Program Quality Assessment: The Proven Excellence of KID smART in Action!

KID smART has been providing arts programming in the New Orleans area for 25 years. Though we’re constantly bragging about the magic of education through imagination, why simply take our word for it? Let’s take a look at the proven excellence of arts integration in action!

This past March, KID smART underwent a Program Quality Assessment (PQA), done by The Forum for Youth Investment and The Center for Youth Program Quality. The assessment evaluates four main areas of our program, which are referred to as Domains: Safe Environment, Supportive Environment, Interaction and Engagement. These domains are then further broken down into specific action items that are scored on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0 (a score of 1.0 reflecting an area of concern and a score of 5.0 denoting excellence).

When compared against other organizations, KID smART outperformed in nearly every category! In the items listed among the Supportive Environment domain, which encompasses criteria such as warm welcomes, reframing conflict, active engagement, and youth skill building, KID smART received perfect scores across the board.

In regards to staff support, which included things such as the encouragement of youth to try new skills, breaking down tasks and supporting struggling youth, KID smART outperformed the average by nearly two whole points!

The Engagement domain included action items such as youth engaging with materials and ideas as well as the balancing of concrete and abstract concepts. In this domain, KID smART scored within the range of excellence in all corresponding areas as well. 

Overall, in all four observation domains, KID smART was well above the average scores of other PQA’s. This feat is made possible by the passion and expertise of our arts integration specialists, our community of supporters, and the students that embrace the imaginative thinking of our arts integration approach.

Through these observations, one thing was made clear: KID smART is spearheading the charge on impactful, engaging arts programming that will continue to transform communities as the mission expands. Whether it’s through the facilitation of safe spaces for students, increased comprehension and retention of material, or heightened self-expression, arts integration elevates and enhances education in a multitude of ways. KID smART will continue to maintain this excellence and strive for new highs in the coming years!