The International Baccalaureate Teaching Arts Project (IB-TAP) is a four-year research based, collaborative initiative between Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education and Chicago Public Schools, aimed at improving teacher instruction and student performance in the arts and other core academic areas. This Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination grant is supported by the US Department of Education.
IB-TAP takes place in six IB elementary Chicago Public Schools building a collaborative process for developing and implementing standards based, arts-integrated curricula in grades 6, 7, and 8, and building upon IB methodology in the Middle Years Programme. Artist partners are paired with classroom teachers and undergo extensive professional development together, in order to plan and implement three years of classroom curriculum in subjects such as math, science, technology, humanities, English language arts, Spanish, and French.