The art of school reform.

• Author: Loyacono, Laura L.
• Position: Includes related article

Incorporating the arts into a school's basic curriculum may help students in more ways than you think.

We're in the poorest congressional district in the nation," used to be the unfortunate claim to fame of the St. Augustine School of the Arts, a K-8 Catholic school located in an area often called a "war zone": the South Bronx, N.Y. Here, where only one in four neighborhood children graduates from high school, St. Augustine has a new claim to fame: 95 percent of its students read at or above grade level and 98 percent meet New York state academic standards. The student population is 100 percent minority, and although many come from single-parent families plagued by AIDS, crime and violence, they are self-confident, disciplined and college bound.

What makes this school so successful? Like a growing number of schools around the country, St. Augustine builds its curriculum around the arts: music, dance, the visual arts and creative writing. Parents send their children to arts-centered schools because they believe it's critical for them to learn about culture and the arts--subjects often ignored in most schools. They also believe that incorporating the arts engages children in learning and makes them more excited about school. Alternative types of teaching methods employed by St. Augustine and other arts-based schools place emphasis on individual development and other human aspects of education. Where traditional teaching methods focus on merely acquiring information and memorizing facts, teachers using an arts-based curriculum focus on developing critical thinking skills and on building the capacity to organize and the ability to recast and use information to solve problems.

Science classes at St. Augustine are based on experiments and research. There is no textbook. Students keep journals of their progress and illustrate their lab experiments--in effect creating their own textbooks. History lessons come alive through the arts when students recreate historical events, make authentic costumes and perform music. On average, students spend a quarter of the day on the arts. In addition to performing and creating, students learn art history, aesthetics and art criticism.

"The entire curriculum is based on students interacting with the teacher and with each other," says principal Thomas J. Pilecki. "Not all students respond to a computer screen or pen in hand, but they do respond in our classrooms--our teachers and students are excited about learning and about school. In our seven-year history, we have never had a student drop out and most go on to college or vocational training school."

St. Augustine was not always so successful. In 1986, this traditional parochial school faced closure due to low student enrollment. Today, the school serves as a national model of education reform. The principal hires and fires teachers, teachers and parents work together to develop the curriculum, rules and values for parents and students are clearly stated and academic standards are rigorous. To arts education, the school adds instruction in career opportunities, grooming habits, punctuality and self-motivation. Primary grades are nongraded and the school day runs 75 minutes longer than that of the typical school.

Though St. Augustine specializes in the performing arts, admission is limited to neighborhood children and is based on a first-come, first-served basis, not on auditions. The school receives state funding from the New York Council on the Arts...