Oklahoma A+ Schools® is Oklahoma’s
only research-based whole school network with a mission of nurturing creative
learners. Located on the campus of the University of Central Oklahoma, OK A+
provides schools with ongoing professional development, an intricate network of
support, and an active research component conducted by university professors.
Spanning the state and growing every year, this network represents every kind of
school from early childhood through high school, in urban, suburban and rural
Oklahoma.
The initiative was conceived in North Carolina where it began
as a research model sponsored by the Kenan Institute for the Arts. In 1998, the
Kirkpatrick Foundation provided support through the DaVinci Institute to
identify the country’s most successful education reform models. When a joint
research team from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University
identified the North Carolina A+ Schools’ Program as one with great potential
for replication in Oklahoma, the initiative was born. Oklahoma A+ is also a
member of the National Consortium of A+ Schools. Schools commit to a set of
eight A+ Essentials™ which they learn about during the initial Summer Institute
and through the ongoing professional development provided by a highly qualified,
innovative group of teachers, teaching artists and practicing artists known as
A+ Fellows. The A+ Fellows, under the direction of the A+ Staff, help build the
capacity of each school to collaboratively set and reach the goal of creating
the schools they want for the children they love. A+ Schools build
community-wide ownership of a school’s collaboratively developed goals and
objectives.
In March 2004 a group of teachers from East
London visited schools as part of the Oklahoma A+ Schools Programme. Jean
Hendrickson, Executive Director of the Programme was a keynote speaker at Arts
and Minds an event we delivered at Sadlers Wells in May 2005. In 2007 Creative
Practitioners and Teachers from North London visited Oklahoma A+ Schools as part
of an action research programme.
Read more about Oklahoma A+ Schools