A Multiprong Approach to Empowering Students and Educators: Engaging Arts-Integrated Social Studies Program Stakeholders in Program Design and Evaluation

Abstract Information: This presentation will describe the various approaches to student and other stakeholder (e.g., social studies teachers, teaching artists, school leaders) empowerment through a program aimed at providing arts-integrated culturally relevant social studies lessons for middle school students. Our approach includes multiple ways to increase empowerment among our stakeholders through program content, and input on program and evaluation design. During our presentation, we will discuss these multiple approaches which include: 1) providing opportunities for students to have expression/voice through arts-integrated culturally relevant social studies topics (e.g., the Civil Rights Movement), that may connect to them personally, their passions, as well as their family, history, and/or racial or cultural background; 2) using qualitative approaches (e.g., interviews and focus groups) to collect student and other stakeholder perspectives (e.g., social studies teachers and teaching artists who deliver the lessons) as an opportunity for stakeholders to voice the benefits of arts-integrated social studies, as well as ideas or recommendations for how lessons or experiences could be improved; and 3) facilitating a “participant committee” and “leadership institute” to provide participants, as well as leaders, opportunities to provide additional input on both the program itself, as well as input on the future evaluation methods. We will also share how the program implementers and evaluators have used stakeholder voices to modify both the program and evaluation designs to ensure that students and other educators feel empowered, and their voices are heard. Our presentation will also include lessons learned from these approaches.