Program Description
Wolf Trap, an arts center near Washington, DC, provides arts education to schools nationwide. Wolf Trap created a model to provide mathematics instruction integrated with music, dance, theater, visual arts, and other arts to preschoolers and kindergartners. The program is implemented over a two-year period with “teaching artists” providing professional development and modeling to pre-K and kindergarten teachers, and providing them with lesson examples.
Program Outcomes
A two-year experiment in a large suburban district compared mathematics gains for children in classes that received the arts integration treatment to those in control classes. On the Early Mathematics Diagnostic Assessment, the Wolf Trap students scored higher than controls, with an effect size after two years of +0.21. This qualified Wolf Trap for the ESSA “Promising” category.
Staffing Requirements
Wolf Trap teaching artist through residency of 1-8 weeks to help teachers collaborate on goals, formal planning, classroom implementation, and assessment.
Professional Development/Training
1-day 3 hour workshops/trainings led by Wolf Trap’s teaching artists, held nationwide. Customizable multi-day training available.