Lancaster will kick off the 2016 -17 school year as one of only 68 schools selected as Turnaround Arts schools in the nation. Lancaster along with three other MPS schools are the only schools in the state of Wisconsin receiving Turnaround Arts intensive arts education resources and integration as a strategy to close the achievement gap through a highly-competitive application process.
Turnaround Arts is the signature program of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. It empowers schools with innovative arts, dance, theater and music programs, arts integration across subject areas, arts resources, musical instruments, and high-profile artist mentors, as a proven strategy to help address broader school challenges and close the achievement gap.
At Lancaster, the Turnaround Arts effort will focus on three key areas: additional professional development for arts educators and arts integration education; integration of the five arts disciplines – visual arts, music, dance, theater and media arts – within all content area classrooms; and working with the district’s arts partners to provide both in-school and after-school enrichment programs to foster student engagement in learning and incorporating the arts into academic supports.
Achievement Gap Reduction (AGR) Program
The AGR Program requires a participating school to create performance objectives, including reducing the achievement gap between low−income students in that school and students in the same grade and subject statewide.
Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS)
PBIS is a joint effort between Milwaukee Public Schools Office of Family Services and the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association to effectively reduce classroom disruptions and student suspensions through a school-wide systematic tiered-intervention approach. Data shows that schools that implement PBIS with fidelity see decreases in disruptions and suspensions and increases in student achievement.