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The Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) is a city-wide collaboration between MINDPOP, the City of Austin, Austin Independent School District (AISD), and more than 100 art and cultural organizations dedicated to equitable access to creative learning and the arts for every student in Austin. The CLI model is grounded in research showing that arts programs in and out of school have a powerful impact on students' cognition and youth's development (Ruppert, 2006). At the campus level, the three pillars of the program are to (a) increase students' access to sequential fine arts instruction, (b) increase community arts programming during and out of the school day, and (c) foster classroom learning with Creative Teaching across the curriculum. This paper describes the work done to advance CLI goals across the three pillars of the program despite the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was a consequence of the strong foundation CLI maintained over the 10 years prior.

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) offered several academic summer programs to students June through August 2021. These programs offered students opportunities to accelerate their learning, recover academic course credits, and support grade level transition. Although AISD offered a variety of summer programs in 2021, this report focuses on student participation and outcomes for the following locally-funded 2021 remote instruction summer: (1) Prekindergarten 4-year-olds; (2) Fifth-grade transition; (3) Eighth-grade transition; (4) Twelfth-grade credit recovery; and (5) End-of-Course test preparation.

This report examines the impact of Creative Teaching techniques on students' academic growth on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) reading and math tests from 2016-2017 to 2017-2018. Statistically significant growth on STAAR reading was found for students who had teachers who were moderately competent at Creative Teaching techniques and used these techniques at least two times per week in their classrooms.

The Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) is a community-wide effort to bring creative learning and the arts to each and every student in Austin. Lead by MINDPOP, the City of Austin, and Austin Independent School District (AISD), CLI designs systematic and sustainable programs that integrate creativity, creative teaching strategies, and the arts with classroom teaching, campus programming, and campus improvement. Overall, CLI implementation in 2018-2019 was comparable to prior years and continues to have a positive impact on students. This report summarizes the CLI implementation activities. [For the executive summary, see ED629687.]

AISD promotes access to sustained learning for all students in music, visual art, drama, and dance. This report discusses the relationship between sequential fine arts participation and student outcomes for the school year 2017-2018 and how the relationships differ based on student characteristics (i.e., race, ethnicity, special education status and limited English-speaking status). A separate research brief was published. [For the research brief, see ED629584.]

Creative instruction across the curriculum is a critical pillar of the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI). This report, the second in a series of three on CLI, shares teacher's reactions to training in Creative Teaching, how and why they use it in the classroom, and how that usage relates to student outcomes. A separate research brief also was published. [For the research brief, see ED629578. For the first report of the series, "2017-2018 Creative Learning Initiative: Creative Campus Distribution. Publication 17.55," see ED629574.]

National research shows that students attending arts-rich schools have higher levels of motivation and better academic and social success. This report, the first in a series of three on the Creative Learning Initiative, is used to track the progress of our district's investment in the whole child through the arts and creative teaching at each campus during 2017-2018. A separate two-page research brief also was published. [For the research brief, see ED629575.]

This report presents a question-driven exploration of growth and achievement data using SAS EVAAS reports. The purpose of this exploration was to bring additional data, information, and ways of thinking about student growth to ongoing district conversations about the measurement of campus-level student growth.

This research brief summarizes highlights from the full report (published separately) on program evaluation activities for the 2016-2017 school year in AISD. [For the full report, see ED629313.]

This report summarizes program evaluation activities for the 2016-2017 school year in AISD. A separate research brief also was published. [For the research brief, see ED629314.]

Telecommuting is currently used in many industries and is celebrated for fostering job satisfaction and increased productivity. However, telecommuting is not widely practiced in K-12 environments. Two departments in AISD implemented pilot telecommuting programs. This report presents survey results from these pilot implementation models and summarizes the lessons learned to better understand the challenges and best practices of implementation.

The Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) is a community-wide effort to bring creative learning and the arts to each and every student in Austin. Lead by MINDPOP, the City of Austin, and the Austin Independent School District (AISD), CLI designs systemic and sustainable programs that integrate creativity, creative teaching strategies, and the arts with classroom teaching, campus programming, and campus improvement. Evaluation findings suggest CLI implementation had a positive impact on the district, its teachers and the students it serves. This is the research brief for the full report (published separately). [For the full report, see ED627098.]

