APPROPRIATION OVERVIEW

Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts will administer the Early STEM Arts and Literacy program for preschool, kindergarten, and 1st grade students in Accomack, Albemarle, Arlington, Chesterfield, Fairfax, Henrico, Loudoun, Norfolk, Petersburg, Richmond, Suffolk, and Wythe Public Schools. The model will also support growth in the 5C skills identified in the Profile of a Virginia Graduate. Within this appropriation, funds may support the phase-in of services into currently unserved divisions in an equitable manner, with a special focus on capacity building and establishing new services in Superintendent’s Regions 3, 6, or 8. Wolf Trap Foundation will work with the Department of Education and currently served divisions to determine need and phase programs into unserved divisions. Wolf Trap Foundation will report bi-annually to the Chairs of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education and Health and the Superintendent of Public Instruction on its activities, including number of divisions served, number of students served, number of educators served, and number of families impacted.

WOLF TRAP INSTITUTE OVERVIEW

Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts (Wolf Trap Institute), a program of Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, has long been recognized as a national model for utilizing the performing arts to support young children’s cognitive, social/emotional, and physical development to prepare them for school, while enhancing educators’ instructional skills through effective artsintegrated professional development. Wolf Trap Institute was established in 1981 under a grant from the Head Start Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In the decades since, Wolf Trap Institute has earned a national reputation for excellence and innovation in arts-integrated early childhood education and now works with 27 affiliates, nationally and internationally, as well as other independent sites across the country with a presence in 30 states, the District of Columbia, and Singapore.