About

Student Voice and Engagement (SVE) is a four-year grant program funded by the United States Department of Education. PWC is one of 27 grant applicants nationwide to have received this funding. We are honored to be the only New York City-based program to receive the 2021 AAE Award.

SVE is an integrated and collaborative theater and social-emotional learning (SEL) program developed to sustain student engagement. It supports English Language Arts (ELA) and fosters student learning, which is particularly crucial as students re-acclimate to being in schools after stay-at-home orders from COVID-19. Students served by the program benefit from the implementation of a comprehensive formula of SEL competencies guided by healing arts learning, culturally responsive teaching, professional development, and creation of materials to ensure that students can use theater to tell their own stories.

The program helps students meet the theater benchmarks set out in the New York City Blueprint for the Arts, improves their SEL competencies and, secondarily, helps them make progress towards achieving the Priority Learning Standards for English Language Arts (ELA). The program provides high quality professional development to ensure that learning will sustain over time. Additionally, the program supports the creation and distribution of materials, enabling replication in other communities that are in need of support during this critical time period.

Four schools in Brownsville, Brooklyn were selected to participate in SVE. Each school engages a teaching artist, a social worker, and classroom teachers in collaboration towards enhanced student engagement via focus on their understanding of Theatre Arts, SEL, and ELA. Consistency and predictability are core tenets of this program. As such, with the conclusion of the 2022-2023 school year, we've completed our work with the 3rd grade classes and are now following these students into their 4th and 5th grade years to continue building on the foundation that's been laid.