The Impact of the Arts on Learning

Reprinted with permission from "The Parent's Guide: Getting the Most; Out Of Your Child's Band or Orchestral Experience" published by The; Selmer Company.
: This article comes from a review of the federal report "Champions of Change."; The author of this review is N.M. Weinberger. The "Champions of Change"; report was released in 1999 by the Arts Education Partnership and
the President's Council on the Humanities.; The Impact of the Arts on Learning
: "The ultimate challenge for American education is to place all; children on pathways toward success in school and in life.; Through engagement with the arts, young people can better begin; lifelong journeys of developing their capabilities and contributing; to the world around them. "Champions of Change: The Impact of; the Arts on Learning" also shows that the arts can play a vital role; in learning how to learn, an essential ability for fostering; achievement and growth throughout their lives. (It) provides
new and important findings of actual learning experiences; involving the arts. (It) presents these research findings, complete; with ground-breaking data and analysis, as articulated by; leading American educational researchers. Perhaps what makes; their findings so significant is that they all address ways that our; nation's educational goals may be realized through enhanced arts; learning. As these researchers have confirmed, young people; can be better prepared for the 21st century through quality; learning experiences in and through the arts."; -- Richard Riley, Secretary of Education; Introduction
: These quotations from Dr. Riley, Secretary of Education, are taken; from the introduction to a remarkable report that was issued in; October of 1999. This "Champions of Change" document ["COC"]; was funded by The GE Fund and The John D. and Catherine T.; Macarthur Foundation under the auspices of The Arts Education; Partnership and The President's Committee on the Arts and the; Humanities.; The COC report is not restricted to music or any single subject; within arts education. However, music education forms a major
part of arts programs included in this document. It contains the; reports of seven major projects in arts education. The present; article will first list some of the major findings. After this, we will; discuss the results of some of the studies in greater detail.; Overview: The Arts Change the Learning Experience in Special Ways --
: - The arts reach students who are not otherwise being reached.; - The arts reach students in ways that they are not otherwise being; reached.; - The arts connect students to themselves and each other.; - The arts transform the environment for learning.; - The arts provide learning opportunities for the adults in the lives; of young people.; - The arts provide new challenges for those students already; considered successful.; - The arts connect learning experiences to the world of real work.; - The arts enable young people to have direct involvement with the; arts and artists.; - The arts support extended engagement in the artistic process.; - The arts encourage self-directed learning.; - The arts engage community leaders and resources.; The Findings of Specific Projects
: In the main section of this article, we will report the findings of; three specific projects from the COC report. They might be; considered in any order but I have chosen a particular sequence to; highlight a special aspect of the findings, the local school; environment for learning. I believe this is particularly important for; at least two reasons. First, it has been largely ignored. Second, the; effects of arts education take place within real walls, as an; interaction between students and teachers. We need to appreciate; this ongoing educational dialogue to fully understand why and how; the arts have such a beneficial effect on students. While all the; reports are extremely important. I think you will find that the; information obtained within specific school setting provides a; uniquely valuable resource.; The first project concerns the broadest report of academic; performance, the relationship between involvement in arts; education and academic performance for 25,000 students across; the United States. It provides an interesting contrast for the second; project, which is the most specific type of program. This is the; Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) which brings; professional arts practitioners from various disciplines to certain; schools. The final - and longest - report, is about schools in which; arts are an important and continuing part of the normal curriculum.; It concerns the performances of students, teachers and their; interactions. This report brings new and important insights into; how and why arts education facilitates intellectual and personal; development in students. It has major implications.; "Involvement in the Arts and Human Development"
: The first report is that of James S. Catterall, Richard Chapleu and; John Iwanaga of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and; Information Studies. They analyzed the extensive database from; the National Educational Longitudinal Survey [NELS.88]. This; survey obtained information on more than 25,000 secondary; school students over a period of 10 years. The very large sample; size is noteworthy because it avoids problems encountered with small
