LMU Awarded $1.1 Million to Improve Academic Performance of Underserved Students Through Arts Education

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Education has awarded a $1,165,629 grant to Loyola Marymount University's Family of Schools and the Los Angeles Unified School District to show teachers how to incorporate ethnic culture and visual arts into elementary school curricula to improve the academic performance of underserved students.

The award supports a collaborative partnership between the Educational Services Center West of the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Family of Schools. 

Over the four-year course of the grant, a team of LMU faculty, who specialize in elementary education and ethnic studies, along with a group of artists and art educators will train teachers at six LAUSD elementary schools.

The program will work with teachers on ways to integrate African American and Latino history, culture, and art with the various subjects they teach their students. The grant includes training stipends and art materials to help teachers create classroom projects.

Darin Earley, director of LMU's Family of Schools, and Deanna Cooke, clinical assistant professor at LMU's Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, developed the program. 

The Loyola Marymount University's Family of Schools is a collaborative dedicated to promoting student success and educational equity for the schools in the Westchester community. FOS currently has 13 public and private school partners.

"This grant in support of arts education, which is so critical to the education of the whole person, shows the contribution that the university has been making to the Westchester/Playa community since 2008 through our Family of Schools," said Shane P. Martin, dean of the School of Education. "It's through collaborative efforts like this grant with BCLA that give us the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the children in our community."

The six public elementary schools that are part of the FOS will participate in the new arts program. The schools include: Loyola Village Elementary; Playa Vista Elementary; Cowan Avenue Elementary; Kentwood Avenue Elementary; Westport Heights Elementary; and Paseo del Rey Elementary.

"Research has shown that integrating arts and culture into the K-12 curriculum brings positive changes in the school environment and improved student performance," said Robbin D. Crabtree, Dean of Liberal Arts at LMU. "Programs like this, that return arts education to the classroom, can only benefit children," she added. Dean Crabtree also pointed out that the LMU liberal arts students, who are involved in the initiative through courses in Chicano Studies and African American Studies will also benefit.

About Loyola Marymount University
Located between the Pacific Ocean and downtown Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive university offering 60 major programs, 36 master's degrees and a doctoral degree in education from four colleges, two schools and Loyola Law School. Founded in 1911, LMU is ranked third in "Best Regional Universities/West" by U.S. News & World Report. LMU is the largest Jesuit Catholic university for undergraduates on the West Coast with more than 6,000 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate and law students. For more LMU news and events, please visit www.lmu.edu/news.

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SOURCE Loyola Marymount University