The Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program

What is the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program? The Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program (BTS Program) provides arts-integrated instruction to elementary students, effectively increasing student performance in every subject—from language arts and social studies to math and science. The program is currently in 220 elementary schools in 29 districts (including 16 charter schools) and is serving approximately 114,000 students.

Infrastructure of the BTS Program The BTS Program puts specialists trained in one of four art disciplines (visual art, dance, music and theater) in elementary schools to work alongside classroom teachers to develop lesson plans for the core curricula that incorporate art. The Utah State Office of Education (USOE) administers the program statewide, and STATEWIDESTATEWIDE SNAPSHOT SNAPSHOT collaborates with deans and university staff from , University Nearly 220 BTS Program schools Approx. 114,000 students served of Utah, , , Weber State 29 School districts 50,849 Brigham Young University University and Westminster College to provide professional development for the 16 Charter schools 13,563 Southern Utah University arts specialists and classroom teachers. These higher education institutions also 99 Title I schools 31,993 work with the USOE to manage the successful implementation of the BTS 5,514 Utah State University Program in their respective areas of theSTATEWIDE state. SNAPSHOT 7 University Partners 9,801 STATEWIDE SNAPSHOT 2,596 Westminster College Nearly 220 BTS Program schools Approx. 114,000 students served The Future of the BTS Program29 School districts Nearly 220 BTS50,849 Program Brigham schools Young UniversityApprox. 114,000 students served CACHE 15 29 School districts 50,849 Brigham Young University 16 Charter schools 13,563 Southern UtahUTAH University STATE UNIVERSITY Based on feedback from the Utah Legislature, the BTS Program has designed16 Chartera schools 13,563 Southern Utah University Title I schools RICH 99 Title I schools31,993 University of Utah University of Utah plan for implementation that will expand the program’s reach while dramatically99 BOX ELDER 31,993 5,514 Utah State University Utah State12 University 5,514 reducing the overall cost per student. The BTS Program has grown significantly WEBER WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY 7 University Partners 7 University 9,801 Partners Weber State University 9,801 Weber StateMO UniversityRGAN in the past year, with about 90 new schools and 44,000 more students Westminster College 2,596 Westminster College 2,596 80 participating in the program. In order to continue this growth, the BTS Program DAVIS 20 is requesting $7 million in ongoing funding from the state education budget CACHE 15 UNIVERSITY OF UTAH SUMMIT DAGGETT CACHE 15 UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY 80 6 this year. By collaborating with numerous university partnerships,UTAH STATE endowed UNIVERSITY RICH WESTMINSTER COLLEGE BOX ELDER RICH 1TO2OELE WEBER chairs, and professional development partners; increasing BtheOX EL DnumberER of 61 WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY 12 MORGAN WASATCH schools served by each specialist; and providing classroom teachers the WEBER DUCHESNE 80 WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY UTAH MORGAN DAVIS BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY opportunity to receive an arts endorsement; the BTS Program plans to expand 20 UINTAH DAGGETT 80 UNIVERSITY OF UTAH SUMMIT 80 availability to all Utah elementary schools. DAVIS 20 6 WESTMINSTER COLLEGE 81 DAGGETT JUAB UNIVERSITY OF UTAH SUMMIT TOOELE CARBON 80 61 6 WASATCH WESTMINSTER COLLEGE DUCHESNE UEPC Findings UTAH BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITYSANPETE TOOELE 61 UINTAH Researchers at the Utah Education Policy Center (UEPC) have already WASATCH DUCHESNE MILLARD 81 JUAB UTAH CARBON EMERY found the BTS Program has improved the educational experience in many BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY 70 UINTAH GRAND ways, including: SANPETE SEVIER • Higher student achievement on the CRTs 81 JUAB CARMBILOLNARD EMERY 70 • Increased student engagement GRAND BEAVER PIUTE WAYNE • Positive changes in students’ behavior SANPETE SEVIER

• Increased participation in class activities 15

MILLARD BEAVER PIUTIERON WAYNE EMERY GARFIELD • Willingness to try new things 70 GRAND • Improved student attendance 15 SAN JUAN SEVIER 39 IRON GARFIELD • Increases in student confidence and social-emotional development WASHINGTON SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY 39 KANE SAN JUAN BEAVER WAYNE PIUTE WASHINGTON SOUTHERN DIXIEUTAH UNIVERSITYSTATE UNIVERSITY KANE

15 Visit artworksforkids.org for more information.IRON GARFIELD SAN JUAN Friends of Art Works for Kids is a grassroots initiative created to ensure that Utah’s school children receive39 the benefits of high-quality, integrated arts instruction through the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program. WASHINGTON SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY

KANE DIXIE STATE UNIVERSITY The Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program

CASE STUDIES

Santa Clara Elementary WASHINGTON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT PITCH ACCURACY 100% A BTS Program arts specialist at Santa Clara 90% Elementary conducted an in-depth research study 80% about the relationship between good intonation 70% and reading skills in students. The specialist tested 60% several 1st grade classes and found that there was a 50% 96 percent correlation between a student’s ability to 40% match pitch and that student’s reading level. Those 30% students who were struggling with reading were given 20% extra music lessons to increase their vocal flexibility and pitch accuracy, and 10% 0 most of those students went on to improve their reading level dramatically. READING BELOW READING ON READING ABOVE GRADE LEVEL GRADE LEVEL GRADE LEVEL

Davis Elementary UNITAH SCHOOL DISTRICT

Creating illustrations for what they were reading AFTER THE VISUAL ART LESSON helped third graders at Davis Elementary learn how to compare and contrast. The BTS Program arts specialist first read a descriptive paragraph about dogs with the students, then the students made 26 STUDENTS SHOWED MARKED IMPROVEMENT illustrations of the different types of dog described, and used a Venn diagram to compare and contrast 28 STUDENTS SCORED A PERFECT SCORE the different breeds. Compared to pretest results of 69 students, 28 of those achieved a perfect score on the test after the arts lesson, and another 26 students showed marked improvement in their scores.

East Elementary IRON COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT

A first grade teacher at East Elementary worked with SCORE PERCENTAGE FOR STUDENTS the school’s BTS Program arts specialist to create ON STANDARDIZED TESTS WITH THE an integrated lesson plan that would target sentence ARTS-INTEGRATED LESSON PLAN structure, an area most first graders struggled with at the Title One school. Using an observational WITHOUT drawing lesson that taught sentence structure, the teachers reviewed core concepts with students before WITH 40% HIGHER standardized testing. With the help of arts-integration, test results showed this class improved 17.4 percent on the sentence structure portion of the test. Additionally, children in the class with the arts- integrated lesson plan scored 40 percent higher on the test than the average of children in other first grade classes.

Visit artworksforkids.org for more information.