This CAST partnership reflects the mutual commitment of the DuVal High School and the University to provide professional development opportunities for DuVal faculty and guided, informal learning experiences for DuVal students. The partnership began in 1999 with professional development workshops in technology training and has continued as a steering committee of University of Maryland and DuVal administrators and teachers work together to design and implement effective programs particularly suited for DuVal's Arts and Communication Academy.

The From Page to Stage after-school program at DuVal encourages students to co-design and actively participate in an exploration of theater arts and performance. Students met with University of Maryland Theatre professor Scot Reese for an hour and a half every week for ten weeks. The students

• played theater games to develop and hone listening and speaking skills
• took turns reading stories and poems they chose and, sometimes, wrote
• engaged in collaborative storytelling, singing, and dancing
• learned to appreciate the relationship that exists between performer and audience
• attended a theatrical performance, each semester, at the University's Tawes Theater, and
• concluded each semester with a performance of their own design.