U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will visit Brightwood Elementary School in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Oct. 28, to learn how teachers are using the arts to teach preschool students about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The initiative is a partnership between the school and the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning through the Arts, a program of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. The Wolf Trap Institute's teaching artists coach teachers in using arts-based strategies to enrich early childhood learning. District of Columbia School Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts President and CEO Arvind Manocha, along with others, will join Duncan.
Following a preschool classroom visit, Secretary Duncan will hold a roundtable with STEM and art teachers, local business and education leaders, and elected officials about the importance of early learning, particularly in STEM education, and highlight how the arts can be used to engage students in a fun, innovative and meaningful way.
The program at Brightwood Elementary is one of many funded, in part, through a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement. Wolf Trap uses the grant to develop, research, and disseminate a model early childhood program to support early math teaching and learning through active arts-based experiences for pre-K and kindergarten children.