Research Supporting the Value of Fine Arts Education as
Core Subjects
The arts have far-reaching potential to help
students achieve education goals. Students of the arts continue to outperform
their non-arts peers on the Scholastic Assessment Test, according to the College
Entrance Examination Board. In 1995, SAT scores for students who had studied the
arts more than four years were 59 points higher on the verbal and 44 points
higher on the math portion than students with no coursework or experience in the
arts.
The College Board, Profile of SAT and Achievement Test Takers, 1995.
The percentage of students at or above grade level in second-grade math was
highest in those with two years of test arts, less in those with only one year
and lowest in those with no test arts.
Learning Improved by Arts Training, Nature: International Weekly Journal of
Science, by Alan Fox, Donna Jeffrey and Faith Knowles, May 1996.
Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, studied the power of music
by observing two groups of preschoolers. One group took piano lessons and sang
daily in chorus. The other did not. After eight months the musical 3-year olds
were expert puzzlemasters, scoring 80 percent higher than their playmates did in
spatial intelligence - the ability to visualize the world accurately. This skill
later translates into complex mathematics and engineering skills. "Early music
training can enhance a child's ability to reason," says Irvine physicist Gordon
Shaw.
Scientists argue that children are capable of far more at younger ages than
schools generally realize...the optimum "windows of opportunity for learning"
last until about the age of 10 or 12, says Harry Chugani of Wayne State
University's Children's Hospital of Michigan.
Why Do Schools Flunk Biology?, Newsweek, by LynNell Hancock, February 1996.
Classes were more interactive, there were more student-initiated topics and
discussions, and more time was devoted to literacy activities and
problem-solving activities in schools using the arts-based "Different Ways of
Knowing" program. The program also produced significant positive effects on
student achievement, motivation and engagement in learning.
Different Ways of Knowing: 1991-94 National Longitudinal Study Final Report, by
J.S. Catterall, 1995
Self-concept is positively enhanced through the arts, according to a review
of 57 studies, as are language acquisition, cognitive development, critical
thinking ability and social skills. The authors examined studies of measurable
results in the emotional and social development of children. The relationship
between music participation and self-concept was strongly in evidence.
The effects of Arts and Music Education on Student's Self-Concept, by J. Trusty
and G. M. Oliva, 1994.
As critics, the children learned to emphasize the value of rules, resources
and bases for common knowledge in dramatic interpretation. As characters, they
shifted perspective from self to other through voice, physical action, and
connection to other characters.
Learning to Act/Acting to Learn: children as Actors, Critics, and Characters in
Classroom Theatre, by Shelby Wolf, 1994.
Research at New York University revealed that critical thinking skills in the
arts are transferred to other subjects, which is something Ann Alejandro, a
teacher in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas, observes in her classroom
everyday: "I am convinced of the parallels between teaching children how to draw
and teaching them how to read and write. In all cases, students need to learn
how to see, to interpret data from the word, the canvas, and the page.
National Arts Education Research Center Principal Research Findings, 1987-1991,
by Jerrold Ross and Ellyn Berk, 1992.
Like Happy Dreams- Integrating Visual Arts, Writing and Reading, by Ann
Alejandro, 1994.
The writing quality of elementary students was consistently and significantly
improved by using drawing and drama techniques, compared to the control group,
which used only the discussion approach. Drama and drawing techniques, compared
to the control group, which used only the discussion approach. Drama and drawing
techniques allowed the students to experiment, evaluate, revise and integrate
ideas before writing began, thus significantly improving results.
Drama and Drawing for Narrative Writing in Primary Grades, by B. H. Moore and H.
Caldwell, 1999
Students improved an average of one to two months in reading for each month they
participated in the "Learning to Read through the Arts" program in New York
City. Students' writing also improved, the study revealed. "Learning to Read
Through the Arts," an intensive, integrated arts curriculum, has been designated
a model program by the National Diffusion Network and has been adopted by
numerous schools and districts across the country.
Chapter 1 Developer/Demonstration Program: Learning to Read Through the Arts,
1992-93; Office of Educational Research, New York City Board of Education, 1993,
1981, 1978."
Originality and imagination scores were significantly higher for preschool
children with disabilities after participation in a dance program than for those
participating in the adopted physical education program.
Effect of a Dance Program on the Creativity for Preschool Handicapped Children,
by D. Jay, 1991.
"Humanitas Program" students in Los Angeles high schools wrote higher quality
essays, showed more conceptual understanding of history, and made more
interdisciplinary references than non-Humanitas students. Low-achieving students
made gains equivalent to those made y high-achieving students. The Humanitas
program incorporates the arts into a broad humanities curriculum, drawing upon
the relationship between literature, social studies and the arts. The program
has reached 3,500 students in 20 high schools.
The Humanitas Program Evaluation Project 1990-91, by P. Aschacher and J. Herman,
1991.
High risk elementary students with one year in the "Different Ways of
Knowing" program gained eight percentile points on standardized language arts
tests; students with two years in the program gained 16 percentile points.
Non-program students showed no percentile gain in language arts. Students with
three years in the program outscored non-program students with significantly
higher report card grades in the core subject areas of language arts,
mathematics, reading and social studies. Participants showed significantly
higher levels of engagement and increased beliefs that there is a value in
personal effort for achievement. In total, 920 elementary students in 52
classrooms were studied in this national longitudinal study in Los Angeles;
south Boston; and Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Different Ways of Knowing; 1991-94 National Longitudinal Study Final Report,
by J.S. Catterall, 1995
