Training Classroom Teachers to Teach the Arts Merits and Challenges

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1 Training Classroom Teachers to Teach the Arts Merits and Challenges Dr. Deborah Gonzalez, Assistant Superintendent, K-12 Services, Puget Sound Educational Service District Susy Watts, Arts Education, Pacific Lutheran University; Arts Impact, Director for Curriculum and Assessments The arts have been recognized as a core component of education in the United States through such national efforts as Goals 2000 and most recently through a federal mandate to secure a comprehensive education for all children, No Child Left Behind. Even with the stated importance of the arts in these federal initiatives, arts education varies from state to state in terms of curricula, quality and frequency of instruction, and use of assessment. This variance in experience extends at the elementary level to differences in the instruction as delivered by a certified arts educator versus a general education K-5 classroom teacher. When classroom teachers are expected to be the primary arts instructors, it is often the case that their pre-service training may be limited to either a minimal-credit experiential all arts overview, or a minimal-credit course in only one arts discipline, or no training at all in arts teaching methods. Recognizing the importance of the arts for every child, Arts Impact has sought to ensure teachers understand core concepts of visual art, dance, and theater art. Since 1999, Arts Impact has trained over 200 Kindergarten through fifth grade classroom teachers to teach dance, theater and visual arts. The project empowers classroom teachers with the competence and confidence to teach foundational arts skills and concepts to all students, including those at-risk educationally and to those most in need economically. Arts Impact is specifically aligned with Washington State arts standards and classroom performance-based assessments that are centered on clear expectations and criteria relevant to learning and to students. To date, this project was recognized by a 2002 three-year United States Department of Education (DOE) Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination grant (AEMDD) and is listed as a success story by the Department. Arts Impact has been awarded grants by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) consecutively from , as well as a variety of foundations and other funders 1. Arts Impact is a top-rated grantee of the Washington State Arts Commission. With six years into the project and three two-year training cycles complete, Arts Impact is able to show it has sustained over time and grown in its capacity and quality. At this time, an additional 84 teachers are currently enrolled and over 100 teachers are on the waiting list to participate. Based on research gathered examining various components of the project, Arts Impact is able to show classroom teachers are teaching arts lessons steeped in arts foundational vocabulary and processes and students are demonstrating arts understandings at high rates. Filling a Niche In 1993 the State of Washington adopted rigorous state standards in arts education to prepare students for the future. The arts were named as a core classroom discipline, not just one of the arts, but all of the arts: dance, music, theater, and visual art. Each of these arts disciplines are outlined by state standards, the Essential Academic Learning Requirements, and were accompanied by specific grade-level frameworks in State-created classroom performance-based 1 Other funders of this intensive teacher-training model include The Forest Foundation, U.S. Bank, Washington Mutual, Pierce County Arts Commission, Florence Kilworth Foundation, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. In addition, participating schools have written grants to help underwrite the cost of their participation in the project. 1

2 assessments were piloted in all four artistic disciplines at the 5 th, 8 th, and 10 th grade levels in These assessments are voluntary in 2006 and become mandatory in Most Washington schools do not have arts specialists at the elementary level (Kindergarten through fifth grade) other than music teachers. For this reason a theory and system of change in arts education was imperative and remains so. Arts Impact, while initially designed for only one county, has already grown to serve teachers in three counties and continues to build its capacity to train teachers to teach the arts. Teachers are defining the need. Finding Project Models Arts Impact (originally named Pierce County Arts Education Partnership PCAEP) began with a research study to identify those key features that were shared by successful teacher training projects across the United States. Projects such as CAPE (Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education) and the ESP (Empire State Project in New York State) rose to the top of the study-stack because they shared vital attributes and had sustained for seven years or more in their communities. The researched projects shared a belief system in arts education that included 1) teachers and students must share arts foundational