K-5 Fine Arts Initiative

Research shows that students engaged in the arts are more motivated to learn, learn more easily and do better in school. Sustained involvement in particular art forms – such as music and theatre – is highly correlated with success in mathematics and reading. Students who learn the rigors of planning and production in the fine arts will be valuable employees in the idea driven workplace of the future. In partnership with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the K-5 Fine Arts Initiative works to integrate arts into the core curriculum of five elementary schools in four Houston area school districts.

The arts develop valuable higher order and creative thinking skills, such as visual memory, ability to compare and contrast, group and label, explain cause and effect, assess science, make predictions, and frame and test hypotheses. The arts improve many students' self-confidence, attitude towards school and, as a result, student attendance improves.

During our first five years of work, Houston A+ Challenge developed a fine-arts integrated curriculum in math and science model at an urban, high minority population elementary school. Student achievement at the school, Bethune Academy in the Acres Home community in the Aldine Independent School District, soared and the achievement gap narrowed as Bethune implemented its fine arts integrated model. From 1994 to 2002, students moved from 44.9% to 90.2% on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills. African American students' test scores rose by almost 60%. Bethune is a feeder school for Drew Academy and Carver High School. In 1994, African-American students' scores were 22.2%. They jumped to 98.1%, a gain of 75.9% in 2002.

Now, Houston A+ Challenge supports four area elementary schools as they are working to implement this model: Aldine Elementary (Aldine ISD), Neff Elementary (Houston ISD), Pine Forest Elementary (Humble ISD) and Pine Shadows Elementary (Spring Branch ISD).