RAISE
The Responsive Arts in School Education (RAISE) program is a systematic approach to supporting change in school culture. Springboard to Learning is mitigating COVID-19 learning gaps and strenthening support systems by fostering relationships between children, teaching artists, school social workers, and counselors – an essential team for improving students’ mental health and wellbeing through the arts.
In 2021, Young Audiences Arts for Learning received a federal grant through the US Department of Education for a multi-state project designed to address the current, urgent needs of young learners through healing-centered, culturally responsive practices rooted in social-emotional learning and student empowerment. Springboard was selected as one of nineteen national affiliates to undertake the RAISE work.
Nine Springboard teaching artists received over 50 hours of in-depth professional training covering healing-centered and trauma-informed practices and culturally responsive pedagogy. In 2023, they began delivering RAISE residencies to two St. Louis Public Schools: Bryan Hill Elementary and Mann Elementary.
Students and educators at Bryan Hill and Mann will receive three years of wrap-around support from Springboard. Teaching artists will deliver yearlong residencies to the same cohort of students for three years, fostering long-term relationships and tracking growth. Meanwhile, teachers, counselors, and social workers will receive job-embedded professional development in arts integration. Families will also have opportunities to participate in culmination events that equip them with strategies for at-home learning.
RAISE in Action
Nationwide, educators in the RAISE program are reporting an overall increase in their abilities to respond to students’ emotional and psychological needs, and feedback is overwhelmingly positive.
One school principal in Houston summed up the necessity or arts-integration programs like RAISE, which focus on healing-centered practices:
“I think it is super important for us to provide more than just academics: providing a safe place for our students to share their emotions and to process some of the trauma they’ve been through, and providing them the opportunity to be well-rounded kids.”
And locally, one Mann Elementary teacher is already overjoyed with the initial success of the first year of RAISE residencies:
“We love this program at our school! We are so amazed by the teaching artists and are so excited to continue this opportunity. Following [the artist’s] sessions, many students continue to use the self-management and SEL skills they were taught.”
After five years of nationwide programming, Young Audiences will create and disseminate a library of data and digital resources for arts-integrated, trauma-informed instruction practices for use by other organizations, artists, social workers, and teachers, connecting the collective practice to support social-emotional learning and student wellbeing across the country.
