INNOVATION ZONE
APPLICATION 2010-2011
Elk Elementary Center
3320 Pennsylvania Avenue
Charleston, WV 25302
Cathi Bradley, Principal
Kimberly Davis, Assistant Principal
Dr. Ron Duerring, Superintendent
Kanawha County Schools
What can be done to assist students who drop out of school for a multitude of reasons?
The numbers in a 1994 report of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) indicate
that 3.4 million persons between the ages of 16 and 24 dropped out of school before earning a
high school diploma. According to NCES, whites make up the largest percentage (52.9%) of all
dropouts (black, non-Hispanic, 15.6%; Hispanic, 29.3%). A higher percentage of minority
students drop out based on their total numbers, but students from minority groups do not make
up the largest numerical dropout group (“The Journal of At-Risk Issues”). Students in at-risk
situations often feel disconnected to school, have learning disabilities, social isolation, frequent
moves to different schools, deficient support systems, low basic skills, siblings who have
dropped out, repeated school tardiness , and excessive absenteeism. For the 2009-2010 school
year, Kanawha County’s graduation rate was 80.86% with 206 drop-outs, while our feeder area
(Herbert Hoover High School) was 80.2%. Elk Center has a 24 % special needs population and
a 56.5% low SES population. We scored low in Math, with 38.36% proficiency. In Elk Center’s
Five Year Strategic Plan we are addressing these subgroups. Arts Integration will benefit our
students and assist those who fall under the above stated categories, as well as our students as a
whole.
Elk Elementary Center believes prevention is better than cure. A comprehensive
program of encouraging learning, emotional literacy, and communication that begins in the preschool years is the most intelligent, holistic, and long-term approach to successful learning and
social competency. EEC’s goal is to enhance an outstanding academic program with an
interdisciplinary arts curriculum, wellness and healthy lifestyle approach, and environmental
awareness to develop the whole child of the 21st Century. The spirit of our school is to be
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sympathetic and respectful to children’s individuality by addressing different ways of learning,
the rights of expression, and need for interactive learning for the emotional and social needs.
Central to the spirit of our school is the satisfaction teachers derive from knowing that they made
a difference to reluctant students’ lives.
Our vision is to tap into the talents and abilities of each child and provide rigorous
content that challenges all students to develop higher level thinking skills. By providing multiple
pathways of instruction through creative uses of our unique facilities, we will reclaim the natural
curiosity of learning. With Kanawha County Schools’ increasing dropout rate, the local board of
education has mandated an identification program of high risk students at the elementary,
middle, and high school levels. To meet this challenge, our aim is to utilize our facilities to the
fullest by expanding, enriching, and incorporating a variety of educational opportunities.
Through engagement with the arts- visual, music, dance, and drama-, incorporating a healthy
lifestyle, and increasing environmental awareness, young people can better begin lifelong
journeys of developing their capabilities and contributing to the world around them.
How do the arts change the learning experience? The arts teach young people how to learn by
giving them the first step: the desire to learn. Research findings indicate that learning in and
through the arts can help “level the playing field” for disadvantaged youngsters. Student
achievement improved when provided authentic learning experiences that engage students’
minds, hearts, and bodies. Engagement in the arts nurtures the development of cognitive, social,
and personal competencies. The learning experiences become real and meaningful for them.
The arts provide learning opportunities for the adults in the lives of young people, and allow
them to gain an understanding that learning in any field is a never-ending process. School is
changing, and it’s changing for all the right reasons. It’s called “Global21: Students deserve it.
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The world demands it.” The world of adult work has changed, and the art learning experiences
show remarkable consistency with the evolving workplace. Harvard education professor,
Howard Gardner, predicts that the most useful talents in the future will include creativity and
awareness and appreciation of differences. In our culture, students with talent in the linguistic
and logical-mathematical intelligences usually do well in school. Students with poor verbal or
logical mathematical skills often experience school difficulty, even if they are highly talented in
one or more of the other basic intelligences. By acknowledging the wide variety of distinct
