Performing Arts Classroom Teaching (PACT)

K-12 STEAM education

Long Beach

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Performing Arts Classroom Teaching (PACT) is a literature based, sequential theatre education program which is provided to the Long Beach Unified School District by International City Theatre at no-cost to the schools. Serving 3rd grade classes exclusively, PACT fills the educational gaps created by years of budget cuts to the arts and provides a supplementary curriculum which aims to boost slumping English scores across the board. Currently, more than half of all LBUSD students are not meeting California State English standards. Across California, the share of students meeting or exceeding English standards has dropped 3.81 percentage points from 2019 to 2022, falling to 47.06%. The LBUSD’s decrease was nearly double the state average. Students meeting or exceeding English standards fell 6.05 percentage points to 47.05%. For students in the 3rd grade, only approximately 48% of all students are currently meeting state English standards.

Delivered in 3 weekly workshops, PACT increases the number of children receiving high-quality arts programming and raises academic performance through a curriculum which strengthens literacy, language arts, and communication. Serving the LBUSD for almost 25 years, PACT creates equity in our community by removing financial barriers to the arts.
The sequential workshop format allows students to build on ideas learned in previous sessions, as outlined below:
Week 1: Fundamentals of theatre, acting, characterization, and elements of a play are introduced; vocabulary related to these concepts. Study guides support comprehension and literacy.
Week 2: Students view a play and complete a “Be the Critic'' exercise; applying critical and analytical thinking. ICT artist/educators then lead the students in a collaborative playwriting exercise, empowering them to use their creative thinking and newly learned storytelling skills referencing relevant subjects in their lives.
Week 3: A peer performance of their written play utilizes learned tools for confidence and poise. Students further implement critical and creative thinking in development of their character with the use of emotion and body language to communicate the five W’s – who, what, where, when, and why.
In addition to literacy enhancement, the PACT program provides crucial emotional agility and empathy learning, critical and creative thinking skills, methods of effective communication and lessons in teamwork and collaboration.

PACT creates nearly 15,000 arts interactions each year, introducing many young people to the arts and creating equity by removing financial barriers to theatre. Although Long Beach has seen a boom in development and welcomed many new residents over the past decade, nearly 65% of all LBUSD students are still defined as socioeconomically disadvantaged. PACT fosters the development of young people’s imagination and boosts their mental health, while alleviating much of the stress often associated with STEM education by encouraging students to interact with one another and develop their personalities. As young people navigate a world with an unprecedented number of digital connections, PACT reminds participants of the importance of face-to-face communication to solve problems. PACT uses the arts to create new feelings of empathy and compassion in young people, allowing them an opportunity to learn from one another and see what they have in common, rather than focus on their differences.