2019 Certificate of Study Honorees

The Kennedy Center is pleased to announce that 15 teachers from Bailey’s Elementary will be receiving the Certificate of Study at an awards ceremony, dinner, and special performance at the Kennedy Center on Friday, April 26.  In order to receive the Kennedy Center Certificate of Study, teachers attended a minimum of 21 hours of professional learning opportunities in the arts and created a documentation PowerPoint that showed how they used the arts strategies in their classrooms. 

Below is a list of teachers from Bailey's Elementary School receiving the 2019 Certificate of Study: 

Neelima Chirumamilla

Shannon Egan

Rebecca Epstein

Catherine Giacomo

Sara Leinkram

Jeff McKinney

Rosalba Mendoza

Indiana Obando

Janice Perreault

Hooma Reza

Kate Rinaldi

Michelle Rodriguez

Kathryn Rubish

Christy Speicher

Joanne Warner

Key Messages

• The arts are an effective learning and teaching tool. The Kennedy Center’s Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) empowers teachers with skills and confidence to use these tools in the classroom.
• CETA is a professional learning program designed to assist educators in efforts to teach the arts as well as how to utilize the practice of arts-integrated instruction. 
• Teachers’ professional learning is an essential component of any effort designed to increase the artistic literacy of young people.
• Numerous studies point to the value of arts education in improving student outcomes. Partnering with educators is fundamental to integrating the arts across the curriculum.
• By learning through arts integration, students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both.
• These learning experiences through CETA provide educators with resources, strategies, and understanding that will enable them to include the arts in their teaching.

Key Background and Facts

• The Certificate of Study recognizes educators who have continued their professional learning in the arts. Educators will receive their Certificate of Study in an awards ceremony and reception on Friday, April 26 at the Kennedy Center.
• The 2019 recipients of the Certificate of Study Award include 53 teachers from the following school districts: Alexandria City Public Schools, Virginia; Arlington Public Schools, Virginia; Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia; and Prince William County Public Schools, Virginia.
• In order to receive a Certificate of Study, teachers participate in a minimum of 21 hours of professional learning through the CETA program in order to explore ways to bring the arts into their classrooms.
• As part of the program, teachers develop and submit documentation that shows evidence of the impact of the arts on student learning, which supports research studies conducted by the Kennedy Center of the importance and positive impact of arts learning and arts integration.
• Through the CETA program, teachers work together with their colleagues in courses and workshops led by expert teaching artists and educators.  
• Through CETA each year, more than 700 teachers participate in approximately 90 courses and workshops, which impact around 21,000 students and are available to any teacher in the D.C. metropolitan area.
  • Professional learning programs developed and refined locally through this program are shared nationally through the national Arts Integration Conference and the Kennedy Center’s Partners in Education program