What might your school transform into?

Our education system is the voice of young people across the country who believe that all American children should have access to high quality education.  This grant was created as a response to the sad reality that the most critical stakeholders in education— students and teachers — do not have a strong voice in school reform efforts. Our focus is to improve K-12 education by engaging and empowering America’s youth in a transformation for better schools by integrating the arts and arts-based strategies into the core elementary and middle school academic curriculum. The Bernstein Comprehensive School Reform Model, Artful Learning™ and Artful Leadership, encompasses language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, physical education and the arts with professional learning for teacher leadership and student learning.. This combination creates an environment for success with all students while supporting at-risk students. Character education also becomes a key strategy and goal in school transformation.

Who Is Involved?

West Hall Middle School and McEver Elementary in Hall County in addition to Centennial Arts Academy in Gainesville City Schools were selected to be a part of the School Transformation: Character Through The Arts grant program. They responded to a request for proposals that demonstrates strong teacher and administrator understanding and a desire to participate in the program with documentation of strong pre-existing related initiatives and resources.

The State Schools of Character (SSOC) Program named West Hall Middle School as the 2009 Georgia School of Character. This honor recognized West Hall Middle School as a model of an exemplary character education program.

Learn More

For more information about the School Transformation: Character Through the Arts program contact:

Richard Benjamin, Project Director | Ph 678.852.3753 | rbenjamin@pioneerresa.org

Mary Lasris, Project Manager | Ph 706 865.2141 | mlasris@pioneerresa.org