Charles Barrett Accepted to Participate in Kennedy Center Arts Education Program
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts accepted Charles Barrett Elementary School as an affiliate school in the Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program, starting with the 2012-13 school year. The school earned the honor by demonstrating commitment to integrating the arts across the curriculum through professional development.
"Over the last two years, your school's commitment to integrating the arts has been impressive, and we are thrilled to welcome you to CETA," Director of Teacher and School Programs Amy L. Duma wrote in a congratulatory letter to Charles Barrett Principal Seth Kennard. As a CETA school, Charles Barrett must commit to a multi-year collaboration, during which the principal and teams of teachers, including classroom teachers and arts specialists, will participate in ongoing professional learning.
"Our school adopted arts integration as our exemplary program two years ago. Since then, our staff has been completing coursework after school, weekends and over the summer with visiting artists and instructors from the Kennedy Center," Kennard said. "We made a commitment as a staff to all complete three or more courses on arts integration techniques individually each school year, and to integrate the skills learned into our classroom instruction. This year, we attended a four-class workshop as an entire staff in addition to the courses we took individually."
Staff from the Kennedy Center also led faculty workshops on arts integration foundations and toured Charles Barrett to observe the school's level of integration, Kennard said. The school has hosted three CETA courses, each of which featured 100 percent participation from instructional staff.
"While our staff's commitment to the CETA workshops and coursework has been strong, the actual instructional benefit we are seeing throughout our school is what makes us most proud," Kennard said. "Our staff has begun to speak the same language, giving our students a consistency between teachers and classes. Arts-integrated projects are becoming the norm for our units of study, and the high expectations we now have for students' participation and cooperation with one another during these projects has become universal."
As affiliate CETA school educators, Kennard and his faculty will have the opportunity to select a CETA course to be offered at Charles Barrett during the 2012-13 school year. Teachers will have access to demonstration teaching and coaching with Kennedy Center teaching artists.
"This is a wonderful opportunity for our students and staff," said ACPS Superintendent Morton Sherman. "We are grateful to the Kennedy Center for this honor."
For more information about Charles Barrett's arts integration programs, contact Kennard at 703-824-6960. John Adams Elementary School also is a member of the CETA program. For more information about that school's involvement, along with links for additional CETA information, visit http://www.acps.k12.va.us/adams/ceta/.