Browse Research


In the Face of the Unprecedented: Creative Youth Development Guides Organizations to Adapt, Support and Thrive*

Rodrigo Guerrero | 2021

Guerrero, R. “In the Face of the Unprecedented: Creative Youth Development Guides Organizations to Adapt, Support and Thrive.” Arts Education Policy Review, (2021): 1-8. Abstract: The abstract for this article is available on the Taylor & Francis Online website. Supports for the Findings: This is a case study of representatives of three Creative Youth Development (CYD) […]


Using Multi-Genre Arts Programming to Support Creative Engagement and Social and Emotional Learning in Middle-School Students With Autism

Eve Müller, et al. | 2020

Müller, E., Nutting, D., Keddell, K. “ArtAbility: Using Multi-Genre Arts Programming to Support Creative Engagement and Social and Emotional Learning in Middle-School Students With Autism.” The Journal of the Arts and Special Education, 1(1) (2019): 25-48. Abstract: This report focuses on ArtAbility, a multi-genre arts program for middle school students with autism. The evaluation of […]


Increased Engagement of the Cognitive Control Network Associated With Music Training in Children During an fMRI Stroop Task

Matthew Sachs, et al. | 2020

Matthew Sachs et al. “Increased Engagement of the Cognitive Control Network Associated With Music Training in Children During an FMRI Stroop Task.” Plos One 12, no. 10 (2017). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0187254. Abstract: As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, the authors investigated the effects of music training (through an extracurricular program) on executive function (generally, the three […]


The Arts and Human Development: Framing a National Research Agenda for the Arts, Lifelong Learning and Individual Well-Being

Hanna, Gay, Michael Patterson, Judy Rollins and Andrea Sherman | 2019

Hanna, Gay, Michael Patterson, Judy Rollins and Andrea Sherman. 2011. “The Arts and Human Development: Framing a National Research Agenda for the Arts, Lifelong Learning and Individual Well-Being.” National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, November. https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/TheArtsAndHumanDev.pdf. Abstract: This paper is the result of a convening hosted by […]


Improv and ink: Increasing individual writing fluency with collaborative improv.

DeMichele, M. | 2015

This article explores how short form/comedic improvisational theater (improv) impacts the development of writing fluency.


Embracing the Burden of Proof: New strategies for determining predictive links between arts integration teacher professional development, student arts learning, and student academic achievement outcomes

Scripp, L., & Paradis, L. | 2014

This study uses statistics to demonstrate the results of a three-year arts integration project conducted by the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education’s (CAPE) Partnership in Arts Integration Research (PAIR) project in Chicago public schools.


Arts Achieve, impacting student success in the arts: Preliminary findings after one year of implementation

Mastrorilli, T. M., Harnett, S., Zhu, J. | 2014

Arts Achieve: Impacting Student Success in the Arts is a partnership between Studio in a School, the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), and four other premier cultural arts organizations from across New York City (NYC).


Creativity in an Arts Integrated Third Space: A Case Study of Elementary School Students in an International Collaboration

Susan Hyatt | 2014

This qualitative case study examines the impact of an arts-integrated international collaboration the creativity of elementary school students when students are communicating and creating exclusively through a technological third space.


Community-engaged arts for older people: Fostering social inclusion

Moody, E. & Phinney, A. | 2012

This ethnographic study explores how communities can be more inclusive and supportive of seniors, specifically through the role of a community-engaged arts program, Arts, Health and Seniors (AHS), developed in Vancouver, Canada.


Partnerships in arts Integration Research final reports.

Scripp, L., Burnaford, G. Vazquez, O. Paradis, L. & Sienkiewicz, F. | 2013

The Partnerships for Arts Integration Research (PAIR) final report summarizes results from a four-year, federal Department of Education Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination (AEMDD) project administered by the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE) and the Chicago Public Schools from 2007-2010.


At-Risk Elementary School Children with One Year of Classroom Music Instruction Are Better at Keeping a Beat

Slater, J., Tierney, A. & Kraus, N. | 2013

This study, carried out in collaboration with the Harmony Project, a non-profit organization providing free music education to underserved children in Los Angeles, assessed the beat-keeping skills in a group of elementary school children (ages 6 – 9) who had received one year of musical training as compared to a similar group of children with no musical training.


Biological impact of preschool music classes on processing speech in noise

Strait, D.L., Parbery-Clark, A., O’Connell, S. & Kraus, N. | 2013

This study compared auditory brainstem responses (ABR) to speech in noise in 32 preschool children, half of whom were engaged in musical training.


