By Matthew Sabatella, Miami-Dade County Public Schools Cultural Passport is an innovative educational initiative designed to provide all Miami-Dade County Public Schools students in grades K-12 with a different cultural field experience each school year. In partnership with South Florida’s finest cultural organizations and venues, this sequential program ensures equal access to arts and culture for every child, many of whom would not otherwise have this breadth of opportunities. More than 150,000 students have had cultural arts experiences through Cultural Passport in the program’s first two years. Forty South Florida-based cultural partners are now beginning to provide similar experiences for M-DCPS students in the 2011-2012 school year.

The program is funded by the Foundation for New Education Initiatives, Inc. through individual and corporate contributions, including grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Target, and the Kislak Family Fund. The program would not be possible without generous in-kind contributions from M-DCPS’ cultural partners, many of whom are providing free and reduced-price admission to venues and events.

Cultural Passport maintains a consistent grade-level focus from year to year, enabling a student entering Kindergarten to have thirteen unique learning experiences by the time of graduation. No doubt, many of these young adults will become lifelong patrons of, and contributors to, the vibrant cultural community in South Florida.

Cultural experiences are far more meaningful when students see a strong link between the field experience and the instruction they are receiving in the classroom. Through cultural field experience and interdisciplinary classroom instruction, students make connections between the arts and non-arts disciplines while developing literacy skills, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and improving their overall academic performance in all classes.

While improving academic performance is a critical and worthy goal, Cultural Passport has significance for teachers and students that goes beyond test scores. As Howard Gardner, Co-Director of Harvard Graduate School of Education, has stated, “The arts are a major area of human cognition, one of the ways in which we know about the world and express our knowledge. Much of what is said in the arts cannot be said in another way. To withhold artistic means of understanding is as much of a malpractice as to withhold mathematics.”

In a world in which electronic media and technology frequently take center stage, opportunities for students to express themselves through the arts and immerse themselves in live arts experiences provide critical connections to their own humanity and to the humanity of others.