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What Research Says About Arts Education
§ The following research studies show that student achievement in reading, writing, and math increases when students participate in quality arts education programs.
- Involvement in the Arts and Success in Secondary Schools by Dr. James Catterall, American for the Arts monograph, Volume 1, Number 9, 1999.
- Involvement in the Arts and Human Development: General Involvement and Intensive Involvement in Music and Theatre Arts by Dr. James Catterall, Richard Chapleau, and John Iwanaga, The Imagination Project, UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, September, 1998.
- The College Board Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, 1995.
- The Schooled Mind: Do the Arts Make a Difference? An Empirical Evaluation of the Hamilton/Fairfield SPECTRA+ program. 1992-93, by Dr. Richard I. Luftig, 1994.
- Chapter I Developer/demonstration Program: Learning to Read Through the Arts, 1992-93: Office of Educational Research, New York City Board of Education 1993, 1981, 1978.
§ Current research on brain development also shows that early experiences in the arts positively affects the cognitive development of children:
- Young Children and the Arts: Making Creative Connections. A Report of the Task Force on Children's Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age Eight. 1998.
§ There is also evidence that arts education programs improve student attendance, increase cultural understanding, and increased creative thinking and problem solving skills:
- Different Ways of Knowing: 1991-94 National Longitudinal Study Final Report by James Catterall, 1995.
- Effect of a Dance Program on the Creativity of Preschool Handicapped Children by Danielle Jay, 1991.
§ A recent report called Imaginative Actuality, Learning in the Arts During Non School Hours by Shirley Brice Heath with Adelma Roach of Stanford University and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, found that arts education can help level the playing field for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, improve student performance, and improve the personal lives of youth at risk. In Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, 1999.
§ For information on the arts as a way to build workforce skills for the 21st Century, see the November 1997 issue of Educational Leadership, which includes an insert by the Getty Institute for the Arts entitled Arts Education for Life and Work.
§ The following publications included specific references to studies that show the positive effects of arts education for students:
- Champion of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, 1999, prepared by the Arts Education Partnership and the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, edited by Edward B. Fiske. This study examines arts education programs to determine why and how young people are changed by arts experiences.
- Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School districts that Value Arts Education, March 1999. The Wyoming and the Hamilton City School Districts are featured in this report about how community arts center, communities at large, and school districts can partner to sustain quality arts education programs.
- Eloquent Evidence: Arts at the Core of Learning published in 1995 by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Includes annotations that show how arts education programs improve student academic performance, fosters creativity, student engagement and persistence, and student self-esteem.
- School, Communities, and the Arts: A Research Compendium developed by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Morrison Institute for Public Policy. Includes several research studies published since 1985 on the value of arts education.
For more information about the importance of arts education in student learning visit:
Gaining the Arts Advantage: Lessons from School Districts that Value Arts Education
http://www.pcah.gov/gaa/index.html
Learning Partnerships: Improving Learning in Schools with Arts Partners in the Community
http://aep-arts.org/LP/LPindex.html
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