As we head into the end of the 2006-2007 school year, we want to share some exciting news and developments here at VTS headquarters. Our research from San Antonio is now available, we're restructuring our teacher training and professional development, and The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston has released the results of their three-year study. Most importantly, however, we continue to establish creative partnerships with museums and schools throughout the country.

We are also thrilled to announce that a pilot program for our middle school curriculum is nearly finished in Boston and Miami. The project has received major financial support from the Nathaniel Saltonstall Arts Fund, and without their critical involvement, the development, revision and ultimate printing and production truly would not be possible. The complete curriculum will be availble in the fall, for use in the 2007-2008 school year.

As always, check out the upcoming events page for happenings in your area. Or click here to register for training institutes.

We hope everyone has an enjoyable and productive summer.

VTS Empowers "At Risk" Limited English Proficiency Students:

In winter of 2000, with the support of the San Antonio Independent School District, Artpace, and the San Antonio Museum of Art, VUE began studying the impact of VTS on students in grades three through five. Karin DeSantis, co-author of the study, said, "The results made us aware of just how powerful a tool VTS is for at-risk and ELL students."

The highlights from the study offer further proof that VTS provides an essential learning experience needed in schools. As one San Antonio teacher said, "Bilingual children became more expressive, showed more vocabulary, self-esteem increased, as well as self-confidence." Students who participated in VTS outperformed students who had not, in both aesthetic and critical thinking growth. Another teacher said, "It's a rewarding experience because you get to see students articulate insightful observations that you would never see in a regular class."

The overall results were so overwhelmingly positive that the San Antonio Independent School District moved to implement VTS system-wide. You can read the highlights from the three-year San Antonio study, authored by Abigail Housen and Karin DeSantis, if you click here.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Study Released
Thinking Through Art

On March 8th, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum announced the results of its three-year research project, Thinking Through Art, funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination program. The research project aimed to determine the effect of an art museum multiple-visit program on the development of urban elementary students' critical thinking skills.

Teachers involved in the project were excited by the results. "The kids really know that what they're saying is valued," said Phyllis Cohen, a 3rd grade teacher at the Tobin School. "And because they know that, they continue to respond more and more."

Using VTS, says Peggy Burchenal, means that "you get a lot of different ideas out on the table, you get this kind of flexible thinking, which builds a mind that's open to many possibilities." Anne Hawley, the museum's director said, "Seeing a group of young people standing in the museum's tapestry room having this intense discussion about what was going on in that picture, just burrowing into this picture in a conversation that involved form and narrative and meaning, just shows that works of art have this amazing capacity to offer up all kinds of learning. So that was a magic moment."

Encapsulating the learning and discoveries made through this project, the Gardner has created the Thinking Through Art Toolkit, featuring information about the Gardner project and partnership program as well as a 20 minute film in DVD format.

For more information about the Thinking Through Art project, or the upcoming symposium on July 16-17, or to read the final research report, click here..

Creating Partnerships

Throughout the country, teachers and museum professionals are introducing VTS to their students and staff, while establishing partnerships between schools and art institutions. One program in Northern California, helmed by Robin Muscardini of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, has begun to see immediate results.

In January, the museum staff, docents and volunteers from their Art Rewards the Student Program attended a weekend training given by Executive Director Oren Slozberg at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. "The training ignited a number of enthusiastic visual learners," Robin said, "and as a result we will be starting VTS in two schools in Sonoma this fall." She adds, "It is our hope that in the spring of 2008 other schools in both Napa and Sonoma will begin VTS."

To capitalize on the growing VTS interest in Sonoma and Napa Counties, Robyn and Janet Lo, Director of Education at the di Rosa Preserve, in collaboration with VUE are hosting an Introduction to VTS presentation on May 22nd at the di Rosa.

On May 29th we will hold another Introduction to VTS presentation in Chicago. VTS Colleague Dori Jacobsohn is spearheading the effort to attract interest from principals, arts specialists, university staff and area museums.

In Seattle, VUE and The Frye Art Museum have begun a new partnership to support in-depth school programs, professional development, and outreach. The Frye and VUE are partnering with schools to implement VTS in the museum and in the classroom and to support gallery guide and teacher training.

