Del Mar Elementary in Santa Cruz and John D. Sloat Elementary in Sacramento are joining the Turnaround Arts: California network to invest deeply in the arts to build opportunities for their students and families. These two schools join 20 others working with Turnaround Arts: California in the year ahead.
Turnaround Arts: California will work closely with these schools in the coming years to help them develop a comprehensive approach to using the arts across all facets of the school environment in and outside of the classroom to benefit students, teachers, and families.
Meet our new partner schools:
John D. Sloat Elementary, Sacramento
John D. Sloat Elementary serves 218 students in grades TK-6. 93% of students receive free/reduced-price lunch, and 24% are English language learners. Their hope is to create a campus community that values rigorous academic instruction and opportunities for social emotional learning through the arts.
Principal Africa Fullove shares:
The arts are a vital force in education—offering students an outlet for expression, a practice of freedom, and a pathway to academic success. Far more than enrichment, the arts are a key lever for achievement across all learning styles and backgrounds. They illuminate the diverse and beautiful ways in which students learn, while fostering confidence, creativity, and resilience. When students engage with a range of artistic genres—music, dance, visual art, theater—they are invited to explore their deeper selves, connect with others, and often uncover talents they never knew they had. The arts don’t just support learning; they transform it.
Del Mar Elementary, Santa Cruz
Del Mar Elementary is a K-6 grade school that serves 322 students. 62% of students receive free/reduced-price lunch, and 29% are English language learners. Del Mar’s team believes that consistent access to the arts helps prepare students for the 21st century workforce, and plays a critical role in developing well-rounded students.
The Principal shares:
At Del Mar Elementary, we believe the arts are a powerful way for students to express themselves, build confidence, and deepen their learning. This investment is about giving all our students more opportunities to shine, involving families in creative ways, and bringing joy and connection into every classroom. We’re excited to see how the arts will inspire both our students and our teachers across all subjects.
How will we be working with these schools?
Turnaround Arts: California works with schools for at least four years to ensure the long-term sustainability and impact of the arts – including in the areas of teacher collaboration, student learning, family engagement, and school culture and climate.
Our first year of partnership with these schools focuses on two parallel approaches: 1) team building and arts goal setting at each school site, and 2) engagement with our statewide network of teachers and arts partners to exchange and amplify learnings built over the years.
In the year ahead, we will support each school to:
- Identify the cultural and family assets in their school community that can be leveraged to support student success
- Build a team of teachers at each school who will create annual arts goals and act as the arts champions in the broader school community
- Teach new arts strategies that can be used in every classroom to build engagement, learning, and community
- Create a multi-year plan to identify and roll out key strategies for targeted use of the arts across the school environment.
We are grateful to these schools and their teachers for choosing to partner with Turnaround Arts: California and ensure their students have access to the arts to support their learning engagement. We look forward to sharing more about their journeys in the coming year!
Attendees at our recent summer conference
We’ve been partnering with Finney Elementary for two years, supporting the school in identifying and developing arts strategies that build student learning and family engagement and create a welcoming and joyful school environment. Over the past year, teachers at Finney Elementary worked to expand their use of the arts to include theater in classroom teaching. Principal Rachel Scott shares, “Dr. Niki Elliott says that art is a vehicle to the brain, a gateway to learning. We want to make language come alive through theatre.” In partnership with their Turnaround Arts Coach, Deirdre Moore of 
All teachers at Finney participated in an interactive training workshop, learning the art of tableau, where actors stage a scene that is silent and motionless, in order to depict an event or convey an idea. Teachers learned practical techniques to help them use theater in everyday classroom teaching to make learning fun, meaningful, and memorable. Following the training, teachers received individual support as they began to implement the new theatre arts technique into their teaching, and reflect together on the impact it’s having on student engagement and learning.
95% of teachers reported the arts had a positive impact on student engagement this year. An additional 85% reported a positive impact on academic learning and 89% reported a positive impact on social-emotional learning. A teacher at Echo Valley Elementary in Salinas shared, “My students used the skills they learned in the arts to support their learning, comprehension, and communication. Even typically shy students were sharing their ideas and feelings.”
93% reported that their school’s atmosphere and culture celebrates creativity and artistic achievements. A teacher at Zamboni Middle School in Paramount shared, “Our students have an opportunity to embrace the arts, be creative, and shine.”
83% reported that their school regularly engages families through the arts. A teacher at Abbott Elementary in Lynwood shared, “Through events like musical performances and creative workshops, families actively participate in their children’s education. This has fostered stronger relationships between families and the school and enriched the learning experience for students.”
Willard Intermediate Jazz Band
Carmen (left) and Avery (right), student poets from Hoopa Valley Elementary School
Students from Turnaround Arts: California partner schools