intelligences, every child has a chance to shine in some areas of their lives. The Chinese
proverb, “I hear, I forget; I see, I remember; I do, I understand” expresses the need for our
teachers to understand and recognize their students’ learning styles. The staff and students
completed surveys to identify their specific learning styles and further understand the Multiple
Intelligences. See Appendix.
Health, wellness, and nutrition-a formula for Student Success and a lifelong healthy
lifestyle. Movement is essential to memory, emotion, language and learning. The so called
“higher brain functions” evolved from movement and depend on it (Ratey, 2002, p.148).
Physical activity has a positive influence on concentration, memory, academic performance
(including grade point average, scores on standardized tests and grades in specific courses) and
classroom behavior (Strong, etal,2005). In this era of overweight, obesity, and sedentary
lifestyles it is easy to forget that we were born to move. The human capacity to think, plan, and
learn is rooted in the parts of the brain that govern movement. The brain responds like muscles
do, growing with use and shriveling with inactivity. The areas of the brain that control physical
movement also coordinate the flow of information (Ratey, 2008, p.151). The basal ganglia,
cerebellum, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are major players in physical activity and
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thinking. Dance, swimming, gymnastics, and sports involve a variety of coordinated movements
that cause more connections to grow between neurons. This type of motor activity also affects
the basal ganglia and corpus callosum, improving memory and increasing the ability to master
new information.
Whereas, heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes are responsible for two-thirds of
deaths in the United States, major risk factors for those diseases, including unhealthy eating
habits, physical inactivity, and obesity, often are established in childhood. Only 2% of children
(2 to 19 Years) eat a healthy diet consistent with the five main recommendations from the Food
Guide Pyramid (School Health Index, 2008). Children need nutrition education and access to
healthful foods.
Environmental Awareness-empowering students with community decision-making skills.
The planning, design, implementation, and on-going monitoring and maintenance of our
courtyard will provide endless opportunities to meet and exceed high academic standards across
the curriculum. Teaching with the courtyard site as an integrating context across the subject
areas can both support and deepen the quality of instruction and student engagement. The
courtyard projects will enhance the teaching and learning of science, math, social studies, and
English in many ways. Using a habitat-based learning site makes learning more real, fun, handson, interdisciplinary, and relevant. “Young people learn most readily about things that are
tangible and directly accessible to their senses—visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic. With
experience, they grow in their ability to understand abstract concepts. Concrete experiences are
most effective in learning when they occur in the context of some relevant conceptual structure.”
(Benchmarks for Science Literacy)
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Our courtyard projects will allow students to immediately apply knowledge learned in the
classroom to local or global environmental issues. They experience and become aware of their
potential to take action and affect positive change on that issue. The courtyard projects’
components of environmental stewardship, contribution to the wider community, and teamwork
as part of an educational project, all fit the criteria for 21st century learning. In a recent report
entitled “Service Learning: What it Offers to Students, Schools and Communities” the Council of
Chief State School Officers writes: Students involved in service learning and community projects
scored significantly higher on 4 of 10 evaluation measures: 1. Engagement in school, 2.
Grades, 3. Core-subject average (English, Mathematics, Science, & Social Studies), and 4.
Educational aspirations (e.g. wanting to graduate from college). Participants showed
statistically significant impacts on measures of civic participation, such as personal and social
responsibility, acceptance of cultural diversity, and leadership.
The courtyard will support and deepen curricular improvement and involvement for all of
EEC’s diverse student population. It will give our community a positive stake in what happens
in our school. Our students will design and maintain the courtyard to ensure year-round
environmental success. The outdoor courtyard will raise enthusiasm for learning, attract parent
volunteers, and serve as a source of pride for students, faculty, and the community. As the
United States faces profound environmental challenges, the courtyard projects will allow the
