About CAPE + SD163

Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education
(CAPE)

Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) is an organization that works with kindergarten through twelfth grade students and teachers in public schools throughout Chicago and in the suburbs. CAPE creates partnerships with teachers and artists of all disciplines to co-create arts-integrated classroom projects that investigate academic contents, social-emotional learning, and contemporary arts practices. Ongoing professional development for teachers and artists, research on the impact of the arts on teaching and learning, and public exhibitions and events are part of all CAPE programs and support for schools.

School District 163
(SD 163)

Park Forest-Chicago Heights District 163 (SD163) is a south suburban district comprising 6 schools serving 1800 students from Pre-K through 8th grade in the communities of Park Forest and Chicago Heights, Illinois; located 30 miles south of Chicago. All students are engaged in innovative learning experiences in core academic programs, performing arts, STEM and STEAM programs, visual arts, and meaningful real-world classroom activities.

Purpose of the STEAM Ahead Collaboration

SD163 set a worthwhile goal to establish integrated STEAM teaching and learning in five schools. The district identified the need to partner with a key expert on STEAM integration to advance implementation at the five schools.  After careful consideration, the district determined Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) to be the best organization to provide high quality teaching artists partnerships, professional development, and access to the research-based practices necessary to establish and sustain school-wide STEAM integration. The partnership resulted in developing the STEAM Ahead Project, which included creating this website to share our STEAM Ahead story with you.