Teacher Training: Arts as Literacy Plus (TTAL+) was a U.S. Department of Education Professional Development for Arts Educators (PDAE) grant awarded for 2011-2014. The three-year project was a partnership with Seattle Public Schools in collaboration with local arts organizations. The project piloted the teacher leader professional learning model that was developed in the PDAE grant Teacher Training Arts As Literacy (TTAL) from 2008-2011. The goal of TTAL+ was for teacher leaders to assume a significant role in delivering professional learning to their building colleagues, reducing the role of the Artist Mentors to create a more cost effective and scalable model for a large urban school district to implement.
Outcomes
- Teachers demonstrated success in learning arts-infused literacy concepts, skills and processes
- Students demonstrated high rates of success on performance based assessments of arts and arts-infused concepts and skills
- STAR Protocol outcomes were somewhat lower than STAR outcomes on previous Arts Impact research projects
- Teacher leaders felt Artisit Mentors should remain as the primary instructor and mentor of arts-infused teaching
- Teacher leaders felt more comfortable providing ongoing support of arts-infused teaching to their building colleagues after the full Arts Impact was completed by all teachers
Project Goals
- Pilot the Arts Impact teacher leader professional learning model by creating capacity while monitoring and ensuring program fidelity
- Create a more efficient and less expensive model for scaling up arts integration across a large urban school district
Project Design
TTAL+ was implemented in the same schools as TTAL—Dearborn Park, Kimball, Northgate, and Roxhill. TTAL+ placed Teacher Leaders in the role of delivering portions of the Arts Impact mentoring activities normally provided by highly qualified Artist Mentors. Teacher Leaders received over 200 hours of training over the course of four years prior to taking on those responsibilities. Key differences between the TTAL+ model and the Arts Impact Core model were:
- Reduced summer institute from five days to four
- Reduced the amount of time Artist Mentors spent mentoring teachers during the teaching process
- Replaced one-on-one assessment and lesson writing mentorship activities with small group sessions
Quantitative and qualitative data was collected to evaluate the outcomes, effectiveness, and fidelity of the TTAL+ model compared to the Arts Impact model that fully utilizes Artist Mentors. Evaluation instruments included:
- Autonomy Rubric for Teachers (text version)
- Arts Knowledge Test (text version) for teachers, a multiple choice pre-post-post test of arts skills, concepts, and pedagogy – administered three times during the project (include link)
- Teacher journals (text version) tracking frequency of arts-infused teaching and teacher observations of student engagement during arts-infused lessons (include link)
- STAR Observation Protocol© assesses the presence of Powerful Teaching and Learning™ at the school level as evidenced by observation of students and teacher’s skills, knowledge, application, and relationships. For further information on the STAR Observation Protocol, go to www.bercgroup.com.
- Artist Mentor and Teacher Leader focus groups
- Spreadsheet tracking professional development hours completed by teachers
- Performance-based assessments (text version): Specific criteria-based performance assessments are included in each lesson and can be found in the Arts Impact lesson database
Professional Development Components
- Whole School training in the four TTAL+ schools led by Teacher Leaders and Artist Mentors
- Two years of professional development, 43 hours per year
- 3-day, 18-hour Summer Institute plus 1-day, 6-hour Winter Mini-Institute co-taught by Artist Mentors and Teacher Leaders
- 11-hour mentorship: combination of classroom, small group, and one-on-one time with Teacher Leader and/or Artist Mentor
- Professional Learning Communities: 6 hours per year
- Cultural Study Trip to museum exhibition, dance or theater performance
- Professional Learning Communities: 6 hours per year
Curriculum
Resources
- Two Curriculum Notebooks: arts-infused reading and arts-infused math lessons
- Artworks from local museums as references of concepts in each visual arts lesson
- Professional performances at partnering theaters and performing arts centers
- Museum tours customized to complement TTAL+ lessons
- Teacher-written lesson plans
- Web-based lesson plan database
Report
TTAL+ Summary Report: Teacher Training: Arts as Literacy Plus: Creating a Scalable Model of Arts-infused Professional Learning
(text version)
TTAL+ Full Research Report: Teacher Training: Arts as Literacy Plus final report (text version)
