From Isolation to Integration: The Change Process in an Elementary School. The Teachers' Perspective

The Partnership Assessment Project (PAP) sponsored by The Partnership for Arts, Culture, and Education in Dallas (Texas) examined the effect of community arts and culture programming on achievement in language arts, particularly writing, among students in elementary urban schools. The project spanned four years and constituted a three-year pilot study that laid the groundwork for a one-year experimental research study. Teachers in the PAP showed high levels of commitment; four teachers participated for four years, two for the final two years. A qualitative study examined the attitudes and perceptions of these six teachers toward the project. Teachers demonstrated growth across time. The most commonly noted problems involved scheduling artists and programs into the school and bus scheduling. By the fourth year of the project most teachers were successfully integrating the community programs into the curriculum. The end of the project left teachers with changed attitudes and tools for new growth. Among the factors in change management the most crucial was the attitudes of the teachers toward the project. For such a study as this one to be successful three factors must be present: teachers' receptivity to change, a game plan that considers the complexity of change and the need for time. (Contains 17 references.) (JLS)