ODAEP approach to student support services is rigorously linked to research-based practices in both content and methodology. Published in 2000, Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning reported the following conclusions that have become the basis for much of ODAEP’s inter-disciplinary approach to student enrichment and learning practice:
- The arts reach students who are not otherwise being reached. Strong arts participation makes a more significant difference to the academic performance of students from low-income backgrounds than for high-income students. The arts also combat boredom in successful students who need new challenges.
- Arts education need not be characterized solely in terms of discipline specific education or arts-infused curricula; it is not an either/or choice that needs to be approached in one way. Learning and engagement stimulate more of the same across disciplines.
- The arts teach workplace necessities – the ability to generate ideas, communicate them to others and bring them to life. Project-based learning in the arts mirrors a very practical work environment.
- The arts transform the learning environment by re-energizing teachers and engaging the community. Accordingly, ODAEP's student support services address the complex issues facing students—both in their lives while in school and the complexities of the 21st Century global economy that waits for them after graduation—by providing training currently unavailable to them. Through its extensive services offerings, participants in ODAEP programs engage in meaningful, healthy relationships with positive adult role models who are also practicing professionals in their field. Through structured activities focused on the core principles of character & professional development, self-esteem promotion, problem solving, teambuilding, and conflict management, participants gain valuable tools they can use both while in school and when they enter the workforce.
