About TEAL

---

To support and advance the Los Angeles County Cultural Inclusive Initiative, the Technology Enhanced Arts Learning (TEAL) Project uses blended learning (online and in-person) to build capacity in a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) arts education infrastructure throughout Los Angeles County schools with equitable access to high quality no-cost professional development, online tools, and resources. 

Both PreK-8 pre-service and in-service educators are served by this project. TEAL seeks to redress the minimal attention that arts education has received in the public school curriculum for many years, by delivering engaging and practical professional development, building the confidence and skills that teachers need to develop and use effective arts integration with their students. For students, families, and community members, TEAL provides opportunities to come together and engage in culturally inclusive arts education activities that incorporate evidence-based strategies which can lower the affective filter-nurturing the development of cognitive and social competencies supporting academic achievement.

TEAL offers experiential learning, tools, and resources that combine engaging interaction with virtual/in-person instruction and an online Community of Practice, thus facilitating peer interaction in tandem with the flexibility and accessibility of no-cost, online learning and networking. TEAL self-paced online modules and digital resources furnish culturally relevant content that is unique to each of the Arts disciplines, including dance, music, theatre, and the visual and media arts. Educators will learn methods of integrating the learning objectives of these art forms with other subject areas. The areas of STEAM and Social and Emotional Learning Using the Arts are also addressed with virtual/in-person training and customized support. This model is designed to reach the teachers and students in the 81 school districts, charter school and private networks throughout Los Angeles County and beyond to cross-county/statewide agencies.

TEAL is an example of the power of collective impact community partnerships --- private and public schools, district offices, universities, performing arts organizations, museums, and county education staff --- to facilitate this important work. The arts organizations that have given indispensable assistance and guidance to TEAL also support a vast array of arts programs, projects, events, and educational needs throughout and beyond the Los Angeles region.

Collective Impact Partnerships between the LA County Department of Arts and Culture and the LA County Office of Education (LACOE) began in 2014 with funding from the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission. Such prestigious collective/funding partners have expanded over the years to include California Department of Education, LA County Department of Mental Health, National Endowment for the Arts, LA County Parks & Recreation, California Alliance for Arts Education, California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA), Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Disney Imagination Campus, Universal Studios Hollywood, El Pueblo Los Ángeles, and Spotify-Soundtrap.

The development and implementation of TEAL brings together arts educators from Los Angeles County, including arts education specialists from the world-class Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Arts Education Collective of Los Angeles, the Colburn School of Performing Arts, the Chinese American Museum of LA, Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA), and even musicians whose “day jobs” include a Mars Project Engineer at the Jet Propulsion Agency, Pasadena.

Curriculum and technology specialists from the Center for Distance and Online Learning at the Los Angeles County Office of Education collaborate with these highly regarded organizations, educators from Los Angeles School Districts and Charter/Private School Networks, and faculty and students from Institutes of Higher Education. These local organizations work collectively to advance equitable access for all students to the arts, to build capacity in schools and districts, and to create a lasting, sustainable framework of arts integration in schools throughout LA County.