The recent wave of test-based accountability reforms has negatively impacted the provision of K-12 arts educational experiences. Advocates contend that, in addition to providing intrinsic benefits, the arts can positively influence academic and social development. However, the empirical evidence to support such claims is limited. We conducted a randomized controlled trial
with 10,548 3rd-8th grade students who were enrolled in 42 schools that were assigned by lottery to receive substantial influxes of arts education experiences provided through school-community partnerships with local arts organizations, cultural institutions, and teaching-artists. We find that
these increases in arts educational experiences significantly reduce the proportion of students receiving disciplinary infractions by 3.6 percentage points, improve STAAR writing achievement by 0.13 of a standard deviation, and increase students’ compassion for others by 0.08 of a standard deviation. For students in elementary schools, which comprise 86 percent of the sample, we find that these arts educational experiences also significantly improve school engagement, college aspirations, and arts-facilitated empathy. These findings provide strong evidence that arts educational experiences can produce significant positive impacts on student
academic and social development. Policymakers should consider these multifaced educational benefits when assessing the role and value of the arts in K-12 schools.
Arts Education/Youth
Review of Evidence: Arts Education Through the Lens of ESSA
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the 2015 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, includes a diverse array of programs and funding streams that states, local educational agencies, and schools might leverage to support school improvement and student success. These programs and funding streams include approaches to teaching the arts and learning about the arts. Furthermore, ESSA contains provisions requiring or encouraging that educational agencies seeking to use federal funds available through the law for many of these approaches adopt evidence-based interventions. The inclusion of arts in ESSA shows that policymakers, not only arts advocacy groups and educators, view arts as an essential component in a well-rounded education.
This report presents the results of a review of evidence about arts education interventions based n the evidence requirements in ESSA. According to ESSA, for an intervention to be evidence ased, research or theoretical support for the intervention must fall within one of four evidence
tiers. Evidence in Tiers I-III must “demonstrate a statistically significant effect on improving tudent outcomes or other relevant outcomes,” and the three tiers represent varying levels of rigor i.e., “strong/moderate/promising evidence”). Tier IV evidence must “demonstrate a rationale” that
an intervention is “likely to improve student outcomes or other relevant outcomes,” and it must be oupled with “ongoing efforts to examine the effects” of the intervention (ESSA, Title VIII, Section 101(21)(A)). School improvement activities funded through ESSA (Title I, section 1003) must
include at least one intervention in one of the first three tiers.
The Integration of the Humanities and Arts with Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Higher Education
In the United States, broad study in an array of different disciplines -arts, humanities, science, mathematics, engineering- as well as an in-depth study within a special area of interest, have been defining characteristics of a higher education. But over time, in-depth study in a major discipline has come to dominate the curricula at many institutions. This evolution of the curriculum has been driven, in part, by increasing specialization in the academic disciplines. There is little doubt that disciplinary specialization has helped produce many of the achievement of the past century. Researchers in all academic disciplines have been able to delve more deeply into their areas of expertise, grappling with ever more specialized and fundamental problems.
Arts Education Policy and Advocacy Grantmaking
In 2017, the Hewlett Foundation’s Performing Arts Program asked Education First, a national education strategy and policy consulting firm, to help it take stock of the program’s decade of support for arts education policy and advocacy work at the local, state, and national level.
Key questions evaluated by Education First included:
- What was the original goal of the arts education policy and advocacy grantmaking work?
- How did the strategies the foundation and its grantees pursued play out, and how did they change or evolve over time?
- What impact did the grantmaking have?
The full report includes information on the history of the foundation’s arts education policy and advocacy grantmaking; the goals of the foundation’s grantmaking; major changes to California’s arts education policy landscape; successes and challenges for the foundation and its grantees; and conclusions and implications for the program’s grantmaking strategy.
Partnering Arts, Communities & Education (PACE): 2016-2017 Project Report
The PACE program is intended to assist elementary schools, artists, and arts organizations in establishing longterm, in-depth, and sustainable partnerships for the purpose of impacting student growth and achievement through extended and connected arts and literacy experiences.
The following includes a report of findings from assessments these schools conducted to gauge the affect and impact of the PACE program on students’ learning in their schools. Findings from the data analysis will be
reported in aggregated statistics that include the combined performances of the six schools in the 2016-2017 PACE program.
The Play’s the Thing: Experimentally Examining the Social and Cognitive Effects of School Field Trips to Live Theater Performances
Field trips to see theater performances are a long-standing educational practice; however, there is little systematic evidence demonstrating educational benefits. This article describes the results of five random assignment experiments spanning 2 years where school groups were assigned by lottery to attend a live theater performance or, for some groups, watch a movie version of the same story. We find significant educational benefits from seeing live theater, including higher levels of tolerance, social perspective taking, and stronger command of the plot and vocabulary of those plays. Students randomly assigned to watch a movie did not experience these benefits. Our findings also suggest that theater field trips may cultivate the desire among students to frequent the theater in the future.
