How science is changing the way schools think about art
On most days, San Bernardino’s Barton Elementary looks like most other California schools struggling to make ends meet: There are the familiar modular classrooms, concrete quads and windows covered by metal latticework — an unfortunate reality for children living in high-poverty communities across the nation. But this February day is special. Leaning against the taupe walls, striking images of children’s faces, painted with the expertise and expression of true artists, peer back at the very students who painted them. Children talk excitedly about their creations. For most fifth graders at Barton, it’s the first time they’ve painted a self-portrait — and they’re loving every minute of it.

Barton Elementary, just a few miles from the Inland Regional Center, where the terrorist shooting in December shook the community and the nation, is one of 49 schools currently participating in Turnaround Arts. Turnaround Arts, a combination public-private program organized by the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, has a mission across 14 states and 27 districts to use arts education as a catalyst to improve the nation’s bottom-performing five percent of schools. To read more from The New York Times, click here.