Neola Young, Program Coordinator Parents for Public Schools of Jackson 200 North Congress St. 5th Floor Jackson, MS 39201 Phone: 601-969-6015 Fax: 601-969-6041

Students in Mrs. Brown's kindergarten class at Woodville Heights created cat cutouts after reading the book Ginger by Charlotte Voake.

First graders play a simple melody in Ms. Davis' music class.

Ms. Sullivan directs third graders in a rehearsal for "The Woman Who Outshone the Sun."

Other Partners

The Millsaps Principals' Institute

Parents for Public Schools of Jackson

Ford Foundation

Ask 4 More Arts

The Ask for More Arts Collaborative was launched in 2005 with funding from a Ford Foundation grant as a school-community-arts partnership designed to provide elementary students in Jackson Public Schools the opportunity of learning through the arts.

Ask for More Arts emphasizes integrating arts education into regular instruction in the elementary classroom. Teachers at partner schools receive high quality training in how to use the arts to teach core subjects such as reading, math, science, and social studies and how to connect learning for children across the curriculum. Integrating arts into classroom teaching creates hands-on, highly engaged work for children that makes learning relevant and motivates students to take ownership for their success. 

Collaboration with individual artists and arts organizations advances what is learned in the classroom with additional exposure to the arts. For example, schools will have opportunities to engage artists in residence who work with teachers and students to teach language or math concepts through drawing or dance. Schools will be encouraged to use field trips to museums or performances by professional artists to reinforce social studies, science, and other subject areas.

Ask for More Arts grew out of the very successful Ask for More Collaborative, established in 1999 in Lanier High School and the six elementary and two middle schools that feed students into Lanier High. In keeping with the Ask for More model of collaboration, Ask for More Arts partners meet regularly to develop and implement strategies that support learning through the arts, both in and outside the classroom.

Ask for More Arts Collaborative Schools:

• Barr Elementary
• Boyd Elementary
• Bradley Elementary
• Brown Elementary
• Casey Elementary
• Clausell Elementary
• Davis Elementary
• Dawson Elementary
• Galloway Elementary
• Green Elementary
• John Hopkins Elementary
• Johnson Elementary
• Lake Elementary
• Lee Elementary
• Marshall Elementary
• McLeod Elementary
• McWillie Elementary
• Oak Forest Elementary
• Pecan Park Elementary
• Smith Elementary
• Sykes Elementary
• Van Winkle Elementary
• Walton Elementary
• Woodville Heights Elementary