Research
Creative Learning In- and Out-of-School
While children make up just 25% of our population, they are 100% of our future. Thus, it is our responsibility to provide them with the tools they need in order to become successful. Big Thought has discovered a way to do this through the building of creative learning systems that value and support the abilities of every child, family and community to imagine and express new possibilities through creative activity - what we call creative capital.
We've dedicated ourselves to partnering with the City of Dallas, the Dallas ISD and over 100 community, arts and cultural organizations to gather resources and design programs tailored to every neighborhood and its residents. Through these partnerships, the community becomes involved and invested in giving its children and families equal opportunities to engage their creative capital, despite the barriers of income, race, or location.
Supported by its partnership with Thriving Minds, the Dallas ISD set a goal in year 1 to provide every elementary school student with a minimum of 45 minutes of weekly instruction in both music and visual arts by year 3. Now, at the end of year 2, the Fine Arts Department has added 38 visual arts and 25 music teachers to its elementary school faculties. This means that there is at least one music teacher in 128 of the 151 elementary schools (a 12% increase), and at least one visual arts teacher in 129 of the 151 elementary schools (a 15% increase) - and the partnership is well on its way to accomplishing its goal.
Our Research & Assessment page features more of our research results and literature written by us and others - for more on what we've learned about the importance of incorporating creative learning into the classroom, read our chapter in City Schools or check out the Ford Foundation article Texas New Step.