students to witness how a personal commitment to the environment can have a direct effect on
the local community. The projects will be designed to engage students in the real life
applications of science, math, technology and civics through teamwork and the continued use of
21st century skills, thus making school more enjoyable, and thereby increasing attendance.
Goals and Objectives: See Appendix.
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Activities necessary to implement and achieve: How do we connect learning within the
general curriculum and at the same time preserve the integrity of discipline-specific instruction
in the arts? The idea we propose here is not to dilute the content of either the arts or other core
subjects. Rather, it is to establish purposeful integrated learning connections designed to
increase student understanding, participation, enjoyment, and knowledge through expressive
avenues for learning that the arts can, and do, naturally provide. We seek to explore ways to
augment children’s education in the arts by increasing teacher interest and empowering educators
toward the delivery of integrated instruction. Comprehensive instructional goals require teacher
leadership and collaborations of a new kind-one of listening and creating together through
consideration of others’ viewpoints, expertise, and contributions to broader instructional goals.
See Appendix.
Sustainability and Scalability: The sustainability of this plan rests on the assumption that all
staff must be fully trained and integrated into the process. Our PLCs will meet weekly to
brainstorm plans and strategies, implement them in the classroom, monitor feedback, make
adjustments, and provide accountability. EEC will develop a Core Philosophy to enhance an
outstanding academic program with an interdisciplinary arts curriculum, wellness and healthy
lifestyle approach, and environmental awareness to develop the whole child of the 21st Century
based on the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network. Staff development would
not be as in depth after the initial training, as we would incorporate a “new teacher mentor
process” relying on Team Leaders. Resident artists, community organizations, case partner, and
parental involvement and expertise will be promoted and utilized. Our PTO will designate “Arts
Based Funding” in their yearly budget.
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An essential component in this project is to build on the leadership skills and talents of every
person at EEC. Mrs. Bradley, principal, was a participant in The Kennedy Center Alliance for
Arts Education Network training. Staff members have already taken the initiative to research and
discuss within their PLCs arts integration. The West Virginia Dance Company shared with
teachers and students how to blend creative movement with curriculum. Several members have
taken classes and obtained their Master Gardeners certification. Our cafeteria manager and staff
have been working with intermediate students to create a healthy plan for snack choices.
Records of all training, activities, and contacts are being maintained in the Principal’s office.
Included in these records are summaries and minutes of weekly PLC meetings provided by the
Team Leaders. Plans also include photo documentation of our entire journey. We plan to use
this video and still collection to not only share our story with others, but to support new or
additional members of our staff. It will serve as a support as we report our progress to the
community, the Kanawha County Board of Education, and the West Virginia Department of
Education on a regular basis.
Research: The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is arguably the most significant federal
action to affect arts education, and education generally, in the last decade. This Act reaffirms the
arts as a “core academic subject” that all schools should teach. It puts the arts on equal footing
with the other designated core subjects. The motivation we have to implement arts integration is
a growing body of research that demonstrates how learners experience success when taught why
and how to use music, visual art, drama/dance, theatre, and the literary arts to both express and
understand ideas, thoughts and feelings. Critical Links, a compendium published by the Arts
Education partnership, includes 62 studies which examine the relationship between arts learning,
academic achievement, and social development of students (Deasy, Richard, Critical Links:
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Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development, 2002). Highlights include
studies which explore the use of drama to increase students’ reading comprehension and studies
which examine the relationship between music and math concepts.
The arts nurture a motivation to learn by emphasizing active engagement, disciplined and
sustained attention, and persistence and risk taking. According to N. J. Barry and K. Walls,