understandings that include concepts and skills; 2) embedded performance-based assessments are inherent to teaching and learning; 3) sustaining projects depend upon sustaining budgets, 4) teaching growth is determined by training conducted over time; and 5) use of community assets, specifically cultural organizations, magnifies potential for teacher growth. Those attributes became the armature upon which the Arts Impact model would be shaped, along with key features added based on the assets of the local region and recent arts education pedagogy. Seeking a Research Base Arts Impact credits research as the foundational underpinning of the organization. Examples of research-based project design include placing artists as mentors to classroom teachers and the ongoing use of performance-based assessments to inform instruction. Mentorships. A key hallmark of the original program design, mentorship, was based on leading educational thinking in the areas of teaching and cognitive training. In the 1997 article Teachers Perception of Mentoring in a Collaborative Model of Initial Teacher Training (Journal of Education for Teaching 23(3):253-61), Jones, Reid and Bevins reflect on the construct of the good mentor for teacher education: Mentoring was seen as most effective when it incorporated such practical helps as, for example, providing guidance, observing the students teaching and classroom management, providing feedback, enabling understanding for example by....demonstrating equipment, modeling good teaching and classroom management....providing encouragement. From the beginning, Arts Impact has delivered instruction, guidance, modeling, coaching, and an on-going, familiar safety-net through the mentorship of established artists who form the core of the organizations instructional force. The project calls these instructional facilitators artistmentors. Performance-based Assessments. A second trademark of the program, performance-based assessments, stems from the consideration that performance-based assessments 2

3 are simply an intrinsic teaching practice. Richard J. Stiggins states the two most important qualitycontrol equations in performance-based learning are (1) knowing what is to be assessed and 2) knowing how to assess it. 2 Arts Impact includes considerable time for performance-based assessment training at the earliest stages of planning and training and as on-going advisement through individual lesson-writing feedback and workshops. McTighe and Wiggins state, In effective assessments, we see a match between the type of format of the assessment and the achievement target it intends to measures. 3 Defining Project Components and Key Features The following key features have defined the Arts Impact teacher-training project since its inception nearly seven years ago and constitute over 92 hours of professional development for teachers enrolled in the training: Arts Impact is a two-year training program providing the following components in each of two years: 1) A one-week summer Institute provides 30 hours of intensive, hands-on instruction in basic concepts and skills in dance, theater and visual art. Highly trained artist-mentors model a variety of teaching methods. Each artistmentor has ten-plus years experience teaching children and teachers. Teachers participate as students and analyze artsclassroom management, delivery, and criteriabased reflection processes. Sessions on performance-based assessment strategies, critical responses to art, and the artistic refinement process are also presented in-depth during the Summer Institutes. Arts Impact artist-mentors write the lessons then vet and field test the lessons with other artist mentors from the same discipline. The artist-mentors model lessons with clear learning targets and criteria, teaching strategies, use of cultural resources and embedded assessments. Teachers receive institute books with lessons ready for adaptation to the classroom. The second-year summer institute introduces additional concepts, and begins a focus on arts-infused learning (teaching concepts in the arts shared with other core classroom disciplines), and extended assessment strategies such as writing analytic rubrics and guiding peer-to-peer criteria-based reflection practices. 2) A 9-hour mentorship pairs each teacher one-on-one with an artist-mentor to begin their practice in a specific art discipline a) teaching the arts in a classroom setting, b) writing an arts lesson, and c) assessing students at formative and summative points in the lesson. Over the course of five to six visits, the artist-mentor models, observes, and continually coaches. The artist-mentor works with the teacher to develop their own lesson plan on a project template that organizes key elements of a high-quality lesson plan: an enduring understanding, paired learning targets and criteria, specific cultural resources that support the ideas in the lesson, vocabulary, specific assessment strategies, connections to state standards and a communiqué to the family to acquaint them with the concepts being studied by their child. The artist-mentor comments 2 Stiggins, R.J. (1997). Student-Centered Classroom Assessment. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 3 McTighe, J., and Wiggins, G. (1999). The Understand by Design Handbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 3

