"Arts in Education" Program Coming to Torrington

Parents, students, teachers, community and civic leaders, along with officials from the Torrington school system and the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, gathered recently for a community-wide celebration announcing the extension of the Bushnell's PARTNERS program (Partners in Arts and Education Revitalizing Schools) into the Torrington school system. The kick-off event announced the spring implementation of the Bushnell's award-winning PARTNERS program in the Torrington school system at Vogel-Wetmore and Southwest elementary schools. In November, the program received overwhelming support, and the Torrington Board of Education voted formally to bring it to Torrington schools.

The PARTNERS program will be introduced in kindergarten and first grade during the winter and spring of 2002, with the educational focus in three specific areas of learning—literacy and language arts; cultural diversity and diversity education; and arts learning. Over the next two years, the program will expand by one grade each year, so that by the 2003-04 school year, PARTNERS will be in place in grades K-3. The Bushnell and Torrington schools will form a planning team to complete the program's implementation. During this final phase, the team will study the feasibility of incorporating all of Torrington's elementary schools into the PARTNERS program based on capacity and funding. The eventual goal is for the school system to be able to sustain the program both administratively and financially.

Working with local arts organizations will maximize the resources available to students, educators, and the community. Plans call for collaboration with Torrington-based arts entities including the Nutmeg Conservatory, Warner Theatre and Artwell Gallery, in areas ranging from professional development to strategic planning.

PARTNERS, which was created and designed by Mitchell Korn and Artsvision in 1993, is a nationally recognized arts-in-education program designed to strengthen student learning in the areas of literacy, language arts, the arts, and intercultural competencies. The program is comprised of five interlocking components: curriculum and assessment, artistic resources, staff development, The Bushnell Children's Theatre, and family events. The program currently serves 32 schools in 14 districts throughout Greater Hartford.

The John G. Martin Foundation provided funding to The Bushnell's Education Department to replicate the PARTNERS program over a five-year period in a new community. Dan Flynn, president of The Martin Foundation, said, "One of our goals was to replicate the PARTNERS approach to arts education in a new school system similar to the Plainville community schools. We are very interested in looking at Torrington as a beta site to test the documentation and replication approach for broader application." In 1996, the PARTNERS program was implemented in Plainville.

The Torrington school system was chosen as a result of extensive research, planning and development during the first year of the project. The Bushnell retained Artsvision, an arts consulting firm, to conduct an initial needs and resource assessment of the Torrington Public Schools, which led to a plan to bring PARTNERS to Torrington. As the PARTNERS program evolves in Torrington, its progress will be assessed, evaluated and documented in a "Best Practices" manual to be utilized by other school systems interested in implementing the same program.

The Bushnell has retained E. Jean Gubbins, Ph.D. and Kristin Berman for program evaluation and student assessment. Both are affiliated with the National Research Center on the Gifted and Talented at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.