Westwind School for Performing Arts (WSPA) will serve students in grades 6-8 when they open. WSPA is an open-enrollment charter school and is sponsored by the Timmons Arts Foundation. As a FY2020 APSRC CSP Subgrantee, WSPA was awarded $1,250,000 in May 2020.

The mission of Westwind School for Performing Arts is to provide an equitable and engaging educational experience that is enhanced by the arts. We believe that by establishing strong connections between students and the performing arts community, students will embrace the belief that learning is a creative and enlightening process.

Five essential elements comprise Westwind’s mission statement. Programmatic features of the school design are highlighted for each of the five essential elements.

1. To maintain an Equitable environment, Westwind will:

• make all data transparent data;

• view data generated by students as owned by students; and

• use formative and summative evaluations in addition to student voice data to determine program effectiveness.

2. To ensure the curriculum is Arts-Infused, Westwind will:

   • develop curricula units, referred to as ACTs, which culminate in an art product;

   • deliver scaffolded and spiraled instruction and embed performance opportunities to allow for demonstration of mastery; and

   • leverage art as a natural connector of disciplines, highlighting concepts and skills that are authentically shared among content areas.

3. To ensure work is Academically Rigorous, Westwind will: ○

   • use performance-based assessment to plan, teach and assess learning;

   • center instruction on the significant concepts found within state standards;

   • challenge students to handle the majority of the cognitive load throughout instruction so that students feel purposeful struggle and success every day; and

   • expect students to continually comprehend, apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate knowledge throughout the day.

4. To ensure students are Interconnected with the Community, Westwind will:

   • cultivate a network of community partners and establish opportunities for learning that extend beyond the brick and mortar classroom setting around the competencies of performance arts, fashion design & merchandising and fine arts; and

   • integrate job-embedded instruction by using artist mentors as instructors for some elective courses.

5. To ensure students’ belief the learning process is one of Creativity and Enlightenment, Westwind will:

   • integrate reflection and feedback across all aspects of the school since it is critical for actions growth and mastery of student self-agency;

   • provide explicit instruction and application opportunities of executive function skills and social-emotional skills, which naturally occur in the performance arts; and

   • design all student work and assessment to act as opportunities for students to learn and grow.