Those who believe in the power of arts and humanities have long asserted that teaching approaches that incorporate music, dance, theatre and fine art help kids achieve academically through unique, hands-on engagement and by reinforcing concepts and information in exciting ways. But in Baltimore, we have had limited objective data to support this belief.
Research has proven that students lose ground academically when they are out of school for the summer. GBCA member Young Audiences just released findings from two studies about its summer arts academy, which provided five weeks of arts integrated literacy and math instruction to 800 City Schools Title I elementary school students. YA’s program cut student summer learning loss in literacy by nearly two-thirds, and for many children, not only did this program reverse summer learning loss in math, but it sent children back to school ahead in their math ability!
Summer learning loss is one of the main drivers of the achievement gap between those of wealth and those without it. Baltimore City now has a promising model of how to close this gap for our children, and it utilizes one of the greatest assets in our city: our artists.
Speaking of artists, GBCA is proud to announce the finalists for the 2017 Baker Artist Awards! Drum roll please….
2017 Baker Artist Award Finalists:
Literary: Maria Adelmann, Elizabeth Dickinson, Michael Doane, Kathy Flann
Music: Susan Alcorn, Lafayette Gilchrest, Lura Johnson, Meng Su
Film/Video: Theo Anthony, Matthew Porterfield, Lynn Tomlinson
Visual: David Brown, Ryan Hoover, Nancy Linden, David Marion, Christine Neill, David Page, Bill Schmidt, Leslie Shellow, Sylvie van Helden, Susan Waters-Eller, Marcia Wolfson Ray
Interdisciplinary: Sara Dittrich, Gigi McKendric, Bashi Rose, Jann Rosen-Queralt, Al Zaruba
Performance: Anna Fitzgerald, Ryan Johnson, Naoko Maeshiba, Lisi Stoessel
Keeping the arts and humanities in my heart,
Jeannie
