The Arts and Learning Collaborative (ALC) Model supports public elementary schools’ efforts to build an instructional focus on learning in and through the arts to improve student literacy, engagement in learning, and academic and personal achievement. The ALC model serves schools by addressing and integrating with district Whole School Improvement Plans, arts and non-arts curriculum, specific school-based priorities, and state/national arts education standards.  

The model is a unique partnership among public and private institutions including Boston Public Schools, Lesley University, independent high schools with strong arts programs and commitments to public service, the Performance Evaluation Research Group, and NALC.

The ALC program has two complementary parts:

• The Arts and Literacy Mentorship Program for elementary school students during which they create art alongside arts-talented teens from partnering arts rich high schools with guidance from faculty coordinators from each school; and

• The Creative Arts in Learning Professional Development Program to guide educators in using the arts as teaching tools through arts-based workshops, artist-in-residencies to model teaching in classrooms, curriculum development, and coaching to help teachers implement arts integrated curriculum of their own design with students.

The Arts and Literacy Mentorship program benefits students from partnering schools expanding and enriching their world views. Elementary students are exposed to arts learning opportunities they would not receive otherwise, while high school students learn how to translate their knowledge to build children’s skills and confidence in the creation of art. Elementary schools have used the program to serve a range of purposes, e.g., supporting learning in the classroom, after school enrichment, developing student leadership skills.  Several partnering high schools have created Arts and Community courses that enable their students to plan school visits and consider their role as arts mentors over long periods of time. Many high schools use the program to provide thoughtful, long-term community service opportunities for their students.

The program began in 2000 as a partnership between the Marshall Elementary School and Walnut Hill School, an independent high school for the arts and academics. Sumner Elementary School launched programming in fall 2003 in partnership with Brimmer and May School. The Mather Elementary School program began in fall 2004 in partnership with the Cambridge School of Weston.

Evaluation findings of NALC's Arts and Literacy Mentorship progarm demonstrate that as a result of the program students have enhanced:

    • cognitive skills as they experience art processes, are exposed to art content skills and techniques, and work in a collaborative environment that requires problem-solving, brainstorming, and communicating ideas;

    • social skills as they develop teamwork and communication skills; and

    • perception of themselves as learners as they articulate a new belief in their ability to address challenges and be successful.

The Creative Arts in Learning Professional Development program provides educators with strategies to deepen student learning by integrating the arts across the curriculum. Lesley University faculty offer arts-based workshops, artist-in-residencies to model teaching in classrooms, curriculum development training, and coaching to help teachers implement their arts integrated curriculum with students. Teachers are trained to use the arts to teach across multiple intelligences, to support the education of English Language Learners and bilingual students, and to bring students’ lives into the curriculum. Student comprehension and literacy skills improve as teachers use the arts to enhance curriculum, to address school priorities and whole school improvement plans, and to connect with arts and non-arts standards.

External evaluators have found that these training opportunities have successfully aligned with school-based initiatives and educational priorities. Teachers have learned new educational strategies, taken on leadership roles, and increased expectations of their students. Students’ arts skills and language arts skills (written and oral communication) have been enhanced as they experience learning that integrates the arts with other academic subjects. Recent funding for this work has been provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.