“The Role of the Fine and Performing Arts in High School Dropout Prevention”, 2002,
participation in the arts also is an important strategy for engaging and motivating students at risk
of dropping out of high school and for those with special needs.
Our outdoor classroom will provide teachers of all subject areas with unique, hands-on
opportunities for meeting and exceeding standards of learning requirements, while offering
students unique learning opportunities that cannot be duplicated in the traditional in-door
classroom. According to the document, “Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School
Mathematics, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics 2005, students need hands-on
experiences in vibrant settings that illustrates to them the “real world” context of their education.
The outdoor classroom will provide the setting, the subject material and the process skills to
make learning come alive for students.
Daniel Pink in his book, A Whole New Mind, describes how our society is evolving from an
Information Age to a Conceptual Age as a result of technology, affluence, and globalization. He
states that our current society of knowledge workers will need to progress into a society of
conceptual thinkers: creators and empathizers, of pattern recognizers and meaning makers, if we
are to compete in a global economic market. Popular concepts about future economies, such as
Thomas Friedman’s vision of a “flat world” and Pink’s idea that everyone needs to tap into A
Whole New Mind, speak to the appreciation and demand for artistic talents and creative thinkers.
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Appendix
Number of Professional Personnel: 49
Number of Service Personnel : 25
637
Number of students served/affected by the proposed Innovation Zone plan.
49
Number of teachers involved in the proposed Innovation Zone plan.
17
Number of service personnel involved in the proposed Innovation Zone plan.
Budget Justification:
Budget Item
On-Site Visit
Book Study
Video
Workshop
Narrative
Description of Item
Environmental/
Outdoor Classroom
Auditorium
equipment to assist
w/ performances,
plays, concerts,
recitals, etc.
Visit a school with
Arts Integration in
place successfully/
similar to our school
dynamic. (8 team
leaders and
Principal= 9)
Arts Integration
Sean Layne(Kennedy Arts
Center) “Putting
Drama to the Test:
Increasing Reading
Test Scores Through
Drama” grades 3-5
and “Tableau, A
Toolbox of
Elk Elementary Center
Proposed Amount
0
0
Funded by
Others
$8,000 from
Community
Partnership
Grant 2010
$6,000 from
Community
Partnership
Grant 2010
WVDE Office
Use Only
Approximately
Hotel $1,300,
mileage/ airfare
$2,600, food
$450= TOTAL
$4,350
42 books @ $30
=TOTAL $1,260
$165 for 20
teacher guides,
transparency,
video, 40 teachers
=TOTAL $ 330
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Strategies” grades 25 OR A Theatrical
Technique for
Learning Across the
Curriculum video
In School
Residency
Consulting
Services
Demonstration
Workshops
Curriculum
Development
Supplemental
Pay
Bi-Annual
Performances
Costumes for
productions
Class sets of
small
instruments
Randy BarronTeaching Artist
(Kennedy Arts
Center)
“Arts Integration:
The Kennedy
Center’s Approachall grade levels
Randy Barron
(Kennedy Arts
Center) provide
curriculum design,
evaluation design,
assessment tool
design, etc.
Randy Barron
(Kennedy Arts
Center) will provide
in-classroom
demonstration
lesson (60 minutes
each)
In school
residency
$600/day @ 2
days
Hotel $300, food
$100, airfare
$500= TOTAL
$2,100
$50/hour @ 10
hours= TOTAL
$500
Arts teachers
collaborate monthly
with regular
classroom teachers
in planning CSOs &
arts integration
Withholdings
9 2-hour sessions
after school x 42
teachers x $50 =
TOTAL $18, 900
WV Dance
Company
Toneta Akers-Toler
TOTAL $1,000
20 regular
classrooms @
$150 each=
TOTAL $3,000
TOTAL $6,800
$1,000
25 sets @ $25
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$625
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4 Scripts for
4 scripts @ $300
Plays
Art materials
25 sets @ $100
to engage
students in the
multi mediums
of visual arts
Recordings of 10 Genres @ $20
various genres
of music
TOTAL
$1,200
$2,500
$200
$43,765
Goals & Objectives:
-Increase academic achievement: Decrease the dropout rate, Increase attendance, Improve test
scores, Improve WESTEST scores 3% annually
-Develop a school culture of innovation and inspiration: Foster an atmosphere of creativity,
Develop scientific inquiry through courtyard activities, Cultivate the lifelong desire of learning,
Increase the sensitivity of the body/brain connection
-Enhance the future opportunities of our students: Increase global awareness, Develop student
strengths, Encourage leadership skills, Expand communication, collaboration, critical thinking,
problem solving, and decision making skills
Specific activities that will be implemented in order to achieve our goals:
-COMMITMENT OF THE PRINCIPAL (Mrs. C. Bradley). The leadership within our school is
