Arts Empower


Approximately 210 students in first grade through fourth grade comprise the Arts Empower Small Learning Community, which guides our students through a team approach to learning. Teachers, literacy interns, classroom assistants, and parent volunteers provide opportunities for academic, social-emotional, and intellectual student growth. This community focuses on the humanities for learning through concrete, project-based experiences with cultural institutions, business partners, colleges/universities, and artists (Pennsylvania Ballet, Foundation for Architecture, Little Souls Dolls, Moore College of Art and Design, Tyler School of Fine Arts, and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine). Our focus is on student performance which is demonstrated through an interdisciplinary approach, including problem solving, citizenship, communication, multicultural competence, technology, and school-to-career readiness. The PROPEL Learning Strategy is the foundation for this community's instructional program.

Inherent in PROPEL is the belief that individuals are constructors of knowledge and domain projects provide opportunities for open-ended solutions to problems. The belief that students should be given problems that share features with those that professional artists find compelling is a guiding principle of PROPEL. Through portfolios, students reflect and assess their work which fosters student achievement and self-directed learning. An annual exhibition of students' work that is an outgrowth of agency partnerships and representative of the standards presents an opportunity for students and staff to reflect on their collective goals.


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