with state and national arts education standards.
P.S. ARTS engages outside evaluators as appropriate to provide non-biased quantitative program evaluation. Most recently, in June 2014, renowned arts researcher Dr. James Catterall completed a two-year study on the impact of P.S. ARTS programs on students’ development of “creative thinking, behavior, and motivation in the arts, sciences, writing, and social problem-solving.” The study included 300 4th and 5th grade students participating in the P.S. ARTS rotational Classroom Studio program.
Findings show participation in P.S. ARTS programs is associated with significant gains in students’ ability to:
- Express complex ideas accurately and clearly
- Solve problems creatively
- Collaborate and empathize with others
- Take initiative to produce innovative ideas, designs, and products