Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities
Earns Arts Schools Network Exemplary School Designation
The Arts Schools Network Board of Directors has named the Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities an Exemplary School in recognition of its commitment to excellence. The five-year designation is awarded for 2025-2030.
Arts Schools Network (ASN), the nation’s largest professional membership organization of specialized arts schools, awards Exemplary School designations to members that follow A Guide to Assessing Your Arts School in strategically evaluating their school’s purpose, operations, and educational programs. The Guide is a collaborative effort by ASN and the Accrediting Commission for Community and Pre-collegiate Arts Schools (ACCPAS). ASN will honor the school at the Awards Ceremony during the ASN 2025 Annual Conference, in Sarasota, Florida. The conference theme is Big Top, Bigger Arts and will be hosted by Booker Middle School.
Narrative stories matter, and Sorensen Magnet School of the Arts and Humanities has a beautiful story about creativity, perseverance, hard work, and collaboration. The school is currently ranked #4 in the state and #1 in the school district for elementary schools. This is no accident. Sorenson has a beautiful collaboration between staff, families, students, downtown businesses, and the local art community. Those relationships with the art and arts education community confirm that we all share the same struggles.
At Sorenson, the school wants students to LOVE school and know that practice makes better. The arts program is based on the passions and talents of our dedicated staff. We have many unique ways of integrating the visual and performing arts into our school days. The school provides a 45 minute “Arts and Humanities” block rotation three days per week. All classrooms rotate through 11 different “electives” for two week cycles. These electives are created and taught by classroom teachers based on his or her personal passions. These offerings include: Geometry Art, Legos, Theatre, World Cultures, Fiber Art, Dance, Choral Music & Mallet Madness, Mosaic Art, Drumming, Juggling, Spanish, Watercolor & Photography, Pottery. The school considers this the “exposure” piece to arts instruction.
Sorenson works daily to infuse the arts into the district mandated curriculum and standards. All of this provides a rich, authentic, rigorous, and dynamic learning community. Sorensen is a free public school and consistently serves 318 students in grades K-5. It is a full inclusion magnet school that has open enrollment based on a lottery system, and our programming focus is around daily visual and performing arts integration into our district and state mandated curriculums.
Dr. R. Scott Allen, Managing Director for ASN, said, “We offer guidance, inspiration, and incentives to arts school leaders who strive for excellence in their schools. When they demonstrate outstanding efforts toward this goal, as they do by following A Guide to Assessing Your Arts School, we recognize and reward their achievements with this designation.”
Dedicated to excellence and leadership in arts education, Arts Schools Network, a non-profit association founded in 1981, provides arts school leaders, innovative partners and members of arts education institutions with quality resources, support and networking opportunities. Visit www.artsschoolsnetwork.org to learn more.