4 specifically on approaches to classroom management and teaching strategies. The artistmentor and teacher assess student learning independently and then compare their student scores and make adjustments to the lesson. The mentorship is a key feature of the Arts Impact project, and provides a support system for successful teaching practice and accountability for teacher performance. New instrumentation was developed for gauging teacher growth in the classroom. The Autonomy Rubric for Teachers is an instrument developed two years ago and since refined by teachers, artist-mentors and curriculum and assessments staff. The instrument applies a four-point analytic rubric to teacher growth. Each strand of the rubric features a different facet of planning, teaching and assessing in the arts teaching process. Examples of analytic strands to track teaching growth include writing teaching prompts, pacing the art lesson, leading conceptualization for original artistic responses, embedding assessments, leading reflective practice in the classroom, and applying edits to a lesson plan. The second-year 9-hour mentorship pairs teachers with an artist-mentor from a different artistic discipline. 3) Collegial review with an assessment liaison provides an opportunity for teachers to submit their lesson plans for feedback. Assessment liaisons review the alignment of the lesson targets and criteria with the lesson strategies that facilitate those goals and the teacher s chosen assessment strategies. This is also an opportunity for one more independent check of the viability of the targets and criteria. This process ensures consistent, program-wide standards for classroom-based assessments. Collegial review of lesson writing continues the second year of the project. 4) Study trips to local cultural organizations (Tacoma Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, Broadway Center for the Performing Arts, Seattle Children s Theater, University of Washington World Dance Series, and Pacific Northwest Ballet) provides students first-hand opportunities to identify and discuss the artistic concepts and skills they are studying as used by exemplary arts professionals. Study trips promote students and teachers use of partner organizations resources in specific and purposeful ways. Students practice reflective and critical response to art and use vocabulary and ideas directly related to their classroom study. 5) Workshops are offered throughout the school year for teachers (as many as workshops regionally located at school sites). Teachers attend at least two workshops. They focus on additional foundational arts concepts and skills, specific teaching strategies, and reestablish contact with familiar artist-mentors for on-going advisement. Asking Questions The Arts Impact project is based on a theory of action built from current research on developing teacher practices and behaviors. This theory postulates that to increase student learning, teachers must first have a confidence and willingness to teach the content, a firm grasp of content knowledge, and skills in the delivering the content to be able to recognize what students know and are able to do against set criteria. Figure 1.1 illustrates this theory of action. 4

5 Figure 1.1. Theory of Action The project therefore looks at developing or increasing confidence, knowledge and skills, and instructional practice in participating teachers. The project s ability to influence these areas is measured with different instruments for each area. The results are compared and analyzed to identify the challenges and promises of the project in changing teacher practice to increase student learning in the arts. Arts Impact seeks to understand which components of a teacher-training model most influence teacher learning and consequently student achievement in the arts. To this end, the project staff and teachers are constantly engaged in inquiry. The questions generated through this process help Arts Impact refine the sequence and scope of its teacher-training project by identifying the merits and reflecting on the challenges of training classroom teachers to teach the arts. The following questions continue to be explored. How can we expect classroom teachers to teach what they did not learn themselves as students in their own K-5 education? Is it possible to effectively teach what you did not learn as a child? Can classroom teachers be expected to teach dance, theater and visual art when they did not learn foundational concepts in the arts in their pre-service teacher education? Should classroom teachers attempt to do the work of arts professionals? Are classroom teachers able to transfer their new artistic understandings well enough for students to then demonstrate knowledge and skills in the arts? What teacher training model traits affect change in teachers and in schools? How will arts teaching sustain or grow under the strict demands of classrooms structured for a perceived inflexible focus on literacy and mathematics? Three instruments are used to gather data on all aspects of the project s tenets of changing teacher practice: 1) performance-based assessments measuring teacher growth in arts concepts and skills using targets and criteria vetted by multiple artists and then co-rated for inter-rater 5