Cross-Study Findings: A View into a Decade of Arts Integration

Duma, A. L., & Silverstein, L. B. | 2014

The Kennedy Center’s CETA (Changing Education Through the Arts) program is a professional development partnership designed to support teachers’ employment of arts integration practices in their classrooms.


Found in translation: Interdisciplinary arts integration in Project AIM

Ingram, D., Pruitt, L., & Weiss, C. | 2014

Researchers and staff from Project AIM, an interdisciplinary arts-integration program in Chicago, designed a study to research arts integration as a method of translation.


When achievement data meet drama and arts integration

Walker, E., Tabone, C. & Weltsek, G. | 2011

The Education Arts Team (EAT), a non-profit, in New Jersey received a grant from the U.


“A unified poet alliance”: The personal and social outcomes of youth spoken word poetry programming

Susan Weinstein | 2010

The researcher conducted an ethnographic study of youth spoken word primarily through participant observation of the programming offered by WordPlay in Baton Rouge.


Activating student engagement through drama-based instruction

Cawthon, S., Dawson, K., & Ihom, S. | 2011

This mixed methods study examines the outcomes of Drama for Schools (DFS)—a professional development program that trains teachers to integrate drama techniques into their instruction—on participating middle school teachers and their students.


Partnerships between schools and the professional arts sector: Evaluation of impact on student outcomes

Imms, W., Jeanneret, N., & Stevens-Ballenger, J. | 2011

This study examines how arts partnerships impact student engagement, student voice, social learning, creative skills, and arts-related knowledge and skills; the five student outcomes linked to the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS).


Ecological mural as community reconnection

Kang Song, Y. I. & Gammel, J. A. | 2011

This phenomenological case study documents the Mystic River mural project in the Boston suburb community of Somerville.


“I made myself”: Playmaking as a pedagogy of change with urban youth

Nelson, B. | 2011

Applied Drama and Theater (AD/T) addresses local conditions and perspectives by teaming drama instructors and community members to write, produce, and perform plays.


Creating destiny: Youth, arts and social change

Lauren M. Stevenson | 2011

This ethnographic study examines how a company of high-school-aged artists in a community arts program, makes social change while creating an original hip hop, modern dance, and theater production.


Sending forth the tiniest ripples of hope that build the mightiest currents: Understanding how to prepare school leaders to interrupt oppressive school practices

Boske, C. | 2012

This case study documents a class in “leadership for social justice,” aimed at preparing educators to initiate change within schools.


Studio learning: Motivation, competence, and the development of young art students’ talent and creativity

Susan M. Rostan | 2010

In this study, the researcher investigates the behaviors related to the development of artistic creativity and talent in 51 middleclass, suburban students who voluntarily attend a private afterschool drawing program in New York.


Promising Findings on Preschoolers’ Emergent Literacy and School Readiness in Arts-Integrated Early Childhood Settings

Phillips, R.D., Gorton, R.L., Pinciotti, P., & Sachdev, A. | 2010

This quasi-experimental study examines the implementation of a performing and visual arts integrated arts professional development model (Art as a Way of Learning – AWL) within an integrated arts program (Promoting and Supporting Early Literacy through the Arts – PASELA) designed to improve literacy in three community-based early childhood education (ECE) settings.


Passing on: The old head/younger dancer mentoring relationship in the cultural sphere of rhythm tap

Donna-Marie Peters | 2010

This case study examines the phenomenon of mentorship within inner-city black rhythm tap dancing communities in New York City through an investigation of three different tap dance communities: “La Cave”, “Swing 46” and “On Tap.


Media arts: Arts education for a digital age

Peppler, K. | 2010

The researcher draws upon over three years of extensive field study at a Computer Clubhouse (media arts studio) in south Los Angeles where underprivileged youth ranging in age from eight to 18 have access to programming environments utilizing graphic, music, and video production software.


Arts integration professional development: teacher perspective and transfer to instructional practice

Garett, J. | 2010

This study examines the benefits of professional development in arts integration for elementary school teachers.


Helping children cross cultural boundaries in the borderlands: Arts program at Freese Elementary in San Diego creates cultural bridge

Brouillette, L., & Jennings, L. | 2010

In 2001-2002, Freese Elementary, an inner-city elementary program in the U.


Formal art observation training improves medical students’ visual diagnostic skills

Naghshineh, S., Hafler, J.P., Miller, A.R., Blanco, M.A., Lipsitz, S.R., Dubroff, R.P., … Katz, J.T. | 2008

This quasi-experimental study examines the effect of visual arts training on the physical examination skills of a group of medical students.


Impact of arts integration on voice, choice, and access.

