Arts Education Research


Here’s what the research shows us:
Quick examples from research to share with policymakers, school administration, parents, and other interested citizens. Compiled from "Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts" by Claudia Cornett.

ARTS INTEGRATION
· Arts integration is significantly related to gains in reading scores for students in grades 3-5 and is more effective for English language learners and students from low socioeconomic homes (Arts for Academic Achievement, Ingram & Riedel, 2003).

· In the arts-based Different Ways of Knowing program, 920 elementary students in 52 classrooms had significant gains in achievement and motivation. High-risk students with 2 years gained 16 points on standardized tests. Arts students had significantly higher grades across the board. Non-arts students showed no gains (Different Ways of Knowing, Catterall, 1995).

· In Chicago, 23 arts-integrated schools showed test scores rising up to 2 times faster than in demographically comparable schools (Critical Links, Learning in the Arts & Student Academic and Social Development, Deasy, 2002).

· Student disciplinary actions dropped 130 to 50 and suspensions from 32 to 3 during the first year of involvement in the arts integrated A+ School Program. In addition, state writing test scores for 4th graders improved 30 percentile points (A+ Schools, U of NC-Greensboro).

· Arts integrated schools in Minneapolis reported substantial effects for all students. The greatest impact was for disadvantaged students. "Students become better thinkers, develop higher order skills, and deepen their inclination to learn (The Art of Education, Rabkin & Redmond, 2005).

· In California, K-5 multilingual students made significant gains in English and comprehension with arts integration (Integrating the Arts: An Approach to Teaching & Learning in Multicultural & Multilingual Settings, Meryl Goldberg, 2006).

· Tucson, AZ – Students in Opening Minds Through the Arts (OMA) schools have significantly higher scores in math, reading, and writing than non-OMA students. The arts have closed the gap between minority and white students (Arts Education: Improving Students' Academic Performance, March 2005 broadcast).

· Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) evaluators in SC analyzed 3 years of state tests and found a steady increase in the percent of students identified as proficient or advanced in ABC schools as compared with the comparison group (Summary of Large-Scale Arts Partnership Evaluations, Horowitz, 2004).

· Students involved in Ohio's SPECTRA arts program made more gains in reading vocabulary, comprehension, and math than a control group. Creativity measures were 4 times higher and gains held during a second year evaluation (The Schooled Mind: Do the Arts Make a Difference, Luftig, 1994).

· All 3,500 students in a program that integrated the arts into literature and social studies wrote higher-quality essays, showed deeper understanding of history, and made more interdisciplinary connections than non-arts students (The Arts and Education: Partners in Achieving Our National Education Goals, Aschbacher & Herman, 1991).

· Students in the 130 arts-based Waldorf Schools outperformed national averages on the SAT (Schooling the Imagination, Oppenheimer, 1999).

· The more arts integration that students receive in their classes, the greater their test score gains (Ingram & Riedel, 2003), the higher their school attendance (Catterall, 2002), and the higher they score in verbal and math on the SAT (The College Board, Profile of College-Bound Seniors, 2003).

· Students who are engaged in art gain a strong identity and improved self concept (Catterall, 2002; Stevenson & Deasy, 2005).

· Arts education helps students develop cognitive and social capacities in critical thinking, problem solving, spatial reasoning, empathy, tolerance, reflection, and collaboration. (Deasy, 2002; Catterall, 2002; Eisner, 2002)

· Arts integration may have an even stronger effect on student achievement for groups that are often considered disnfranchised: students receiving free and reduced-price lunch (Ingram & Riedel, 2003) and English language learners (Wested, 2003).

· Art can develop a student’s skills of envisioning, observation, reflection, exploration, and persistence. (President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2003).

· Drama creates opportunities for students to understand characters’ perspectives and emotions while improving their own grasp on the significance and process of language. (Third Space, 2005)

· Schools with a robust presence of art in their curriculum help create student communities that are characterized by a climate conducive to learning (Bresler, 2005), positive and supportive social relationships (Smuth & Stevenson, 2005), and respect for differences (Davis, 2005).

· The arts help students connect their new knowledge to prior experiences, which can help the new information they’ve learned to be deep and long lasting. (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking; 1999)

· Art projects can help teachers gain a better understanding of each student’s capabilities, allowing for instructional approaches to be adjusted accordingly so students will learn better. (Third Space, 2005)

· Arts help students nurture their self esteem and confidence by exposing personal creations to the public, develop a feeling that they can be agents of their own learning, and expand their problem solving and critical thinking skills that will guide them into becoming lifelong learners. (Third Space, 2005)