Additionally, thanks to Patricia Lannes at the Nassau County Museum of Art (NCMA) and Carol Brown, in charge of Arts in Education at the Eastern Suffolk BOCES, there has been a surge of interest in VTS in Long Island. In January, the NCMA hosted an Evening for Educators, featuring VTS in their galleries, to a record-breaking audience of over 110 teachers and administrators and in February, Carol Brown hosted a VTS Introductory workshop in her county.
Nassau County Museum of Art

In response to unanimous participant interest in more VTS training, we will be hosting an Mentor Institute at the NCMA to lay the foundation for more VTS schools and partnerships with the NCMA on Long Island.

If you, or someone you know, would like to build a new learning relationship using VTS, please let us know.

Developments in VTS Training
New Strategies; New Ideas

We are continuing to refine and redesign our training structures and progam offerings to best suit our growing and changing audiences. Our new training and programs available include:

Workshops and Consulting Services:
Designed upon request to meet specific needs and situations of museums, schools, and elsewhere. For example, a museum might request a docent training, help in redesigning its school partnership, or an introduction to VTS for educators in its community. An individual school might want an implementation conducted by VUE trainers. These services and workshops vary from a few hours to several days, and the cost for each is dependent on length and the VUE staff needed.

VTS Basics:
One-day workshops introducing VTS practice and theory for those who are curious about VTS, scheduled in different locations throughout the year, and can also be contracted for a particular site and time.

VTS Practicums:
Three-day workshops focused on developing VTS facilitation skills. Beginning/ intermediate level is for people who have had little or no exposure and minimal experience. Advanced level is for those who have attended other workshops and been practicing VTS for some time. While some time is allotted to examining theoretical underpinnings of VTS, the focus is helping participants learn to do VTS well.

Mentor Institutes:
Two four-day workshops, separated by the first year of implementing VTS, designed to prepare teams of two or (preferably) three "mentor teachers" to return to their schools to introduce VTS, coordinate implementation by their teacher colleagues, and conduct intermittent debriefings, all in consultation with VTS experts.

Professional Development Institutes:
Formerly referred to as "trainer training," these institutes prepare people for helping others use VTS. They consist of three four-day workshops separated by enough time to give participants a chance to use and reflect on what was addressed in the previous session. The goal is to develop participants' practical expertise at facilitating VTS as well as discussions of teaching practice, research data, theoretical writing, and assessment of learning-in other words, to teach participants how to maximize discussion as a tool for collaborative learning, whether the subject is art, other still and moving images, text, or observed behavior.

If you would like to schedule any of these programs, or have questions about bringing VTS to your museum or school, please email us at info@vue.org.

Regional Updates

New York --

Upcoming programs include Visual Thinking Strategies: Mentor Institute, August 6-9, 2007 at the Nassau County Museum of Art. New York and Long Island teachers are invited to learn about VTS. To register, contact Alice at aanderson@vue.org.
VTS training is underway in schools in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens.
This summer, New York City's DOE will issue a Request for Proposals for professional development programs, which will give us increased access to more schools than ever before.

San Francisco --

Registration for new VTS schools has begun! The MMG Foundation is offering a support grant to ten new schools in SFUSD that sign up for VTS for 2007/8. (For more information: 415-243-9325.)
Experience San Francisco's Museums in an exciting new way at the VTS Mentor Institute! This program helps prepare elementary school teachers to facilitate VTS implementation at their school. June 26-29, 2007. For more information email: info@communityartreach.org.

Northwest --

VUE Northwest continues to offer introductory workshops in partnership with local museums, including the Frye Art Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum. Check the upcoming events page for details.
VUE is partnering with Roosevelt High School in Seattle to pilot a high school VTS curriculum with a group of 21 teachers.
Work has begun with the Portland Public Schools and the Portland Art Museum, to introduce VTS to the entire system starting fall 2007.

Finally, a heartfelt thank you!

Throughout VTS's history, our mission has always been to bring the rich and complex world of art to students, and to boost academic achievement in every school where the VTS program is implemented.

We believe that VTS has the potential to affect systemic change throughout the American educational system. Without our generous donors, and our ever-broadending community of VTS suporters and practitioners, we would be unable to realize our goal.

We sincerely thank you.

Sincerely,

The VTS Staff
Visual Understanding in Education