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Arts/Community: Special Programs

The educational assets of Rutherford County are in two categories – the county’s P-12 system and its institutions of higher learning, including Middle Tennessee State University, Motlow State Community College, Tennessee Technology Center and the Tennessee Vocational Training Center.

Programs like the Business Education Partnership at the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce build collaborations between businesses and schools through grants, programs and services such as the BC³ Science Academy, State Farm Summer Business Camp and job shadowing. Mini-grants are made available to teachers, thanks to Nissan, to fund specific classroom projects.

Community enhancements like the Murfreesboro Youth Orchestra and the Discovery Center at Murfree Spring, coupled with special learning and enrichment activities through Middle Tennessee State University’s programs for young people, provide a year-round palette of learning opportunities.

Bradley Academy, the Value Plus School (grades K-6)

Bradley Academy, a Value Plus School (VPS), utilizes art to cultivate critical thinking, creative expression, and ultimately, academic achievement. By learning core subjects through the arts, students begin to think in a way that changes how they feel about school and life in general.

“Arts integration helps develop well-rounded students,” says Regina Payne, principal at Bradley Academy. “This program is a wonderful benefit to our students as well as the overall community.”

Offered through the Tennessee Arts Commission, the VPS program emphasizes arts integration based on Tennessee Teaching Standards. Bradley Academy’s faculty consists of approximately 45 teachers and educational assistants, including drama, visual art, vocal music, and instrumental music teachers.

“Our students are fortunate to have access to multiple art specialists every day,” Payne says. “This type of learning is extremely beneficial to visual learners. School becomes meaningful when these students discover the relationship between art and non-art subjects.”

Infusing performing, visual, literary and traditional art forms into core subjects expands students’ opportunities for learning. Arts integration is adaptable in most classroom settings, allowing students to discover learning styles that work best for them.

“It’s nice to involve the creative process in learning,” says Theresa Sparks, a sixth grade arts and social studies teacher. “We use drama to create stories instead of just reading about them, and in social studies, we create them with clay. Students come to life when we teach like this.”

Ongoing research shows positive effects, including higher test scores, for children who learn through the arts. Supporters of arts integration believe students who study this way develop an overall increased motivation to learn.

“I’ve seen a difference in the grades,” Sparks says. “Recently we completed an extensive study on propaganda. Students who really participate in the art activities understand it really quickly.”

Teaching through the arts also can improve educators’ satisfaction with their role in the classroom. Through the arts, students and teachers get to know each other in different ways.

“Sometimes we don’t give children credit for what’s inside of them,” she says. “There are a lot of talented students in traditional teaching environments, but because they have only one way to express themselves, we may not realize how smart they are.

“Art allows them to create things their own way—with no right or wrong answer.”

Sixth grader Risa Witherow explains how learning through the arts has changed the way she feels about educators.

“I think we expect teachers to be perfect,” she says. “In an arts school, teachers get to try new things with us. When we see that they’re not perfect either, it makes us feel more comfortable. We watch them get better, and we want to try.”

Witherow, an extremely fond student of Bradley Academy, explains why the gift of creative expression has changed the way she feels about learning.

“I get to express how I’m feeling,” she says. “I like to learn new words and use them in my writing. It makes me feel really important to do something I love to do.”

Other students feel the same. Sixth grader Heriberto Alcantar, whose artwork was one of 12 chosen for display in the state capitol, says no one noticed his talent until he came to Bradley Academy—not even himself.

“They saw something I didn’t see,” says Alacantar. “They recognized [my talent] before anyone else did.”

The VPS program is a collaborative teaching effort with arts specialists, generalists, teaching artists, and administrative personnel. The faculty at Bradley Academy receive specialized training throughout hroughout the school year and each summer.