Arts for Learning (A4L)

Young Audiences’ Arts for Learning Literacy Lessons (A4L Lessons) © is a groundbreaking supplemental literacy program that blends the arts with science to raise student achievement in reading and writing.

Crucial to the program’s long-term impact is the teacher training and mentoring provided: All participating teachers are paired with an arts educator who leads the program. Teachers also receive one-on-one support along the way to learn the content and become confident in delivering the lessons.

Aimed at students in grades 4 through 6, each unit of study is anchored in at least one well-recognized literary work and utilizes one art form (theater, visual art, music, or dance) to provide motivation and deeper understanding of literacy concepts. Local and state learning standards are addressed, such as determining point of view, making inferences, and summarizing.

The curriculum educates the whole child, developing students’ meta-cognitive skills, and fosters dispositions associated with active, engaged learning such as collaboration, communication, and problem solving.

Independent research on the A4L curriculum proves that it leverages the arts across literacy curriculum and has a major, positive effect on student achievement and on student motivation to read—both inside and outside of school.