Artful LearningFor Funders
For Funders
Invest in the capacity of an entire school
Artful Learning is a professional development model with three decades of implementation in K–12 public schools nationally, developed through sustained collaboration with educators at the direction of the Artful Learning staff and Board of Directors. It addresses a specific gap: how to help teachers raise mastery of standards by embedding creative thinking into instruction, while building the critical-thinking and communication skills that colleges and employers identify as essential.
Why Fund Artful Learning
- Impact on achievement. Schools using Artful Learning document gains in reading comprehension, writing, mathematical reasoning, science, and social studies, and stronger growth on state achievement measures relative to their districts.
- Durable skills. Students build analysis, collaboration, judgment, creativity, and communication—skills that outlast any single test.
- Efficient use of instructional time. The model is embedded in existing instruction, not added alongside it. Schools meet their requirements without lengthening the school day.
- A multiplier effect. The investment develops students, teachers, school leaders and parents; all at once, and the three-year model transfers knowledge, tools, and leadership into the school so educators and the school community easily sustain the work themselves. The impact of support for Artful Learning does not end when the funded activity ends.
- Adaptable, not one-size-fits-all. Existing school initiatives, district requirements, curriculum priorities, and community partnerships are built into the implementation design.
- Ready to grow. Artful Learning has been implemented in more than 20 schools nationally and is positioned to expand. Your investment can directly enable new schools to participate.
- Strong governance. An experienced board of directors oversees strategy and the stewardship of program funds.
“We are honored to have this methodology in our district powered by the iconic pedigree that informed it.”
— School Board Member, Castle Rock, CO
Funding Opportunities
- Program funding. Underwrite the three-year program for a school—$215,000 per year, made up of the $95,000 Artful Learning fee (the Summer Institute, two on-site trainings per year, and ongoing remote support) and an estimated $120,000 in in-school costs—teacher pay for the Summer Institute, substitute coverage during the school-year trainings, and classroom materials—so cost is never the reason a receptive school says no.
- Research and evaluation. Fund documentation of Artful Learning’s impact on student achievement, teacher practice, and school culture.
- Remote innovation. Help develop a remote component to teacher professional development that extends reach beyond in-person Institutes.
- Operational support. Invest in the team and infrastructure that sustain growth.
The opportunity is larger than funding an arts program. It is funding a change in how students learn, how teachers teach, and how schools improve.