6 reliability by teachers in self-assessment and artist-mentors as instructors; 2) a survey on teacher perception of knowledge and skills; and 3) the Autonomy Rubric for Teachers developed for the project as a multi-strand instrument to guide objective teacher self-assessment and artist-mentor evaluation of arts teaching growth. Each of these measurements helps provide a portrait of what we know and do not know about teaching the arts, changing teacher practice, and increasing student achievement. Examining Project Results The Arts Impact teacher-training program makes use of two core elements in its two-year cycle. The first of these elements is the week long Summer Institute followed by the mentorship. In addition to the two core elements, teachers take their students on a study trip each year to one of the partnering cultural facilities. Further program components provide additional support and learning for the teachers. Teacher Artistic Knowledge and Skills To gather evidence of teacher learning during the Summer Institutes, each artist-mentor rated the artwork and performances created by the teachers attending their dance, theater or visual arts workshops. These rating forms, or assessment worksheets, are customized for each lesson based on a set of learning criteria representing the foundational art concepts, skills and processes taught during a lesson. These learning criteria are vetted and field-tested by multiple artists. Teachers also independently complete the assessment worksheets to reflect on their own learning during the art lessons and to increase their comfort level in assessing student artwork based on specific criteria. These results are shown in Table 1.1 below. Table 1.1. Teacher Assessment Percentage Scores, by Art Form 2003 Of 84 teachers, 99% demonstrated use of dance concepts. Of 84 teachers, 96% demonstrated use of theater concepts. Of 84 teachers, 95% demonstrated use of visual art concepts Of 75 teachers, 99% demonstrated use of dance concepts. Of 75 teachers, 99% demonstrated use of theater concepts. Of 75 teachers, 96% demonstrated use of visual art concepts. Compiled by Dr. Lynn Waldorf, 2005 To further understand how the concepts taught during the Summer Institute are transferred to evidence of teacher learning, an analysis of the assessment worksheets completed by the artistmentors is compiled to show which visual art and performing arts concepts are demonstrated by the teachers. Artist-mentors rate teacher performances based on the criteria developed for each lesson. In both years most teachers demonstrate the concepts taught, but in the second year, more teachers demonstrate the concepts taught, with ninety-nine percent demonstrating the performing arts concepts. Teacher Confidence In addition to understanding whether or not teachers are mastering the arts concepts taught, the project seeks to understand whether teacher confidence is increased as a result of their participation. A central premise of the theory of action states that increased teacher confidence combined with increased knowledge and skills will transfer to improved student achievement. To measure growth in teacher confidence, a survey is administered at the beginning of the Arts Impact 6

7 project and again at the end of the project. This self-reported pre-post check is a key determinant used to chart growth in the teachers confidence in the arts. Figure 1.2. Comparison of Exit Survey Responses Art Teaching Proficiency Comparison Summer Institute Exit Survey Results Self-Rating of Arts Instruction Proficiencies Time Analysis of Exit Surveys 2003, 2004 & 2005 (%) Understands: Art foundations Concept-based planning Standards-aligned lessons Results-based instruction Basic arts vocabulary Art delivery strategies Performance assessment Locates new teaching strategies Uses AI teaching strategies Uses effective management skills Values AI training Experiences faculty support Helps advance school-wide arts Note: 2003 n=83; 2004 n=72; 2005 n=56. Basic arts vocabulary and Uses effective management skills were added to the instrument in Compiled by Dr. Lynn Waldorf Figure 1.2. illustrates the change in teacher confidence in understanding and being able to teach arts concepts. Two indicators of practice were added to the 2004 teacher institute exit survey in year two based on feedback from the teachers and the artist-mentors who work with the teachers. These are stated as understands basic arts vocabulary and uses effective management skills. While these are new additions to the survey, these practices are reported by the teachers to be areas they feel most proficient. After attending two Summer Institutes and participating in a 10-hour, on-the-job mentorship, teachers made significant progress in gaining skills, knowledge, and confidence. The results from the 2004 Institute exit survey, as shown in Figure 1.2., reveal teachers experienced substantial growth in both the practical and pedagogical aspects of arts instruction during the first year of training and during their second Institute. Over 70% of the teachers reported using new teaching strategies following the 2004 institute in comparison to just over 20% after the 2003 institute, an increase of more than fifty percent. By year 2005, nearly 100% of the teachers report valuing Arts Impact training and see themselves as advocates for school-wide arts. In 2003 less than 10% considered themselves school-wide arts advocates, however by 2005, 66% saw themselves as advocates. This further underlines the achievements gained through a long-term, job-embedded training model. 7

