Benefits

From Dr. David Lewis, Superintendent of Muscogee County Schools:

“As a superintendent, I see many curricular enhancement programs and can recognize those that truly have merit; one that truly impacts the lives of children. The PAIR arts integration project is one such program.”

Combining the resources of local institutions will result in a deep impact in schools and their communities and provide an even richer relationship for the program to continue to grow.

Student enjoying arts integration in the classroom.

The PAIR Program measures efficacy in 3 ways:

  • Student Achievements

    This is measured in GA Milestone Assessment Scores (GMAS) and by focus groups of student writing.

  • Teacher Self Efficacy

    Measured by a self reflective scale based on twelve components of teaching and learning

  • Classroom/School Culture

    This is based on attendance, referrals, suspension, and teacher turnover data. *Only Measured when you are in a full school partnership.

A word from PAIR participants…

PAIR builds community in classrooms.

From a PAIR Teacher:

“My students who are more aggressive and always want to go first tend to share tasks and work together instead of being all about self.”

From a PAIR student:

“They help me ‘see’ the math that I can’t really do and when they help the other kids, that helps me too.”

The relationship of the art and the core content is symbiotic— they serve each other. The PAIR Program introduces a process by learning, not a product that will be created by a particular deadline.

Students during a creative lesson plan that uses arts integration in the classroom.

PAIR builds community in families and neighborhoods.

From a PAIR Teacher:

“My students are noticing that they have to be able to work with different types of people.”

Rehearsing artistic skills regularly will also help students apply those habits outside their classrooms in their family lives and neighborhoods.  Respect and empathy drive interactions, and students learn to think before judging someone else’s contribution. This is the foundation of neighborhood—that people are encouraged to work together, speak to each other and celebrate a common cause.

Teachers learning creative teaching strategies.

PAIR builds community in teachers.

From a PAIR Teacher:

“Learning takes a lot of teamwork! It allows my students to work collaboratively as much as possible. We are working as a team in learning!”

Teachers  develop stronger relationships with each other because they are struggling, creating and learning together. Building this partnership over time builds trust, respect, and risk taking between teacher and Specialist and teachers in the school, making teachers more willing to share their expertise with other teachers.

PAIR builds professional public/private community relationships.

From a PAIR administrator:

“I love how the PAIR staff is involved at our school. Bridging those community organizations provides real learning opportunities for our teachers and students.”

When people create together, they relate to each other and invest in their community, whether that is the classroom, their neighborhood, their professional peers or their city.