The Foundations School, West Palm Beach, Florida

The Foundations School at North West Village recently opened its doors to K-3rd graders offering small classroom sizes, free tuition, and a central focus on arts integration that significantly improves reading scores - the key to academic success.

The school is an extension of the Center for Creative Education, whose mission is to transform teaching and learning through the arts and to reach as many students as possible to ensure the most significant impact for the communities they serve.

Why Arts Integration?

Studies show an arts-based curriculum impacts student achievement on many levels.

• The arts provide opportunities for all learners—even struggling learners—to be successful

• Develops feelings of student self-efficacy

• Increases intrinsic motivation to learn

• Develops students’ abilities to apply learning to new situations and experiences

“We know from the experience of our summer academy that reading improves when art is a focus,” said Jerry Crank, Chief Operating Officer, Center for Creative Education. “By the time the kids left our eight-week program, over nighty percent had improved their reading skills, and half were reading at grade level. When the art supplies come out, it’s equal ground, and they participate just as strong as their peers.”

Mission

The Foundations School’s mission is to “disrupt educational inequality by successfully teaching all students the foundations of learning—curriculum engagement, social, emotional well-being, creative practice, reading proficiency and academic achievement.”

Currently located in Florida’s historic Northwood community, the school aims to be an educational center for the neighborhood, providing innovative learning in small group settings. The program is devoted to equity and access for all and an end to multigenerational poverty through academic success.

The pandemic has cast a bright light on educational inequities across the country. The Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation’s mission is to assist organizations that utilize the arts to create programs that inspire, engage and teach. We’re excited to watch as innovative learning programs such as The Foundations School help set our children on the path to success.