8 Teacher Instructional Practice Another key component of the Arts Impact teacher-training project is the mentorships described earlier. These mentorships include side-by-side coaching with a protocol designed to guide the coaching process. This protocol, known as the Autonomy Rubric for Teachers (A.R.T.), is designed to be a tool for facilitating continuous growth in planning, teaching, assessing and reflecting on arts instruction. Both the teacher and their artist-mentor use the A.R.T. independently and in side-byside comparison. In the second year of the training cycle, teachers participate in classroom mentorships. After a teacher develops an art lesson with guidance from the artist-mentor, the teacher teaches the lesson under the artist s supervision. They then independently assess the teaching process, compare assessments of the students artistic responses, and evaluate the success of instruction. Each teacher and artist-mentor compare their independent ratings as a basis for reflecting on the teachers growth. This becomes a tool for goal setting and continued growth as a professional. As figure 1.3. illustrates, use of the A.R.T. coupled with the mentoring and ongoing professional development improves teaching in the arts, but also improves teaching practice overall. The dashed line shows the break in teaching practices that were not observed to gather baseline data during the first lesson. The practices likely to be observed in the first year of training were those elements common to all effective instruction practices. However, these showed substantial gain as a result of one and then two years of artist-mentor coaching and support. Fig Percent of Teachers Scoring 3 or 4 on the ART Percent of Teachers Scoring 3 or 4 on the ART Manages classroom Uses warm-up Monitors timing and pacing Conscious of student cues Embeds assessment strategies States the big idea Identifies art concepts, processes Sequences learning activities end year 2 end year 1 baseline Writes learning prompts Selects assessment strategies References parent communique Prompts for creative responses Recalls and reflects Data compiled by Dr. Bruce Cunningham. The very strong gains made in one year and the subsequent gains in the second year of training indicate the teaching practices being used in the Arts Impact teacher training project are in fact transferring to observed changes in teacher behaviors. Such teacher behaviors as sequencing learning activities, writing learning prompts, and recalls and reflects will further enhance teacher practice in other subject areas as these habits of mind become routine for the teacher. The question remains then, do these changes in teacher confidence, teacher knowledge and skills, and teacher instructional practice improve student learning in the arts? 8

9 The learning assessments used in the classrooms help to answer this question. These assessments use pre-established criteria developed with the guidance of the artist-mentor, vetted by the assessment liaison, and then taught and analyzed by the teacher. Examples of student works are rated against the criteria and then samples are co-rated independently to insure a high degree of validity in applying the criteria to a performance or visual artwork. Figure 1.4. shows the transfer from the teacher knowledge and skills to student knowledge and skills appears to be present. The lessons taught may be based on arts concepts the teachers themselves engage in during the Summer Institute, but are constructed as original lessons to address specific arts learning targets. With the assistance of the artist-mentor, the teachers develop the lesson to meet identified student learning needs and plan for the delivery and assessment of student learning against the established criteria. Although the performance levels appear at a slightly lower rate than for teachers, this is not unexpected. The continuous work of the teacher to develop her craft and skill in teaching the arts will likely improve her ability to teach the arts concepts well with repeated teaching instances. In the second year of the program, teachers choose a different arts discipline for their focus of study and their focus of instruction. This is a significant factor to consider because while student learning appears to be greater in year two of the program, the skill in instruction of new concepts is transferring across arts disciplines with different cohort groups of students. It is also important to note that in the second year of the project, teachers often choose to introduce