Arts Education: Not All Is Created Equal

By Nick Rabkin & Robin Redmond

When the arts are an interdisciplinary partner with other=20 subjects, they generate the conditions that researchers say are ideal for=20 learning.

Evidence has mounted over the last decade that arts study leads to higher=20 levels of achievement in other subjects. That is exciting news for advocates of=20 arts education, who have resisted its erosion in American schools for five=20 decades without such evidence. But what does the evidence tell us about how and=20 why arts education has these positive effects? What does it say about how the=20 arts can be most effectively and strategically provided in real schools under=20 challenging circumstances? These big questions must be addressed before many=20 schools can be expected to embrace arts education with enthusiasm.

Much of the research about arts education, though, is focused on little=20 questions that do not suggest operational strategies for improving instruction:=20 =E2=80=9CDoes story dramatization improve understanding by 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders?=E2=80=9D=20 for example. Some of the most widely touted research, such as that showing the=20 strong correlation between arts learning and higher SAT scores, are suspect=20 because of the high correlation between arts learning and higher income, the=20 most powerful predictor of academic success. Encouraging studies that control=20 for income, like those showing that low-income students who are active in the=20 arts do significantly better than those who are not, are not fine-grained enough=20 to distinguish between the arts activities that may provide these benefits. In=20 school or out? Music, theater, dance, or painting? Original creation, exposure,=20 or appreciation?

Over the past two years, we looked for research that asked questions about=20 arts education that matter in more fundamental ways, questions that could guide=20 teachers and artists, schools and districts toward strategies that really=20 deliver the benefits attributed to the arts. We sought research and evaluation=20 that looked deeply into serious arts education programs over time, in multiple=20 schools and classrooms, with particular attention to low- income students.=20 Perhaps our most important finding was that not all arts education is created=20 equal. While virtually all the studies and programs we reviewed showed=20 meaningful benefits for students and schools, some clearly had more powerful=20 effects on student outcomes than others.

We found the most powerful effects consistently associated with programs that=20 integrate the arts with subjects in the core curriculum. We also found=20 that these programs are leading to sophisticated ideas of why and how they are=20 so powerful=E2=80=94a theory of teaching and learning that brings the arts into the=20 center of education and is consistent with developments in cognitive science.=20 The effects are less pronounced, and may not occur at all, in conventional,=20 stand-alone arts education.

A study of 23 arts-integrated schools in Chicago showed test scores rising as=20 much as two times faster than in comparable schools. A study of a Minneapolis=20 arts-integration program showed that it had positive effects on all students,=20 but was most powerful for disadvantaged learners.

Gains in these integrated programs go well beyond the basics and test scores.=20 Arts integration energizes and challenges teachers. One researcher said that the=20 Minneapolis program was =E2=80=9Cone of the most powerful professional-development=20 experiences for large numbers of teachers.=E2=80=9D

Students invest emotionally in arts-integrated classrooms. Their thinking=20 capacities grow; they work more diligently, and learn from each other. In=20 arts-integrated rooms, students often work in groups and turn classrooms into=20 learning communities.

These classroom changes lead to a cascade of broader school changes.=20 Schedules shift to accommodate planning and sustained attention to important=20 questions. Parents become more involved. Teachers collaborate and take on new=20 leadership roles. Art and music teachers often become the fulcrum of multiclass=20 projects.

Arts-integrated schools make clear that the arts are not just=20 affective and expressive. They are deeply cognitive.

When the arts are an interdisciplinary partner with other subjects, they=20 generate the conditions that cognitive scientists and education researchers say=20 are ideal for learning. The curriculum becomes more hands-on and project-based.=20 It offers students authentic and challenging intellectual work. Learning in all=20 subjects becomes visible through the arts, and student work becomes the basis of=20 thoughtful assessment. Teachers=E2=80=99 opinions and expectations of their students=20 rise.

Arts-integrated schools make clear that the arts are not just affective and=20 expressive. They are deeply cognitive. They develop essential tools of thinking=20 itself: careful observation of the world; mental representation of what is=20 observed or imagined; abstraction from complexity; pattern recognition and=20 development; qualitative judgment; symbolic, metaphoric, and allegorical representation. These same thinking tools are used in science, philosophy, math,=20 and history. That is why arts-integrated schools reach higher academic=20 standards.

The best arts-integration programs demonstrate a strategy that can help close=20 the achievement gap and make schools happier places. It is a strategy within=20 reach of most schools and districts, even those in the poorest communities. What=20 are its most salient principles and characteristics? We found that the best=20 programs:

=E2=80=A2 Draw on the artistic resources of their communities, building sustained=20 partnerships among schools, arts organizations, teachers, artists, researchers,=20 and evaluators.

=E2=80=A2 View student achievement and school improvement as pivotal to their=20 mission=E2=80=94they are not only about advancing arts education.

=E2=80=A2 Engage teachers and artists from all disciplines in serious inquiry about=20 how the arts are related to learning in other subjects and how to make=20 educationally powerful links.

