WVSA School for ARTs in Learning (SAIL) is a public charter school and multi-dimensional K-6 learning community that uses an arts-infused curriculum to teach all subjects while meeting standards of learning.
	WVSA ARTiculate Employment Training Program is a vocational and life skills program that uses art studios and the ARTiculate Gallery as a learning environment. Participants are youth with disabilities transitioning from school to work, college, or other training programs.
	WVSA ARTiculate Gallery is a youth-run art gallery that highlights the work of the artist apprentices in the ARTiculate Employment Training Program. Artist apprentices receive a commission on all artwork sold.

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The ARTs
Being unique and creative as a non-profit are ideals that WVSA strives to attain. Not only are we focused on educating DC youth with special needs, special skills, and special talents scholastically as well as vocationally, but we achieve that through arts-infused methods.

WVSA incorporated the ARTs as a tool for learning, in order to highlight the talents of children and youth with special needs.  

WVSA is known for thinking “outside the box” in order to come up with innovative methods of serving children and youth with differing learning styles.

WVSA SAIL Staff

Each and every member of WVSA SAIL teams has his or her own personal tie to the arts through painting, drawing, performance, or music. Therefore our staff understands the value of an arts-infused education and they are passionate about sharing their knowledge.

Our staff is not only passionate, but dedicated as well.  WVSA staff goes the extra mile to incorporate events such as gallery openings into the array of services that we offer our students because interacting with the public and selling their art through direct contact with Gallery patrons allows students to develop confidence and social skills along with artistic skills.  

Environment

WVSA’s physical environment is vibrant and creative. The art displayed prominently throughout the building and Gallery constantly reminds our students that we are proud of their accomplishments. Also, students are respected and are included in every aspect our organization, and therefore they are taught to respect eachother in the same manner.

The location of our facility in downtown Washington, DC also plays an important role of our students’ education. Located in the business district and within walking distance of museums, art galleries, and other cultural institutions,  students are exposed to diversity and culturally enriching experiences that are paramount to the WVSA/SAIL learning module.

Our facility space lends itself to creativity and individual thought, truly allowing our students to learn through the arts. Included in our building is a retail art gallery that is open 5 days a week and showcases the artwork of our students.  We work closely with the surrounding community to make sure that our students and school are an integral part of the business district.

 

WVSA projects not only help students and educators to be more successful in their endeavors and advance WVSA/SAIL’s organizational goals, but they are also available for replication throughout the nation.

SAIL Evaluation Model:
The innovative education methods used at WVSA's School for Arts In Learning (SAIL) require non-traditional teaching and assessment methods. WVSA and SAIL developed an evaluation model to more accurately capture change in affective, experiential, and cognitive domains in children. A monograph describing the evolving evaluation model SAIL uses to assess the effectiveness of its arts-infused learning community is chronicled on this website.  SAIL has now become a model for innovative education used nationwide.

WebProjections™:
WebProjectionsTM uses web-based technologies to trace the development of children’s drawing, literacy, and narrative construction. Specifically, the goal of WebProjectionsTM is to provide web-based drawing tools that children can use to create pictures and stories, similar to how they may use traditional pencil and paper. However, by using WebProjectionsTM, data is automatically stored for comparison and analysis, providing a way to quantitatively and programmatically measure progress via electronic comparison of time-based representations. Initial data points are defined (example: comparison between the lines and regions of drawings) with an emphasis on how the data can be turned into knowledge that enable teachers to gain insight into the spatial understanding of their students. Thus, WebProjectionsTM adopts new media as a measurement tool in addition to its existing role as a learning tool. This program proposes to also develop a whiteboard interface that stores longitudinal data as standards-based Scalar Vector Graphics (SVG). Children can use the interface to construct story framework that is systematically stored online that provides educators with new means of interpreting visual perception and identifying comparisons.

Are you interested in WebProjections?

We would like to hear from you!
If you are affiliated with research in child development and would like to know more about this project, please contact us at webprojections@wvsarts.org or call 202.261.0233.

My Album™:

My Album is an innovative new media and audio project for SAIL students that will focus on their creative impact in music and writing. Each student will writes and produces a personal music album about their personal experiences, focusing and expressing their emotions through lyrics, music and images. In addition to encouraging and improving the personal expression of emotion and the effective communication of thoughts and ideas through writing and words, the students also learn to create/write music. Students are guided through the process of creating a CD cover and booklet for their album. This activity focuses on teaching youth how to communicate through images and also underscores the impact images have on individuals and society as a whole.

My Album allows participants to: strengthen their educational knowledge; express their personal feeling in art and music; learn to express negative feelings and turn it into a positive message/project that others can enjoy and learn; see how technology, English and writing skills, math, history, cultures, and art are all used to create the images and music that they like. This New Media project uses a creative fusion of art and music with new technologies to communicate messages more effectively.

Are you interested in My Album?

We would like to hear from you!
If you are affiliated with research in child development and music and would like to know more about this project, please contact myalbum@wvsarts.org or call 202.261.0233