The Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) is a city-wide collaboration between MINDPOP, the City of Austin, Austin Independent School District (AISD), and more than 100 art and cultural organizations dedicated to equitable access to creative learning and the arts for every student in Austin. The CLI model is grounded in research showing that arts…

This qualitative case study explored the use of Readers Theater through the experiences of emergent bilingual students in a first-grade bilingual classroom. Readers Theater is a strategy that has produced great results in helping the development of literacy in reading fluency, motivation, and comprehension. The research regarding the use of…

Schools and districts have long grappled with race- and disability-based exclusionary discipline inequities. Research on the topic has uncovered a variety of systems that maintain such disparities, including school policies and practices that exacerbate the problem. Researchers and practitioners have increasingly considered school context and…

The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto study was to determine if a difference exists in academic achievement between low-SES 11th-grade students enrolled or not enrolled in the performing arts of drama or music study at any time between ninth and 10th-grades in the Clark County School District of southern Nevada in the western United…

In this report, students were grouped into three distinct categories for analysis, based on patterns that emerged in arts participation during high school, which we named spartans, explorers, and deep divers. The patterns in arts participation represent not just the students, but also the opportunities and barriers they encountered. We found that…

In this brief report, students were grouped into three distinct categories for analysis, based on patterns that emerged in arts participation during high school, which we named spartans, explorers, and deep divers. The patterns in arts participation represent not just the students, but also the opportunities and barriers they encountered. We found…

The Creative Learning Initiative (CLI), a collective impact partnership among the Austin Independent School District (AISD), the city of Austin, and MINDPOP (an arts partnership dedicated to expanding creative learning in Austin and representing over 50 arts and cultural agencies), created arts-rich schools at a rate that exceeded the benchmark…

This report presents findings from the 2014-2015 school year, the second year of comprehensive data collection of the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). Data suggest participating in the CLI had a positive impact on both teachers and students, as well as on the district. Teachers reported positive…

The Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) is a community-wide effort to bring creative learning and the arts to each and every student in Austin. Lead by MINDPOP, the City of Austin, and Austin Independent School District (AISD), CLI designs systematic and sustainable programs that integrate creativity, creative teaching strategies, and the arts with…

The Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) is a community-wide effort to bring creative learning and the arts to each and every student in Austin. Lead by MINDPOP, the City of Austin, and Austin Independent School District (AISD), CLI designs systematic and sustainable programs that integrate creativity, creative teaching strategies, and the arts with…

National research shows that students attending arts-rich schools have higher levels of motivation and better academic and social success. This report, the first in a series of three on the Creative Learning Initiative, is used to track the progress of our district's investment in the whole child through the arts and creative teaching at each…

In this article, a teaching strategy which not only blends yesterday and today in a meaningful way but also powerfully integrates literacy and history will be examined. Firstly Readers' Theatre as a technique will be introduced. Secondly, the usage guidelines of Readers' Theatre will be presented. Finally the opinions of secondary school students…

These maps represent a selection of the 2013-2014 AISD Fine Arts Inventory survey results. The purpose of the maps is to illustrate the scope of fine arts representation in Austin Independent School District (AISD) schools.

In 2012, the Austin Independent School District reported that over 60 percent of its students identified as Hispanic. However, the number of theatrical offerings for children including Latino stories or Latino/a characters on Austin stages is staggeringly disproportionate to the number of Latino children living in the community. "Mariachi…

This report describes the implementation of arts-based instruction during in-school and out-of-school times. Specifically, it summarizes the results of four components of the inventory: (a) sequential fine arts instruction during school, (b) community arts experiences during school, (c) out-of-school time arts opportunities on campus, and (d)…