In August 2010, District 75 was awarded an Investing in Innovation Fund (i3) development grant for $4.6 million from the U.S. Department of Education to implement its Everyday Arts for Special Education (EASE) Program. The EASE program is based on a previous research grant with children on the autism spectrum which produced compelling evidence that integrated arts instruction can help address core communication and socialization deficits. The i3 development grant provides capacity to extend and expand this successful concept to students across all disabilities and to their teachers.

The New York City Department of Education’s District 75 serves 23,000 students with severe disabilities throughout the five boroughs in schools and programs that provide targeted educational, vocational, and behavioral supports. The EASE program uses integrated arts-based instruction to improve student achievement in the areas of communication, socialization, academic skills and arts proficiency. Because many of these students are kinesthetic learners who learn by doing, they are more engaged when they are moving and doing hands-on activities. Arts-based instruction provides multiple entry points for these special learners by using rich, participatory, experiences that better support their achievement.

With this i3 grant, District 75 will implement the EASE program over 5 years to serve over 40,000 students with special needs across the city and beyond, strengthening the use of arts-based education at their schools for generations to come. A private-sector match for EASE’s i3 project was provided by the Education Collaboration Fund, a donor advised fund at J.P. Morgan, through The Fund. You can hear the program's director speak more about EASE as part of NBC’s “Education Nation” coverage here.