History

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Founded in 1992, Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) quickly became recognized as a leader in school improvement through the arts. CAPE’s original and continuing philosophy stressed collaboration and strong partnerships with funders, CPS school leaders, artists and arts organizations.

Early in CAPE’s history, Dr. James Catterall’s evaluation of the initial CAPE partnerships revealed that involvement with CAPE correlated with successful school improvement both in test scores and thinking and social skills. Dr. Catterall’s findings were published in the widely disseminated study “Champions of Change: The Impact of Arts on Learning,” published in October 1999.

In 2001, CAPE published the book Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning, with contributions from more than 200 participants in the CAPE network. The book continues to be a resource for the arts education field.

In 2003, the Advocacy Institute and the Ford Foundation recognized CAPE and Executive Director Arnold Aprill with a Leadership for a Changing World Award. This award acknowledged CAPE’s leadership in innovative approaches to school improvement through the arts.

In 2003-2004, funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the U. S. Department of Education enabled CAPE to add new schools to its roster. In 2004, professional development programs for teachers became an ongoing part of CAPE’s work.

In 2005, CAPE began integrating after school programs into the CPS schools, carefully coordinating the after school learning with what transpired during the school day.

The Partnership for Arts Integration Research (PAIR) was initiated in 2006 and continued through 2010. This program again examined the effects of arts integration against standardized test scores and demonstrated a clear relationship between arts in schools and improved scores.

International Baccalaureate schools were added to the CAPE roster in 2009, and a new program utilizing teaching portfolios will begin in fall, 2011. Ten schools will initially participate in this new Design Portfolio program.