Mason, C. Y., Steedly, K. M., & Thormann, M. S. | 2008

VSA arts conducted this study to investigate the relationship between substantive arts involvement and social, cognitive, and artistic development among students with disabilities.


A study of readers theater in eighth grade: Issues of fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary

Keehn, S., Harmon, J., & Shoho, A. | 2008

Researchers examined the effects of Readers Theater (performance reading) on the reading achievement and motivation of struggling eight grade students in a low socioeconomic neighborhood in a large metropolitan area in south Texas.


Growth in motion: Supporting young women’s embodied identity and cognitive development through dance after school

Mira-Lisa Katz | 2008

This research examines embodied learning, how we know and learn through our body, from the perspectives of 30 teenage women participating at two community-based dance studios in Oakland, CA.


Arts for academic achievement: A compilation of evaluation findings from 2004-2006.

Ingram, D., & Meath, M. | 2007

The summative evaluation of two years of the Arts for Academic Achievement (AAA) program examines student learning outcomes of arts-integrated instruction measured by standardized tests, as well as effects not captured by standardized tests.


Using Freirean pedagogy of just IRE to inform critical social learning in arts-informed community education for sexual minorities.

Andre P. Grace and Kristopher Wells | 2007

This study investigates the development and implementation of two arts-based community programs for sexual minority young adults.


Learning in the visual arts and the worldviews of young children

Catterall, J., & Peppler, K. | 2007

Researchers used a quasi-experimental research design with pre-and post-test measures and treatment and control groups to investigate the effects of rich and sustained arts instruction on participating inner-city children’s self-efficacy (their sense of control of their surroundings) and creative thinking.


Enhancing peer conflict resolution skills through drama: An experimental study.

James S. Catterall | 2007

This quasi-experimental study considers the effects of drama instruction on pro-social behavior, learning processes, and attitudes toward drama for middle school children participating in an after-school drama program.


Community-based arts program for youth in low-income communities: A multi-method evaluation

Wright, R., John, L., Alaggia, R., & Sheel, J. | 2006

The article presents findings from a quasi-experimental evaluation of the National Arts and Youth Demonstration Project (NAYDP).


Whole brain learning: The fine arts with students at risk

Respress, T., & Lutfi, G. | 2006

Researchers used a quasi-experimental research design to examine the impact of arts education on students involved in the after-school program HEARTS (Health Education in the Arts Refining Talented Students).


Evaluation of a theater-based youth violence prevention program for elementary school children

Kisiel, C., Blaustein, M., Spinazzola, J., Schmidt, C. S., Zucker, M., & van der Kolk, B. | 2006

The researchers used a quasi-experimental research design to investigate the effectiveness of Urban Improv, a 27-week interactive drama-based youth violence prevention program.


Drama education: A touch of the creative mind and communicative-expressive ability of elementary school children in Hong Kong

Hui, A., & Lau, S. | 2006

Researchers used an experimental approach to examine the effect of drama education on creativity and storytelling abilities of first and fourth grade school children in Hong Kong.


Culture and antiracism in adult education: An exploration of the contributions of arts-based learning

Clover, D. E. | 2006

This qualitative comparative case study investigates the value of arts-based programs in facilitating cooperative learning with the aim of addressing pertinent issues within communities.


Multimedia arts learning in an activity system: New literacies for at risk children.

Betts, J.D. | 2006

The Multimedia Arts Education Program (MAEP) was an after school program for low income, middle school youth in Tucson, AZ.


Third space: When learning matters

Lauren Stevenson and Richard J. Deasy | 2005

This is a comparative case study of ten schools serving economically disadvantaged communities, which integrated the arts across their curricula as a tool for school reform.


Learning through the Arts: Lessons of Engagement

Katharine Smithrim and Rena Upitis | 2005

The Learning Through the Arts (LTTA) program aims to revitalize elementary education by increasing engagement of students through arts integrated curricula developed by professional teaching artists in collaboration with classroom teachers.


In the beginning: Young children and arts education.

Jeff Meiners | 2005

This report describes an arts education partnership between Windmill Performing Arts, an Australian national performing arts company for children and families, and the University of South Australia.


Basic reading through dance program: The impact on first-grade students’ basic reading skills.

McMahon, S., Rose, D., & Parks, M. | 2003

Researchers developed a quasi-experimental research design to evaluate the impact of a dance-integrated reading program on first-grade students’ beginning reading skills, such as code knowledge (alphabet sounds) and phoneme segmentation (separating letter sounds from spoken words).


How arts integration supports student learning: Students shed light on the connections.

