Big Thought Overview
Mission: To make imagination a part of everyday learning
Vision: We envision communities where every learner is immersed everyday in opportunities to imagine, create and succeed.
Big Thought Manages:
•Creative Solutions
•Young Audiences
•Library Live!
•SLANT 45
•ArtsPartners
•Thriving Minds
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Big Thought Overview
Thriving Minds
Thriving Minds is a public/private partnership which coordinates and leverages resources from cultural, educational, youth development and social service organizations in support of student achievement and family engagement.
•Convenes 100+ partners•Provides professional development•Engages parents and caregivers•Raises funds•Coordinates research•Publishes best practices•Consults•Supports enrichment programming
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HistoryArts Education removed from classrooms systemically
Young Audiences begins to bring back access to the arts
City invests in study of arts equality, shows great inequity in arts experiences
ArtsPartners provides systemic, widespread arts ed through investment of partners
Big Thought publishes research demonstrating how the partnership is helping academics
Wallace Foundation gives grant to grow work of ArtsPartners, early Ford work – turns into Thriving Minds
Arts become priority for city, school district, 100+ partners during school day + in the communities
Texas Education Agency funds Thriving Minds OST programs
Big Thought and partners work in campuses throughout Dallas in renowned education collaboration
1970’s
1987
1997
1998
2003
2005
2006
2006-2007
2008
2011
Ford Foundation funds grant exploring the engagement of family/community in the arts
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1997—Dallas, We Have a Problem
The Problem
• No agency overseeing services
• Some kids received multiple services
• 75% received little to none
• No way to measure impact
The Solution, As We Saw It
• What if we focused on changing the environment, instead of individual programs?
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Initial Concerns
City of Dallas • Possible funding monopoly• Overstepping boundaries
Dallas ISD • Additional stress on teachers• Little or no academic impact
Arts & Cultural Providers • Cannibalized funding• Homogenized programming• Decrease in artistic quality
Big Thought • Destabilization• Financial drain• Overshadow BT identity
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Strategies to Address Concerns
Conversations with:• Fine Arts Specialists
• General Classroom Teachers
• Cultural Providers
• Individual Artists
• Principals
• Parents
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Influencers Implementers Educators
School Board
Superintendent
City Council
City Manager
Funders
Corporations
Community Boards
Arts Commissioners
Parents
Dallas ISD
Dallas Office of
Cultural Affairs
Park & Recreation
Library System
Churches
Parents
Park and Rec Staff
Fine Arts Specialists
General Classroom
Teachers
Librarians
Childcare Workers
Church staff
Trained Volunteers
Parents
Partnering On All Levels
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• Determine where partner agendas overlap
• Agree on a common language
• Discuss individual partner expectations
• Identify strategies to address concerns
• Articulate desired outcomes
Align Agendas
Influencers Implementers Educators
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Major Ideas:
• Plan/vision from a place of abundance
• Avoid unnecessary bureaucracy – cut red tape
• Build on – never duplicate - capacity in the system
• Acknowledge enabling constraints
• Address barriers and deal breakers
• Bless and release
Principles of Partnership
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It’s the relationship between high quality creative learning
experiences which build capacities in our children and
communitiesOut of School Integrated
In School
Children
Creative Learning Environments
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Shared Civic Outcomes
Livable and Productive City
Successful Students, Strong Families, Vibrant
CommunitiesIncreased
Creative Capital
An Excellent System
An Equitable System
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Shared Civic Outcomes
Everyone has an End Game. What is this Community’s?•Vitality of the arts – audience building, sustenance of cultural community
•Arts for arts sake – ensuring students have access to arts experiences for their inherent benefits
•Arts for personal development – building self-esteem, empathy, etc.
•Arts for academic development – improving test scores, decreasing drop-out rates, etc.
•Arts for community’s sake – ensuring that the arts are “in the water” of communities, making all of the above a part of a child’s life
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Pathways to Success
Sequential Learning over time in multiple neighborhoods
=Increased chance of success
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Pathways to Success
Dallas Neighborhood -- 2007
High School
Middle School
Elementary School
Dance Music Theater Visual Art
Dallas Neighborhood -- 2009
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Pathways Plus
High School
Middle School
Elementary School
Wellness
Academic and College Readiness
Developmental Assets
Dance Music Theater Visual Art
Dallas Neighborhood -- 2009 Dallas Neighborhood -- 2012
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Building Blocks of Our Work
Elementary and Middle School programs share the following elements of success:
Project-Based
Integrated Curriculum
Career-Focused
Maximizing Resources
Community Participation
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Thriving Minds Artists
Big Thought employs approximately 850 community artists who work in the Thriving Minds system.
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The Adults in The Room
• Share the Vision
• Explain importance of supporting academic development
• Offer professional development
• Engage in dialogue
• Provide feedback mechanisms (surveys, interviews, etc.)
• Offer opportunities to showcase their work
Instructors
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Outcomes
Students: 96% of Thriving Minds after-school students promoted to next grade
81% of students in Thriving Minds summer camps were promoted to the next grade
Thriving Minds students show increased proficiency in reading, writing and positive classroom behaviors
Teachers: 91% report improved behavior and homework completion for Thriving Minds students
83% now show support for arts-integrated teaching after Thriving Minds summer camps
253 classroom observations showed increased instructor proficiency after professional development
TAKS: 70% improved or maintained proficiency26
Student Success
• Grade 3 Reading: 18.7%
• Grade 3 Math: 23.3%
• Grade 4 Reading: 8.2%
• Grade 4 Math: 7.3%
• Grade 5 Reading: 17.2%
• Grade 5 Math: 14.6%
2010 TM Summer Camp students grades 3-5 improved their TAKS passing rates by 7-23%.
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“If I was a ners, I would be feeling happy because I get to hwod the babby. And I like this child.”
First Grader’s Classroom Writing Before One-hour Museum Visit
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First Grader’s Classroom Writing After One-hour Museum Visit
“Being playful makees me feel like going to the park. You can see the way I look. Being happy makees me feel like I am made up of all differn kind
of colros on the inside.”29
African-American & Latino students participating in AP outperformed their peers on TAKS reading….
and their strong performance continued in 7th grade, without AP
AP Study 2005 ReportTexas’ Annual Test of Reading Skills
ArtsPartners in Grades 4-6 No ArtsPartners in Grade 7
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Quality: Integration
Investment in Quality Behaviors
Active Learning Behaviors
Experiments in Learning Behaviors
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The Funding Braid
Private PublicAppropriate for building infrastructure
Appropriate for long-term, ongoing needs
Allows for innovation Involves strict compliance
Funds quality needs; professional development, additional resources, etc.
Generally funds most basic needs
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