What We Need to Know About Middle School and School Day

 

Questions to Guide New Research

  • By what mechanisms do arts education and art-integration develop critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and perseverance?
  • How is arts education related to student achievement on standardized tests, particularly new forms of assessment designed to measure college and career readiness?
  • How does arts-integrated instruction affect academic success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics?
  • What specific skills and capacities are developed through learning in the different art forms, including new and emerging forms such as media arts?
  • How does participation in arts education impact student engagement as measured by attendance and graduation rates?
  • How does arts education affect brain development? How do the type, depth, and quality of arts learning experiences relate to the nature and extent of the impact of arts education on brain development?
  • How does arts-integrated remedial instruction compare with other remedial strategies for helping students catch up in English language arts and other disciplines?
  • How do student outcomes in arts-rich and arts-poor schools compare across socio-economic, racial, and geographic lines?
  • How do music education and music-integrated learning affect mathematic achievement?
  • What specific skills and capacities are developed through learning in the different art forms, including new and emerging forms such as media arts?
  • What types of arts integration are best suited to develop which student academic and cognitive outcomes at particular grade levels?
  • What are the mechanisms through which arts education helps develop creativity?
  • How do cultural partnerships between teachers and teaching artists impact all participants in middle school?
  • How do teachers integrate the arts to teach special needs students at the middle school level and what are the outcomes of their practice?
  • What are the long-term impacts of arts-based whole-school reform on student engagement with learning?
  • What are the long-term impacts of arts-based whole-school reform on student thinking skills?
  • What are the long-term impacts of arts-based whole-school reform on student achievement?
  • What are the long-term impacts of arts-based whole-school reform on teachers and the teaching profession?