the key to the successful collaboration between classroom teachers and the specialists. The
principal will encourage this partnership to develop by allowing ample time for meetings and
discussion during monthly PLCs and weekly common planning, aligning authentic desired
outcomes, deepening individual and shared responsibility, and utilizing constant assessment,
refinement, and flexibility.
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-BOOK STUDY. The Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) will conduct ongoing book
studies within their Teams. This will promote dialogue to learn about interdisciplinary curricula,
strengthen collaboration to communicate regularly and often, and allow all members to assume
clear roles and responsibilities.
-PROFESSIONAL and CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT. Workshops will be conducted by
renowned leading authorities in the ARTS disciplines: SEAN LAYNE and RANDY BARRON.
-WV DANCE COMPANY. Integrating art education into all content areas through performance
(e.g. “Exploring Global Treasures”).
-COMMUNITY and RESIDENT ARTISTS.
Utilizing the rich and vast talents of the
community to train the teachers and provide an authentic connection.
-ON-SITE SCHOOL VISITATION. Mrs. Bradley and Team Leaders from each grade level will
research, connect, study, and record the practices of a successful Arts Inclusion elementary
school. The data gained from this visitation will be shared with teachers through weekly PLC
meetings.
-WAIVER of UNINTERRUPTED READING and MATH BLOCKS. This would allow the
teachers/specialists to provide rich understanding and creativity that engage the students’
learning organically. POLICY 2510
Elk Elementary will engage students, parents, teachers, food service professionals, health
professionals, and interested community members in developing, implementing, monitoring, and
reviewing county nutrition and physical activity policies by:
-PROVIDING PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES ON a REGULAR BASIS. Elk Elementary will offer
opportunities, support, and encouragement to be physically active on a regular basis during
Morning Clubs before the academic school day begins. Equipment will be provided for students
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to engage in healthy physically activities. Physical activity has a positive influence on
concentration, memory, academic performance, and classroom behavior (Strong, Malina,
Blimkie, Daniels, Dishman, Gutin, Hergenroeder, Must, Nixon, Pivarnik, Rowland, Trost, &
Trudeau, 2005).
-PROVIDING FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. A variety of fruits and vegetables will be offered
for afternoon snack.
-STAFF WELLNESS. Elk Elementary will plan and implement activities that support personal
efforts by staff to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The environmental goal is to create a free flowing habitat in our courtyard complete with pond,
plants, trees, birds, flowers, insects, fish, and turtles. This will be accomplished by:
-INCORPORATING a PRO-ACTIVE RECYCLING PROGRAM and CONSERVATION
EFFORTS. Students will develop skills that will enable them to become responsible and
resourceful global citizens.
-GAZEBO and OUTSIDE TABLES AND BENCHES. Our courtyard will be used as an outdoor
classroom where students will investigate, observe, record data, and problem solve. Long term
hands-on projects capture students’ interests and improve the quality of instruction. The
courtyard discoveries will allow students to understand the value of global diversity and will
instill a desire for preserving our environment.
-PLANTS and GARDENING TOOLS. In order to develop curiosity, problem solving skills, and
perseverance students will need to have access to the necessary tools and plant life to maintain
the courtyard.
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-PROFESSIONAL and CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT. Staff will gain skills necessary to
empower students with courtyard design and stewardship and allow learning to be more
authentic, fun, hands-on, interdisciplinary, and meaningful.
5th Grade Focus Group Participants Table: Learning Styles Inventory
Multiple Intelligence(s)
Linguistic
Logical Mathematical
Musical
Spatial
Body-Kinesthetic
Logical Mathematical & Musical
Musical & Body-Kinesthetic
Linguistic, Logical Mathematical & Musical
Linguistic, Musical, & Body-Kinesthetic
Linguistic & Body-Kinesthetic
Linguistic, Musical, and Spatial
Logical Mathematical, Musical, Body-Kinesthetic
Linguistic & Logical Mathematical
Musical & Spatial
Logical Mathematical & Body- Kinesthetic
Musical & Body- Kinesthetic
Spatial & Body- Kinesthetic
Linguistic, Musical, Spatial & Body-Kinesthetic
# of 5th % of 5th
grade
grade
students students
surveyed surveyed
2
3%
12
15%
10
13%
2
3%
14
18%
5
6%
9
12%
3
4%
3
4%
2
3%
2
3%
3
4%
1
1%
3
4%
1
1%
1
1%
2
3%
1
1%
76
99%
Leadership Team who developed this vision:

