Education Spotlight: An Interview with Dr. Virginia Pepe from Wes Webb on Vimeo.

NDI’s partnership with PS 163 began in 2005 as a full-year program on the 4th grade. Under the leadership of Principal Dr. Virginia Pepe and Assistant Principal Andrea Woodhouse-Spence, NDI has become a central facet of school life.

While all schools have recently faced devastating budget cuts and have had to make difficult choices about how to allocate a scarcity of resources, PS 163 has rallied around the arts, adding an additional NDI program for 5th graders. Last spring, PS 163 received a grant award to convene all of the school’s arts partners in an all-day retreat to examine arts learning across grades K-5 and develop an action plan to address any gaps in the arts curriculum. Arts in education consultant Anne Rhodes was brought in to facilitate. Participants included teaching artists and administrators from NDI, Young Audiences, and Urban Yoga Foundation; in-school specialists in music, visual arts, physical education, and literacy; classroom teachers; parents; and PS 163 leadership. From the findings of the retreat and with the support of PS 163’s dedicated parent association, Dr. Pepe decided to enlist NDI to create a curriculum that would train her 5th graders to become choreographers. Students learn fundamentals of choreography, how to manipulate movement phrases, develop a critical eye, and become literate in dance terminology, culminating in original pieces by the children.

Dr. Pepe notes that the NDI program “takes on a much bigger life than just the relationship between the teaching artists and the children in their dance class, but it permeates the curriculum, and it permeates the classroom.” For the past four years, PS 163 has facilitated conversations around dance between the 3rd and 4th graders. 3rd grade children attend a series of structured rehearsal observations of the 4th grade NDI program. With their classroom teachers, they develop inquiry questions they would like to pose to the 4th graders after attending their final performance. This innovative exchange between grades not only prepares the 3rd grade students for the 4th grade NDI program, but it also gives them foundational skills to participate in rigorous dialogue about the arts.

PS 163’s leadership has positioned the arts to connect children across cultural and socio-economic lines. The school offers four program strands: Gifted & Talented, Integrated Co-Teaching (formerly Collaborative Team Teaching), General Education and Dual-Language in Spanish and English. Children remain with the same group of classmates throughout grades K-5, and 163 was finding their students had few opportunities to interact across programs. Two summers ago, representatives from PS 163 and NDI attended a week-long arts in education conference. The week’s intensive work sessions inspired Assistant Principal Andrea Woodhouse-Spence to devise an ingenious recomposition of the school’s program strands, and Project Integration Through the Arts or PITA was born. Ms. Spence worked with NDI and the school Arts Team to create a year-long schedule in which half of a Gifted & Talented class would be paired with half of a General Education Class, half of an ICT class would be paired with half of a G & T dual-language class, and so on. While the recomposed classes dance with NDI, the other recomposed halves attend visual arts or music. This year, grade 5 is participating in PITA as well; recomposed classes alternate between NDI and science.

NDI Master Teacher Bianca Johnson has identified interesting behavior changes in her classes: “Students who have seen each other every day for five years know each other really well and have labeled each other: “the smart kid,” “the comedian,” “the behavior problem,” etc.” She’s noticing that “In this new configuration, they can’t do that. They hardly know the dancers in the other classes, so in a way they’re starting fresh. Who they are in the classroom isn’t necessarily who they are on stage.” Johnson also notes a marked acceleration in her students’ learning: “I think that because the groups are culturally diverse the dancers are beginning to break down cultural barriers and are starting to learn not to judge people before getting to know them. The dancers who move naturally are models for the kids who don’t. They invest in their combined group, and there are fewer behavior issues, which allows me as a teaching artist and choreographer to take risks with the work and challenge the dancers in deeper ways.”

Dr. Pepe and Ms. Spence’s vision, the extraordinary talents of the school’s teaching faculty, and the tireless fundraising efforts of 163’s parent body have deeply integrated the arts into the school’s curriculum. Dr. Pepe reflects the school’s value that “The arts really matter in the lives of children. They help children to create a broader world view that they will carry with them the rest of their lives.” Despite difficult financial times, the arts remain strong at PS 163. Dr. Pepe sums it up best: “NDI is part of the 163 family, and we feel like we’re part of the NDI family as well.”

NDI/PS 163 PARTNERSHIP HIGHLIGHTS

• Full-year NDI program on grade 4.
• Full-year NDI choreography program on grade 5.
• Cross-grade rehearsal observations and conversations between grade 3 and grade 4.
• PITA (Project: Integration Through the Arts): gifted & talented, special ed, dual-language in Spanish & English, and general ed classes are integrated. Students dance together throughout the year, building a stronger school community.
• Deep collaboration with Literacy Coach, Visual Arts, Music, and Classroom Teachers.
• Complete movement strand: Dance, creative movement, and yoga residencies grades K to 5.
• Summer School partnership with NDI: PS 163 hosts a summer school program for the most academically challenged learners from multiple area schools. These children in grades 3, 4, and 5 find tremendous joy and success in a 2-week NDI intensive, culminating in a performance for families and friends.
• PS 163 received a grant award from Partners for Arts Education to fund an all-day intensive retreat convening PS 163’s arts partners, in-school specialists, and select classroom teachers, parents, and administration. The retreat highlighted both successes and gaps in the arts curriculum and resulted in a comprehensive map of current programs and a strategic plan to further strengthen the arts at PS 163.

PS 163 STATISTICS

• PS 163 is a pre-K through 5th grade school located on 97th Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, serving Manhattan’s Community School District 3.
• Nearly 650 students are enrolled in 4 tracks that address specific needs and challenge abilities: General Education (GE), GE Dual Language (led by bilingual teachers who alternate teaching in English and Spanish), Gifted and Talented (G & T), and Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT), where classes are comprised of a mix of GE and special needs students by 2 teachers, one of whom is certified in Special Ed. There is a G&T Dual Language program for upper level students. Some children from District 75, the citywide district for severely disabled children, are integrated into classes with extra support.
• The majority of PS 163 students are students of color. 47% identify as Latino or Hispanic, 27% as African American, 23% as Caucasian and 3% as Asian or Native American.
• PS 163 offers free lunch to all its students; despite its Upper West Side location, more than 50% of students come from economically challenged households.