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San Diego Unified School District
URL: http://www.sandi.net/vapa

SDAN Contact: Karen Childress-Evans
Title: Director, VAPA Department
Mailing Address: 825 Santa Barbara Place, San Diego, CA 92109
Phone: (858) 539-5349
e-mail: kchildressevans@sandi.net

2008-09 Program Highlights

Teaching Artists Project for all four disciplines – 9-week professional development model training all classroom teachers K-5 in standards-based lessons
Online standards-based arts lessons in K-5 Visual Art, Dance, and Theater. Music K-5 coming in 2009
Grade-level lesson training K-5 for multi-subject teachers to support and sustain the teaching of the online lessons. Available to districts outside SDUSD for fee.
School site arts plans district-wide
100% of elementary schools provide instruction in instrumental music
Keys to Achievement programs in over 15 elementary schools
Elementary schools are participating in Music Memory in partnership with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra
Recipients of The MET: Live in HD program that provides high school students free tickets to four New York Metropolitan Operas at local movie venues
Supporting eleven K-8 transition schools
Supporting 7 arts magnet schools
Increased theatre and dance programs at elementary
Increased instrumental music staffing and programs (band and strings)
Development of standards-based report card guide for VAPA
Increased student participation in district Music Honor Concerts
Theatre Honor Performance debuts spring 2009
Art Exhibition increased student participation and quality of work
Increased attendance at VAPA monthly specialist meetings/in-service
Continued data collection: enrollment, articulation, professional development
Increased student and teacher participation in the Grade-Level Arts Experience Project (Grades 2,3,4,6,7,8)
All classroom teachers grades K-2 at 15 elementary schools to receive professional development to improve teaching capacity in the VAPA lessons through CPEC – Improving Teacher Quality grant.

Strategic Plan

Each district school site is expected to submit a comprehensive long-range strategic arts plan to the VAPA office as a prerequisite for access to the State Arts Block Grant funding.
Plans will outline the current arts instruction and opportunities at the site, a needs assessment and a prioritized list of immediate expenditures. Expenditures are pre-approved by VAPA for accountability purposes and must support a sustainable program, alignment to the standards, and support building teaching capacity for quality arts instruction.
Individual arts plans drive the district VAPA strategic arts plan, which is reviewed and updated annually to support quality arts instruction in dance, music, theatre, and visual art to all district students K-12 taught by highly qualified teachers.

Other Information

Core Learnings: The California VAPA Standards in a user-friendly format; descriptions and explanations about what the VAPA standards look like in the classroom.
Elementary VAPA Road Shows: 1 ½-hour interactive in-service for classroom teachers that introduces teachers to the VAPA resource teachers, VAPA Standards, and basic elements of the four art disciplines: dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
Elementary VAPA Lessons: There are 36 VAPA arts lessons per grade level K-4, nine in each arts discipline, that are available at www.sandi.net/depts/vapa. These lessons are for classroom teachers with little or no background or experience in the arts who wish to provide quality arts instruction to their students. Grade 5 will be available soon.
Lesson Trainings: 3-hour workshops to support teachers in providing quality arts instruction using the VAPA lessons, available to county teachers as well.
Teaching Artists: VAPA provides to every elementary school one block of in-class teacher training in one of the four arts disciplines. Each block trains five teachers, once a week for 12 weeks. Once the training is completed, the classroom teachers will be able to effectively teach the VAPA lessons to their students with minimal assistance.
Elementary Key Concepts and Skills: Highlights key VAPA standards at each grade level and provides a small number of examples that show what students are expected to know and be able to do after a year of arts instruction.
Curriculum Maps: Guide the teaching and learning process by determining: 1) the threads that represent ongoing learning opportunities across the four VAPA disciplines throughout all units of inquiry during the entire school year, 2) the essential learnings that represent bigger ideas/concepts in creating and responding to the arts, 3) the essential questions that learners ask themselves in order to achieve the essential learnings in creating and responding to the arts, and 4) the units of study that lead to the essential learnings.
The California Arts Project Training: For classroom teachers who want to strengthen their knowledge and skills in the arts. Thirty classroom teachers attended Pathways to Understanding the Arts Disciplines training to develop skills, instructional strategies, and a working understanding of VAPA standards and implementation in the classroom.
Artists-in-Residence: VAPA locates and trains local artists to provide quality arts instruction at various sites around the district as needed.
Keys to Achievement Program : An innovative program for grades K-2, the core of which is a custom developed interactive, self-paced software system, including 20 mini-piano keyboards. A computer lab of at least 20 computers is necessary to support this program. For further information go to www.keystoachievement.org.
Honor Concerts and Performances: Provided opportunities include band, orchestra, and choral, for proficient and advanced music students to learn and perform challenging repertoire rehearsed and directed by noted conductors, and to experience a high-level performance with peers.
Festivals: Provide opportunities for students to process and analyze their performance, be adjudicated by lead educators, experience other student performances, and derive meaning from a comprehensive arts experience.
District Student Art Exhibition: An annual show at the Eugene Brucker Education Center celebrating over 1,000 student artists from across the district grades K-12.
Grade Level Arts Experience (GLAE) Project: Is a four-prong instructional model with the intent to provide every SDUSD student (K-8) a variety of FREE grade-level-appropriate, meaningful arts experiences, reflective of the VAPA standards and presented by trained, professional artists and trained classroom teachers.

The four prongs include:
1) A teacher training component,
2) Classroom student arts instruction and preparation for the experience,
3) A visit to an authentic arts venue, and
4) A return to the classroom where students participate in reflection, making connections, applying what they have learned to other content areas, and helping them to derive meaning from and effectively respond to the total arts experience.

Partnerships include:

Classics for Kids (grade 2)
Timken Museum of Art (grade 3)
San Diego Symphony (grade 4)
Balboa Park OCILE Program (grade 5)
San Diego Opera (grade 7)
International House of Blues Foundation (grade 8)