The Impact of Art at Plymouth Youth Center Arts and Technology

Abstract

Plymouth Youth Center Arts and Technology High School (PYC) is an emerging expansion of the contract alternative high school that the Plymouth Community Youth Center (PCYC) runs. The school administration is concerned and committed to closing the achievement gap and to creating an environment where rigor and high expectations will become the norm for both staff and students. During the most recent pilot year (2008-2009), the school has focused specifically on integrating the arts through both embedding the arts into the core curriculum and through offering specialty workshops, such as music production and theatre. The research undertaken in the course of this capstone project, conducted by Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs graduate students at the University of Minnesota, is intended to inform PYC administration on the impact of arts integration on student satisfaction and success. This project aims at evaluating the implementation of arts programming from students’ perspectives: is it working or not, how is the new arts focus impacting student motivation and learning, and is it impacting why students chose to come to PYC? In order to better understand how arts programming during the pilot year is impacting the student experience at PYC, researchers conducted a comprehensive literature review, two site visits to other arts high schools, five focus groups, a student survey, and a staff survey.