Music and Dance Drive Academic Achievement
Tucson elementary schools find success by infusing arts into every discipline.
Guidelines and Rubrics for Integrating Arts into the Curriculum
Opening Minds Through the Arts (OMA) is a student-achievement program that uses music, dance, and visual arts to teach skills used in reading, writing, math, science, and other subjects. The curriculum, based on brain-development research, is designed to engage specific skills targeted to each grade level. Independent research demonstrates that OMA has dramatically improved test scores and teacher effectiveness. Launched as a pilot program in 2000, OMA now thrives in more than 40 Tucson, Arizona, public elementary schools.
If you'd like to learn more about this Tucson Unified School District program, the nine PDFs below are a good place to start. The classroom teachers, administrators, professional artists, arts-integration specialists, and community leaders who are champions of the program are eager to see it replicated in schools and school districts elsewhere. OMA's Web site offers more detailed information and consulting services.
Excerpts from the Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) Model Document
OMA Core Model (20 KB)
OMA Professional Development (40 KB)
OMA Instructional Practices (40 KB)
OMA Start-Up Process (20 KB)
Student Achievement Research (872 KB)