populations, such as a few classes in a limited number of; school settings. The authors studied both the arts in general and; then focused on music and theater arts. They were particularly; interested in how arts education impacted students from families of; lower socio-economic resources (low SES), compared to those from
higher levels (high SES).; The overall findings were quite clear. Performance in a wide range; of academic subjects and on standardized tests was significantly; higher for students involved in sustained arts education. Statistical; analyses of academic performance from the 8th through 12th grades; further showed that the beneficial effects increased over time. Of; particular importance, low SES students also showed significant; improvements if they were involved in arts education. In fact, their; relative gains were as great or larger than the high SES students.; Given these findings, it is somewhat troubling to note that the; authors also found a significant decrease in arts education; involvement from grades 10 to 12. For example, the percent of; students taking lessons outside of school hours decreased from; 11% to 3%.; An analysis that focused on instrumental music and mathematics; was also quite revealing. Dr. Catterall and his associates; discovered that music students were far more likely to achieve the; highest levels of proficiency in math tests than non-music students.; Again, low SES students also benefited. In fact they not only; scored higher in math than low SES students who were not; involved in music but also better than the average of all students.; The positive effects of instrumental music instruction also; increased from the 8th to the 10th grades. For example, 21% of; eighth grade music students from low SES households scored high; in math compared to 11% of non-music low SES students. By; grade 12, these figures were 33% and 16%, respectively.; Do these findings definitely show that consistent involvement in; arts education, particularly in instrumental music education, causes; the high levels of general academic and math performance? Dr.; Catterall and his colleagues are quite aware of the challenges that; must be met to be able to draw a causal connection. However, they; point out that there is good reason to suspect that arts education; helps cause the findings because other studies have reported "; that children are more engaged and cognitively involved in school; when the arts are part of, or integrated into, the curriculum."; Nonetheless, it might be argued that better students select arts; involvement. However, the authors also emphasize that; improvements are greater within the same students over time, from; the 8th to the 12 grades. This is difficult to explain if the higher; performance levels were not caused by continued involvement in; the arts.; Learning In and Through the Arts; "We conclude this review by considering an extensive study; performed by Judith Burton, Robert Horowitz and Hal Abeles, of; the Center for Arts Education Research at Columbia University. It; involved 2046 children in grades 4, 5, 7, and 8 in 12 public schools; in New York, Connecticut, Virginia and South Carolina. Instead of; focusing on academic test performances and arts involvement,; these researchers dug into the basic intellectual processes and; personal attributes that are at the foundation of cognitive; development and resultant enhanced test performance. They also; studied the school situation, the effects of arts curricula on teachers; and on their interactions with students.; Creative Thinking -- Students involved in high arts schools were; superior to those in low arts schools in each of the following; characteristics.; - Solutions: a greater number of ideas or approaches to solve; problems; - Originality: more innovative approaches to solving problems; - Elaboration: mentally constructing more detail in formulating; solutions; - Resistance to Closure: tendency to keep an open mind, to avoid; rushing to premature judgements or being satisfied too quickly; with a possible solution; General Competencies -- Students in the schools with high arts; involvement were superior to students in low arts schools in other; important areas.; - Expression: better able to express their thoughts and ideas to; teachers and peers and to do so in different ways.; - Risk-taking: they were more willing to take a risk, showing an; increased willingness to try new things, use new materials and; approaches, even at the risk of failing; more willing to risk; expressing their own novel ideas to peers and parents; - Cooperation: they worked better with peers and with teachers; - Synthesis: better at unifying divergent thoughts, feeling and; facts; Perception of Self as Learner -- High arts students also had better; self concepts regarding school:; - Higher self-concept in reading, math and general academics; - Teachers rated them as having more self-confidence.; The Perspectives of Teachers -- As noted above, the teachers also; participated in the testing. Those in schools with high levels of arts; education identified five effects of arts learning.; - The ability to express ideas and feelings opening and; thoughtfully.; - The ability to form relationships among different items and; arrange them to solve problems.; - The ability to imagine a problem from different points of view; and work toward a resolution.; - The ability to organize thoughts and ideas into meaningful; units.; - The ability to engage in sustained and focused attention. "
: Source: http://www.musica.uci.edu/mrn/V7I2S00.html; Source: http://faculty.washington.edu/demorest/News13-1.html