concepts that have a higher degree of difficulty and require a greater depth of knowledge than the concepts they select in the first year. This would seem to indicate that as teacher knowledge and skills increase, their confidence and ability to teach the concept to others improves proportionally. Fig Student Performance on Classroom-Based Performance Assessments in the Arts Student Performance on Classroom Based Performance Assessments in the Arts in Arts Impact Classrooms Visual Arts Classroombased Assessments 04 86% Visual Arts Classroombased Assessments 03 86% Performing Arts Classroombased Assessments 04 93% Performing Arts Classroombased Assessments 03 91% Data compiled by Dr. Deborah Gonzalez These various measures together begin to tell a story of the impact of teacher training on increasing teacher confidence, knowledge and skills, and instructional practice, and ultimately how 9

10 these changes in instructional practices influence student achievement and participation in the arts. Each instrument independently measures a different component of the project to understand how this impact occurs. Arts Impact staff see this as an initial understanding of how the theory of action plays out in actual practice. Continued research and dialogue with peers will continue to refine the model and add to the research base in the field. Inviting Counsel and Advisement Arts Impact has sought to continually improve the program since its inception. The project continues to seek out research grants that will give objective feedback to administrative and instructional staff. Understanding each of the components of this project helps to illustrate the complexity of the program, but also invites opportunities for questions and advisement. Learning Assessments. Staff uses learning assessments to gather feedback on the effectiveness of lessons for teachers and students. The assessments show all partners in the project, from administrative and instructional staff to classroom teaching staff, where learning is strongest and weakest, and adjustments or changes are then made to lessons, as well as the general depth and breadth of content. In an effort to be responsive to teacher need in varying teaching contexts, Arts Impact has historically reduced the amount of content it provides for teachers to assure teachers can master arts concepts, skills, and techniques. This conscious choice to delve deeper into foundational, arts standards rather than covering a broad spectrum of arts understandings with less depth is a hallmark of the program, and one we believe demonstrates to our participating staff that the program really is defined and modeled to meet the teachers needs. Evaluation. Feedback on the program from teacher participants, artist-mentors, cultural partners, principals, and school district administrators is purposefully sought, and program changes are added each year in response to these reports from key stakeholders. Surveys, focus groups, and staff retreats gather input then quickly put it to use. Examples of changes made in response to feedback include modifying the lesson-plan format, restructuring the use of mentorship time, and amplifying the ways cultural organizations support the project. Peer Review. The project regularly presents at conferences, but simultaneously seeks and informs itself from the counsel of peers. The project staff are informed by the collegial network of the Arts Education Partnership and fellow Department of Education grantees and colleagues conducting parallel work in teacher training across the nation. Identifying Key Features Of The Project As Arts Impact staff evaluates the effectiveness of programming, they consider the following as potentially sustainable and transportable key features of the project. The following list is not presented as a hierarchy, but rather as overall project dynamics. Project personnel support: Project development team to include a project manager, curriculum and assessments director, development officer, administrative assistant, and liaisons from cultural organizations and school districts; Staff with extensive experience in arts curriculum, arts assessments, and arts project management; Experienced artist-mentors; Experienced assessment liaisons with expertise in classroom performance-based assessments; Advisement from overall project director on assessments, evaluation, and cognitive coaching; Cultural educators and directors as active program partners; Artist-mentor in-service and professional development; 10

