More About Crossroads/CAT Community

Abstract

The "external" purpose of this learning community will be to provide expertise and assistance to the teaching artists of the Crossroads Project, particularly in the areas of (a) secondary level curriculum development (particularly science and math); (b) program documentation and evaluation; and (c) non-profit management. The "internal" purpose will be to provide members of the learning community with a laboratory for any number of possible teaching, learning and research goals appropriate to the mission of CAT.

Model Program Design

Throughout the 2006-07 school year, 4 Crossroads Master Teaching Artists (drummer Luther Gray, photographer Morris Jones, designer Rondell Crier and a TBA theater artist) will be in residence at Sci High assisting students to create and disseminate socially-conscious art. Using a hybrid "in-school/after school" approach, the program will enable students to have a positive, tangible impact upon their community through their creative talents.

During Fall 2006, 4 Crossroads Master Teaching Artists will be in residence for approximately 8 weeks, 3 days each week, from 1-5 p.m. Working with teachers and students during the school day (mainly in science and math classes), each Master Teaching Artist will also facilitate an after school group of 10-15 students. Each core group (Photo, Music, Design, Theater) will produce and disseminate original artworks in their discipline, and then come together for an interdisciplinary performance at the end of the Fall semester. Program impact will be measured at three levels: individual, school, and community.

Arts residency activities will bring together 3 things for students: (a) key science and math concepts from secondary level educational standards; (b) practical applications of these concepts in the post-Katrina rebuilding process; and (c) and the creation, production and dissemination of art works (exhibits, plays, parades, etc.) that demonstrate student learning and involve students in the actual rebuilding process. For example, students in an 11th Grade Math class could create and perform a series of songs based on their studies of levee failures on the Industrial Canal, and in the process "Translate and show the relationships among non-linear graphs, related tables of values, and algebraic symbolic representations (Algebra Standard-1-H)."

Model Program Methodology

Crossroads' methodology "CRAFT" outlines the five stages of the community-based art process: Contact, Research, Action, Feedback and Teaching. First, students learn how to advocate and mobilize for change through a series of collaborative arts projects; second, advanced students go on to help others do the same thing as interns in grassroots organizations around the city; and third, they graduate as "cultural warriors" upon completion of personal, school and community goals outlined in collaboration with adult mentors.

Model Program Outcomes

Over the next 5 years, the model program will result in a cadre of high school graduates pursuing employment and training in a wide range of areas, including as social change artists and educators; a portfolio of youth-produced art works that has had tangible impact upon the city; and a public high school that is a major center for youth activism in New Orleans, the region and beyond.

Model Program Evaluation

Ongoing, thorough and reliable evaluation of the Sci High program is central to the program's effectiveness and its legitimacy as a model for others. Over the next 5 years, Crossroads plans to publish a series of instructional publications, including key findings, case studies, process explanations, and administrative forms and procedures; based on documentation of the Sci High program. Marcia Lobman, Crossroads Project Evaluation Coordinator, will work closely with the Xavier learning community. Lobman has been leading educational program evaluations in the New Orleans area for more than two decades.

Significant program evaluation data exists that can be used as a baseline, including video documentation from Crossroads pilot arts residency March - May 2006; and an early series of Crossroads learning exchanges between New Orleans artists and teachers in 2003-04. For more detailed information on the draft program evaluation plan, see attached "Fall 2006 Evaluation Fact Sheet" from Crossroads Project.

Dissemination Plan

The adoption of Crossroads Project's first publication, Beginner's Guide to Community-Based Arts (Keith Knight and Mat Schwarzman, New Village Press, 2005) in universities, community organizations and schools across the country, has created the foundation for an expanding market of users to disseminate materials from Sci High.

Crossroads Project Website is the primary means for disseminating information about publications, curricula and learning exchanges. In addition, Crossroads Project team members and partners present at community-building conferences and consult on community-building projects when feasible.

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