Paula Merritt / The Meridian Star File PhotoPoplar Springs Elementary School students Sakayla Burton, left, A. J. Walker and Makinna Albritton use their hands as they learn about different numerical values in their math class in January, 2018, as part of an Any Given Child presentation.

Meridian community leaders had lofty expectations for student achievement and outcomes when they completed the application in February 2016 to partner with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through the Ensuring the Arts for Any Given Child initiative. 

Research shows schools with arts integration in math, science, social studies and English language arts have fewer dropouts, increased school attendance, more parental involvement, higher teacher morale, fewer discipline referrals, improved school environments and higher academic test scores. 

It can sound like an answer to a prayer for a school district with a history of struggling with high dropout rates and less than desired graduation rates. The Meridian Public School District, the Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts and other community partners have joined with the Washington, D.C.-based Kennedy Center for the second year to receive $100,000 over four years to support arts integration education resources, consulting and other partnership efforts. 

Massachusetts-based nonprofit organization and public program evaluator Steven J. Holochwost works in a three-person team for the consulting company WolfBrown, which contracted with the Kennedy Center to evaluate eight Any Given Child sites throughout the country to help determine success of the initiatives. Holochwost and another team member recently visited Meridian to meet with members of the Any Given Child community arts team committee members and others, part of site visits that will include Las Vegas, Nevada; Jacksonville, Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana; Missoula, Montana; Portland, Oregon; Juneau, Alaska and Warren, Ohio. 

Meridian is different from other sites since the Any Given Child effort here to bring dance, music, drama and visual arts into classes not usually associated with the arts since the initiative here remains in relative infancy. However, Holochwost said efforts must exist even in early stages to determine what and how to measure if the effort succeeds. 

“The bottom line is we can’t expect the arts to fix everything that’s wrong in a child’s life,” said Holochwost, who has a bachelor’s degree in music and psychology from Yale University and has earned a doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. “I think certain arts programs designed to achieve certain things if implemented well can improve certain aspects of a child’s life.” 

Holochwost said he worries about large community initiatives leading leaders and the public to believe a silver bullet exists to solve all problems found in schools. He said such beliefs can turn good intentions into failure through unrealistic expectations and confusion about the goals. 

“When some of them aren’t fulfilled, people write the program off as a failure,” he said. 

As he and other program evaluators review efforts and data collected in Meridian for Any Given Child, special attention will be given to goals and ways to measure to success. 

“I think it has great potential to improve the lives of children in many ways,” he said. “But I think as with any program, you need to pick the most important areas of improvement and strive to improve them.” 

Charlotte Tabereaux, education director at MSU Riley Center, and other leaders with the local Any Given Child effort met with the program evaluators extensively last week to discuss efforts, goals, and opportunities. The overall report from WolfBrown will be delivered to the Kennedy Center this summer; however, feedback during the program evaluators’ site visit already has people associated with the local effort thinking about defining and measuring success. 

Meeting with the program evaluation experts has helped Tabereaux begin thinking of re-evaluating and tweaking surveys used for the program in Meridian. It also has her thinking about the different layers of evaluation – shortterm, longterm, evaluation of students, teachers, and the school district overall. 

“There will be people who think we’re not successful because they’re not looking at the whole picture,” Tabereaux said. “After one year there may not be a lot of changes, but there will be changes over several years.”  

She said evaluation of Any Given Child’s success in Meridian will require evaluation of more than student test scores. She said efforts to take students to arts experiences such as the soon-to-open Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience, the Meridian Museum of Art, the Little Theater, operas in Jackson and other programs broaden students’ horizons and help them think about worlds they didn’t know existed. 

“All of these things will make them better human beings and help highlight the beauty of life,” Tabereaux said. “The arts can build children’s self-esteem, critical thinking, creativity, self-confidence, compassion and communication skills. These are things employers want employees to have.”  

She said she knows measuring success is as important as the professional development for teachers learning storytelling techniques and students acting out drama performances. She said she knows the value measuring success but also said efforts will require patience from the public to see strides and gains made.

“It will take several years,” she said. “I’ve been thinking all along six to 10 years.”