11 Artist-mentor/staff workshops, planning and evaluation meetings, yearly planning and evaluation retreats; Expertise in grant-writing; Archival record-keeping and file management. Professional development traits: Hands-on teacher institutes; Focus on arts knowledge and skills with subsequent study in arts-infused learning; Modeled and analyzed instruction by artist-mentors; Documented arts lessons in a common format; Instruction in performance-based arts assessments; Teacher-to-teacher opportunities for study and sharing; National and state education standards alignment; Arts instruction in lesson writing, assessment development, making cultural connections, arts criticism, and classroom management; Co-rating and scoring of assessments between teacher, artist-mentor and assessment liaison; Documentation of crucial lesson prompts; Fostering advocacy with and for teachers in their schools to create a school climate for arts instruction; Specific contracted roles for and meetings with principals in support of the project and their teachers; In-service credit for clock hours or college credit. Resource support: Compiled teacher Summer Institute and school-year lesson plan hand book; Transparencies of cultural objects available for classroom study; Quality art materials for summer institutes; On-going workshops for sustaining graduate teachers in arts teaching; Project marketing tools for prospective schools and teachers videos, website, and brochures; Centralized mentorship schedule coordination. Overall financial support: Outright and blended funding; Reduced study-trip entry fees; In-kind support from cultural organizations and school districts; Organizational and personnel support from education service district; In-kind school district instructional support from arts supervisors and curricula personnel. The project components and the key features have been identified to help Arts Impact staff understand how the work can be sustained through reduced funding to arts education and through increasing demands for programs which focus narrowly on literacy and mathematics. Recognizing the features that are essential to the projects and teachers success helps keep the operating budgets to a minimum, and ensures a laser sharp focus on the arts teaching practices that are evidencing the greatest gains in student achievement. The project s staff continually analyzes the key features to create that balance between a sustainable operating budget and the assurance that teachers knowledge and skills are at a level that ensures increased student achievement in the arts. Arts-Infused Classrooms The Arts Impact project has also, for the last three years, focused on a student learning project in concept-based education: Arts-Infused Summer School. Beginning in the spring of 2003, Arts Impact teacher graduates worked with Arts Impact staff and artist-mentors to design an arts-infused summer school for at-risk learners. Some of the research results of this DOE and NEA-sponsored 11

12 project can be found in a complementary document, Arts-Infused Learning: Artistic Pathways for At-Risk Learners, also available through the 2006 World Conference on Arts Education background papers. The research investigates the cognitive transfer by students from artistic concepts to shared reading, writing and math concept mastery helping students find new ways of showing knowledge and skills. Pragmatic discussions in the paper include a review of the collaborative processes used by a collective of arts-trained classroom teachers, teaching artists, and curricula specialists to create valid arts-infused curricula and develop dynamic teaching strategies in multiple disciplines. Reflecting Back and Looking to the Future Arts Impact is currently in its seventh year and fourth cycle of teacher training. As the project steps forward it relies on reflecting back on its past work. While the basic components and key features of the Arts Impact project have sustained over the course of time, much has been learned. Classroom teachers can learn to teach the arts. Starting with basic arts foundations and skills, and building on seasoned teachers understandings of classroom management and the development of the child, teachers turn new understandings in the arts into practiced teaching. The Arts Impact staff continues to refine professional development content and delivery, to teach content with more depth. It strives to balance modeled mentorship practice in summer institutes and classrooms employing an instructional model that encourages teachers to give it a try in an environment that provides safety and gentle guidance with a mentor immediately at hand. Classroom performance-based assessments are seminal to the project. Teachers leave with the competence and confidence to objectively assess student learning against set criteria. They are mentored to construct readily observable targets and criteria aligned with state frameworks in education that are shared up front with students and parents. This transparency supports individual evaluation of progress as well as external evaluation of progress. Arts Impact staff are currently expending efforts to increase the teachers use of cultural organizations in the community by increasing the accessibility to images and performances. Our findings might suggest that sustaining teaching practice across the arts disciplines increased, yet supporting the teachers in their use of cultural resources is an area where more specific training could reap continued rewards. Arts Impact invites and seeks continued discussion of these findings, the theory of action, and the project features. The continued dialogue and the ongoing inquiry help assure the project will continue to grow and sustain to reach a greater number of teachers and ultimately to provide high quality arts instruction for all children. 12