MINDALIGNED

mindALIGNED is a dynamic professional development initiative that empowers educators to integrate arts-based strategies into everyday instruction. Drawing from disciplines such as visual art, music, theatre, dance, and media arts, mindALIGNED offers a modern, interdisciplinary approach that enlivens classrooms and enriches learning.

This initiative exists to support and ensure the equitable access and participation of:

• Fine arts learning (visual art, music, theatre, dance and media arts, offered in school and taught during the school day by licensed teachers)
• Community partnerships with local arts organizations and artists
• Creative Teaching within all classrooms and across the curriculum

Research and evaluation show that creative teaching strategies are not only effective but also immediately applicable. Teachers report increased student engagement and a broader repertoire of instructional tools. Professional development through mindALIGNED enhances educators’ understanding of creative teaching, offering practical guidance on when and how to use these strategies effectively.

• 99% of teachers report the creative teaching strategies will help them engage their students
• 100% of teachers report the Professional Development expanded their teaching strategies
• 100% of teachers report that the mindALIGNED Professional Development has provided knowledge and ideas for when and how to implement creative teaching strategies
• 100% of teachers report that the mindALIGNED Professional Development has increased their knowledge of creative teaching
• 98% of teachers were satisfied with the mindALIGNED PD this year
• 90% of teachers report integrating the concepts they learned into the classroom
• 88% reported the Creative Teaching strategies are effective tools they can use immediately
• 86% of teachers we satisfied with their first year of coaching
• 97% of teachers say it has provided effective teaching tools for implementation in their classroom

Reach out to kbullock@thebasie.org for more information

KENNEDY CENTER PARTNERS IN EDUCATION

Count Basie Center for the Arts and Red Bank Borough School District together form the NJ 2012 partnership team for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’s Partners in Education program. In 2023, Farmingdale Public school was added to this robust partnership. Through this effort, an ever growing population of primary and middle school teachers are being empowered with professional development tools to integrate the arts into their core curricula. Through the arts, teachers learn how to foster the four critical skills necessary for our children to succeed in the 21st-century workforce: collaboration, flexibility, imagination, innovation.