Motivating Academic Success (MAS)

21st Century Community Learning Center

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What is Motivating Academic Success (MAS)

The MAS program will provide opportunities for academic enrichment, including providing tutorial services to help students (particularly students who attend low-performing schools), to meet the challenging state academic standards. 

The collaborative is to implement genuine care, respect, and courtesy for children, youth, parents, and each other by meeting the needs of the children, youth, parents, schools, and communities we serve while enhancing and enriching the lives of the children and youth as they become young adults while working as a team towards common goals. 

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What are the targeted community areas?

Envision will be working with students and parents from the following communities; East Side (George Washington Elementary School), South Lawndale (Daniel J. Elementary School), Austin (Sayre Elementary Language Academy), and New City (Robert Fulton Elementary School), in grades, Pre-Kindergarten through 12.

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Where does its funding come from?

MAS is funded by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) 

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What are the goals for MAS?

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• Each school will undergo a needs assessment to determine the supporting services to best fit the community such as Workforce Development, Immigration, Anti-bullying, Gang Intervention/ Prevention, Parent Patrol

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• Schools will improve student achievement in core academic areas

• Schools will show an increase in student attendance and graduation from high school

• Schools will see an increase in  the social-emotional skills of their students 

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Students Through Art Resources (STAR)

What is STAR?

Students through Arts Resources (STAR) is an art education teacher professional development (PD) programs led by Envision Community Services (ECS) in collaboration with Opportunities for All (OFA) and numerous partners, including the University of Chicago Logan Center for the Arts, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and Lookingglass Theatre Company.

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How long does STAR last and where does the funding come from?

STAR is a 4-5 year project funded by the Department of Education's Assistance for Arts Education Development and Dissemination Grant Program (AAEDD).zipcode and 

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Which Communities and Schools are part of STAR?

Currently, the project includes the following communities and elementary schools: East Side (George Washington Elementary School), South Deering (John L. Marsh Elementary School), Austin (Sayre Elementary Language Academy), and Ashburn (Lionel Hampton Fine and Performing Arts School). 

What are the goals for STAR?

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• Creating a system and culture of collaboration among grant partners

• Increase teachers' knowledge and instruction of professional arts education content and arts integration skills

• Increase students' performance in the arts, reading, and mathematics through project PD, educational activities, and resources

• Documenting and replicating the project's instructional strategies

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What types of PD do teachers receive?

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STAR participants receive PD from across the arts disciplines: visual arts, drama/theater, music, dance and theater, and technology/media arts. Sessions are mixed, with some directly focused on arts discipline, for example, textile arts and printmaking. Others will be integration-focused that will merge an academic content area with an arts discipline.

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What opportunities for growth exist for the STAR PD program?

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Currently, there has been an increasing need for integrating technology into arts education. Specifically, utilizing modern creative devices like iPads and Apple Pencils that have been requested by our teachers that participate in our program. Utilizing this technology and training teachers in using these devices allows for a positive and impactful learning experience for the students we collectively serve.