=E2=80=A2 Use the arts as media for learning=E2=80=94the communication of content=E2=80=94and as=20 methods of learning=E2=80=94through artistic practices like careful observation,=20 inquiry, creation, practice, performance, representation, exhibition, and=20 reflection.

=E2=80=A2 Respond to a school=E2=80=99s particular strengths and weaknesses.

=E2=80=A2 Provide arts instruction within the context of other subjects and on=20 its own.

=E2=80=A2 Raise funds from outside the school system to support their work, while=20 persistently seeking higher levels of commitment from schools and districts.=20

We have seen programs with these characteristics work.

One fall day, we watched low-income 4th graders in an arts-integrated classroom drawing portraits of each other in a lesson that was part of a unit on=20 descriptive writing. They were focused and coiled with excitement. Rich writing=20 and artwork covered the walls and showed evidence of real learning and=20 accomplishment. Most other classrooms in this building also integrated the arts=20 with other subjects and buzzed with intensity.

The same day, in another low-income school, we watched 4th graders slump in=20 their chairs, waiting to read a bit of advice to their classmates. They mumbled,=20 =E2=80=9CDon=E2=80=99t hit your sister,=E2=80=9D and =E2=80=9CDo your homework.=E2=80=9D There was no children=E2=80=99s work on=20 the walls, no evidence of learning. Instead, hallway posters reminded students=20 of rules they must follow. =E2=80=9CStay in line.=E2=80=9D =E2=80=9CDon=E2=80=99t forget your uniform.=E2=80=9D One=20 asked, =E2=80=9CWhat is freedom?=E2=80=9D The answers implied that freedom is a reward for=20 self-control.

The best arts-integration programs demonstrate a strategy that=20 can help close the achievement gap and make schools happier places.

Education policymakers may have committed themselves to leaving no child=20 behind, but the boredom and academic failure we saw in the second classroom is=20 the norm in too many schools. The weight of educational habit and high-stakes=20 testing constrain their focus to =E2=80=9Cbasic=E2=80=9D academic skills, testing, and=20 discipline. In a postindustrial economy, this can only reproduce and deepen the=20 cycle of failure.

Arts integration is a far more productive strategy. Students will not be=20 prepared for work in an economy that demands higher-order skills if their=20 schools focus exclusively on the basics and measure learning with=20 multiple-choice tests only. Students will not learn to think for themselves in=20 schools that expect them merely to stay in line and keep quiet. They won=E2=80=99t be=20 prepared to create the culture of their time if they do not create culture in=20 their schools.

Some worry that integrating the arts with other subjects will reduce art to=20 the role of academic handmaiden to the core subjects.

That is not what happens. Art engages the world. Artists make work about=20 things, ideas, questions, relationships, emotions, problems, and solutions. Art=20 is a powerful instrument for making and sharing meaning. Arts integration is=20 modeled on the methods and purposes of real artists. We have found that it=20 results in student artwork that is consistently more complex, interesting, and=20 contemporary than work done in stand-alone arts classrooms.

Arts integration is not simple or easy work. The pioneering educators and=20 artists who do it swim against a tide of education policy, and work with meager=20 resources. They need policy support at the federal, state, and local levels, not=20 platitudes about the intrinsic goodness of art for children. Their work needs to=20 be expanded to more classrooms, schools, and districts, and it needs to be more=20 thoroughly studied. Preservice teachers should learn about arts integration, and=20 arts classes should be required for certification. Art and music teachers should=20 learn to integrate what they know about their art forms with other subjects.=20 Arts education deserves far more than a meager $35 million line item in a=20 federal education budget of some $65 billion. And integrated arts education=20 should be the target of a healthy proportion of federal, state, and local=20 allocations.

Nick Rabkin and Robin Redmond are the editors of Putting the Arts in the Picture: Reframing Education in the 21st Century.=20 Rabkin is the executive director of the Center for Arts Policy at Columbia=20 College Chicago, and Redmond is the associate director.

Vol. 24, Issue 31, Pages 46-47

My=20 Account

Log=20 Out

=E2=80=9CPutting=20 Arts Education Front and Center,=E2=80=9D January 26, 2005.=20

=E2=80=9CBusiness=20 and the Arts Contribute to Lessons for Science Educators,=E2=80=9D November 17, 2004.

=E2=80=9CArts,=20 Foreign Languages Getting Edged Out,=E2=80=9D November 5,=20 2003.

=E2=80=9CStudy=20 Identifies Benefits Of Arts Curriculum,=E2=80=9D November 13,=20 2002.

=E2=80=9CArts=20 Programs Enhance Some Skills, Study Says,=E2=80=9D May 22,=20 2002.

=E2=80=9C=E2=80=98Mozart=20 Effect=E2=80=99 Goes Only So Far, Study Says,=E2=80=9D September 27,=20 2000.

Read an interview=20 with Robin Redmond, one of the authors of Putting the Arts in the Picture:=20 Reframing Education in the 21st Century, from Education World,=20 January 2005.

=C2=A9=20 2005 Editorial Projects in Education