This report summarizes changes in student discretionary discipline removals from AISD schools and changes in staff's climate survey results as well as student's climate survey results from 2011-2012 through 2015-2016, with a focus on when learning support centers (LSCs) were implemented in 2012-2013.

The Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) is a community-wide effort to bring creative learning and the arts to each and every student in Austin. Lead by MINDPOP, the City of Austin, and the Austin Independent School District (AISD), CLI designs systemic and sustainable programs that integrate creativity, creative teaching strategies, and the arts with classroom teaching, campus programming, and campus improvement. Evaluation findings suggest CLI implementation had a positive impact on the district, its teachers and the students it serves. A separate research brief also was published. [For the research brief, see ED627099.]

The report summarizes AISD enrollment trends from Fall 2015 to Fall 2016 by grade level and student group. Also included are updates to the transfer policy.

State Compensatory Education (SCE) is a supplemental program designed to eliminate disparities in (a) student performance on assessment instruments administered under chapter 39 of the Texas EducationCode (1995, amended 2013), and (b) the rates of high school completion between students who are at risk of dropping out of school, as defined by Texas Education Code 29.081 (1995, amended 2013), and all other students. SCE funds must be used for programs or services that are supplemental to the regular education program and aim to increase the performance of students identified as at risk of dropout.

This report is one of several that examines student academic performance data to investigate equity in AISD. It describes the performance gaps between and among student groups district-wide for reading, math, writing, disciplinary removals/placements, and graduation rates.

To understand the most common reasons that students leave the Austin Independent School District (AISD), and identify where students go after they leave, the Department of Research and Evaluation conducted a survey in English and Spanish. For the purpose of the survey, leavers were defined as students who attended AISD during the 2014-2015 school year, but who were not enrolled at AISD in October of 2015.

This report presents findings from the 2014-2015 school year, the second year of comprehensive data collection of the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI) in the Austin Independent School District (AISD). Data suggest participating in the CLI had a positive impact on both teachers and students, as well as on the district. Teachers reported positive experience with the program activities and positive changes in student engagement, behavior, and student achievement. Student outcomes included increased student access to arts opportunities, improved student attendance, decreased discipline incidents, and better academic performance. Our findings indicated that 37% of AISD schools were arts-rich, which exceeded the benchmark goal for schools meeting the arts-rich standard.

Creative instruction across the curriculum is a critical pillar of the Creative Learning Initiative (CLI). This research brief summarizes key results from the full report (published separately), the second in a series of three on CLI, shares teacher's reactions to training in Creative Teaching, how and why they use it in the classroom, and how that usage relates to student outcomes. [For the full report, see ED629576.]

AISD promotes access to sustained learning for all students in music, visual art, drama, and dance. This research brief summarizes key points from the full report (published separately) which discusses the relationship between sequential fine arts participation and student outcomes for the school year 2017-2018 and how the relationships differ based on student characteristics (i.e., race, ethnicity, special education status and limited English-speaking status). [For the full report, see ED629582.]

National research shows that students attending arts-rich schools have higher levels of motivation and better academic and social success. This two-page research brief summarizes key points from the full report (published separately), the first in a series of three on the Creative Learning Initiative, is used to track the progress of our district's investment in the whole child through the arts and creative teaching at each campus during 2017-2018. [For the full report, see ED629574.]

English language learners were more likely to attend school and to meet the STAAR passing standards in reading and math when their teachers used creative teaching strategies more frequently. These findings coincide well with the research that encourages teachers of foreign languages to be creative in their teaching so that students not only benefit from language learning, but also develop broader educational objectives and learning outcomes (Maley & Peachey, 2015).

During Fall 2015, the Austin Independent School District's (AISD) Department of Research and Evaluation (DRE) supported the work of the Enrollment Innovation Design Team with several reports identifying leaver patterns and reasons. That work is summarized in this document. In Fall 2016, DRE will conduct an environmental scan of campuses with increasing enrollment and will investigate predictors of increasing or decreasing enrollment.

The following report presents Austin Independent School District (AISD) English language learner students' (ELLs) 2013-2014 3rd and 4th grade state academic test results in reading and math, providing a comparison to AISD and State of Texas performance. In addition, ELLs' performance on an early elementary reading measure in 2013 and 2014 is summarized.