DeMoss, K. & Morris, T. | 2002

The study focuses on 30 students in classes taught by veteran teaching artists (teaching artists associated with veteran CAPE partnerships schools) to understand students’ cognitive processes when engaging in arts-integrated instruction compared to traditional instruction.


Renaissance on the Eastside: Motivating inner- city youth through art

Gasman, M., & Anderson-Thompkins, S. | 2003

The study reports on the effects of a community based visual arts program called Artists in the Making (AIM) on four pre-teen students.


Arts for Academic Achievement: What does arts integration do for students?

Ingram, D., & Riedel, E., | 2003

This report examines the relationship between arts-integrated instruction and student achievement.


InsideOut: Facilitating gay youth identity development through a performance-based youth organization

Halverson, E.R. | 2005

This article presents a case study of youth—who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ)—participating in About Face Youth Theatre (ABYT), an arts-based program aimed at promoting positive youth development through workshops, discussion, narrative writing, script writing, and performance.


Does arts-based learning enhance leadership? Case studies of creativity-oriented executive institutes

Katz-Buinincontro, J. | 2005

This qualitative case study examines how arts-based executive leadership training institutes foster creative thinking and leadership capacities.


The effects of the arts IMPACT curriculum upon student performance on the Ohio fourth-grade proficiency test

Kinney, D. W. & Forsythe, J. L. | 2005

This study examines the impact of a comprehensive arts curriculum (Arts IMPACT) on students’ scores on the Ohio Fourth-Grade Proficiency Test.


Culturally-based after-school arts programming for low-income urban children: Adaptive and preventive effects.

Mason, M. J. & Chuang, S. | 2001

This study examines the impact of participation in Kuumba Kids, an arts-based cultural enrichment program, on student development and behavior.


The art of community transformation.

Lowe, S. S. | 2001

This study describes how community arts programs support the development of a sense of community.


Going on beyond zebra: A middle school and community-based arts organization collaborate for change

Krensky, B. | 2001

This ethnographic case study examines the impact of an arts-integrated service-learning project on students’ social responsibility.


Becoming somebody! How arts programs support positive identity for middle school girls

Holloway, D. L., & LeCompte, M. D. | 2001

This ethnographic case study examines how participating in the arts empowers preadolescent middle school girls.


An investigation of an arts infusion program on creative thinking, academic achievement, affective functioning, and arts appreciation of children at three grade levels.

Richard L. Luftig | 2000

The researcher used a quasi-experimental research design to discern the effects of a school-wide arts infusion program called SPECTRA+.


Imaginative actuality: Learning in the arts during nonschool hours

Shirley Brice Heath and Adelma Roach | 1999

This research draws upon data from a ten-year national study that describes academic, personal, social and civic outcomes of out-of-school programs on students.


The arts in the basic curriculum project: Looking at the past and preparing for the future

Seaman, M. | 1999

This evaluation study of the Arts in the Basic Curriculum project (ABC) in South Carolina sought to describe in depth the ABC schools’ implementation of arts-integrated curricula and its impact.


Stand and Unfold Yourself. Report on the Shakespeare & Co. Summer Shakespeare Program

Steve Seidel | 1999

Shakespeare and Company is a classical professional theater engaged in producing plays, training actors, and teaching Shakespeare at the elementary, secondary, and undergraduate levels.


Why the arts matter in education or just what do children learn when they create an opera

Wolf, D. P. | 1999

This study examines how the Creating Original Opera (COO) program affected student collaboration.


Artists-in-residence in public schools: Issues in curriculum, integration, impact.

Bresler, L., DeStefano, L., Feldman, R., & Garg, S. | 2000

Researchers used a comparative case study method to examine an Artist-in-Residence program conducted in eight urban schools spanning third through eighth grades.


Living the arts through language-learning: A report on community-based youth organizations

Heath, S. B., Soep, E., & Roach A. | 1998

A team of researchers conducted fieldwork in a sample of communities to better understand the arts programs operated by community organizations and their impact on participants.


Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education summary evaluation

Catterall, J., & Waldorf, L. | 1999

This study evaluates the Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education (CAPE), a program that provided grants to schools to form partnerships between local artists, arts agencies, and teachers to integrate arts across the school curriculum.


Artistic talent development for urban youth: The promise and the challenge

Baum, S., Oreck, B., McCartney, H. | 1999

The researchers studied three cohorts of students enrolled in the Young Talent Program, an arts program offering instruction in music and dance to students enrolled in New York City public schools beginning at grade three and extending outside of school into early adulthood.


The flight of reading: Shifts in instruction, orchestration, and attitudes through classroom theatre

Wolf, S. A. | 1998

This research studied 17 children labeled “at risk” in a remedial third- and fourth-grade classroom.