MANSFIELD — The Renaissance, in partnership with the Mansfield Art Center and Mansfield City Schools, has been selected as one of four nationwide sites to participate in a “Communities of Practice” program hosted by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
“Communities of Practice” is an extension program for the Partners in Education program, which is entering its sixth year in Mansfield, aimed at increasing teacher engagement in the professional development program.
The Mansfield partnership team was designated to the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education network in 2010 It is currently one of only two sites for the program in Ohio, with 95 sites in the United States. The Partners in Education program seeks to provide educators with high-quality professional development in arts education and integration into Common Core academic subjects.
The Communities of Practice initiative will take place over the next 18 months as the Mansfield team works closely with three other teams from Georgia, Michigan, and Virginia to identify and find solutions to problems that are common to many Partners in Education sites across the country.
At the culmination of the project, the research and findings that emerge will be disseminated nationwide to the Kennedy Center network.
Participants in the Communities of Practice study will conduct their work under the guidance of Lynne Silverstein, Senior Program Consultant for Kennedy Center Education programs. Previously, Silverstein served as a Kennedy Center Education Department staff member, director of a teacher center for a national education lab, and an arts specialist Virginia public schools.