Co-Chair Cathi Bradley, Principal

Co-Chair Dinah Brown, Intermediate Teacher

Mark Davis, Music Teacher
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Additional Leadership Team for Phase II (most of whom contributed to Phase I):

Jack Deskins, WVDE Arts Director

Andrea DiGregorio, Strings teacher

Chet Lowther, Arts teacher

Jeff Mullins, P.E. teacher

Lakin Cook, Clay Center Director of the Performing Arts

United Bank, Case Partner

Alicia Lowe, Primary Teacher

Jennifer Spencer, Primary Teacher

Bev Bolles, Intermediate Teacher

Fonda Lockhart, Kanawha County Schools Music Specialist

Toneta Akers-Toler, Director West Virginia Dance Company
WAIVER:
Innovation Zone
School/Consortium
State Code Waiver
Request (specify
section and article)
Elk Elementary
Center
Build master
schedule to reflect
arts integration
needs; permitted to
forego
uninterrupted
minutes
requirement when
appropriate
Elk Elementary Center
State Policy Waiver Impact of the waiver Request (specify
What will the waiver
section and article) enable the school to do
differently?
2510
Without designated
restrictions of academic
time blocks, we will be
able to integrate the arts
with appropriate
personnel, same grade
students, interest related
students, etc.
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EXAMPLES of our implementation include:
1. Each morning, we will start the day with the introduction of the musical artist of the week, as
provided by our music teacher from that week’s unit, and one minute of his or her music will
play over the intercom. We will then have students sing a patriotic song with the assistance of
staff members playing the guitar and drum.
2. For wellness, we will have a school-wide stretching routine conducted several times each day
(via TV broadcast system) to give the mind and body a chance to rejuvenate.
3. Local artists will visit monthly (or field trips to them) for assemblies to model and display
various forms of the arts, such as productions from the Clay Center, Cultural Center, and the
Light Opera Guild.
4. Morning Announcements delivered via school TV production team, with an emphasis on arts
productions.
5. Monthly food tastings and celebrations from different cultures.
6. Capital High School of the Performing Arts students will receive community service to assist in
dance and theatre.
7. Visual art will adorn the walls of the school art teacher.
8. Art project with local artist to paint the school w/ students, providing ownership for all students.
9. The school will hold Artist Nights and Plays as fundraisers through PTO for sustainability
10. Offering Strings program to 4th & 5th grade students.
11. Environmental / Service Clubs: Recycling
12. Trout in the classroom / environmental conservation project.
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Math WESTEST Scores
Subgroups & Deficiencies in Math
ELK ELEMENTARY CENTER
KANAWHA COUNTY
Mathematics
Number Number
Number Participation
Below
Above
Percent
Met
Group Enrolled Enrolled
Novice
Mastery
Distinguished
Tested
Rate
Mastery
Mastery
Proficient Standard
for FAY in May
All
Spec.
Ed.
Low
SES
276
286
284
99
28%
35%
22%
13%
*
38%
YES
53
58
56
97
49%
25%
*
*
*
25%
YES
160
168
166
99
31%
36%
21%
11%
*
33%
YES
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