California LCFF Priority-Aligned Research

This version of ArtsEdSearch invites interested parties in California to explore summaries of research aligned to state priorities outlined in CA’s LCFF (Local Control Funding Formula).

In addition to the searchable summaries, AEP has created a companion series of four documents that summarize the research.


The Benefits of Music Workshop Participation for Pupils’ Wellbeing and Social Capital: The In2 Music Project Evaluation*

Sophie Ward | 2021

Ward, S., et al. “The Benefits of Music Workshop Participation for Pupils’ Wellbeing and Social Capital: The In2 Music Project Evaluation.” Arts Education Policy Review, (2021): 1-11. Abstract: The abstract for this article is available on the Taylor & Francis Online website. Supports for the Findings: The In2 music project involved students in year 6 (10–11 […]


“It Just Made Me Want to Do Better for Myself”: Performing Arts Education and Academic Performance for African American Male High School Students*

Calvin Wesley Walton | 2020

Walton, C.W. “It Just Made Me Want to Do Better for Myself”: Performing Arts Education and Academic Performance for African American Male High School Students.” International Journal of Education & the Arts, V. 21 No. 13 (2020): 1-42. Abstract: The abstract for this article, as well as the complete article, is available on the International […]


‘Seeing’ and ‘Being Seen’: An Embodied and Culturally Sensitive Arts-Integrated Pedagogy Creating Enriched Conditions for Learning in Multicultural Schools*

Charlotte Svendler Nielsen, et al. | 2017

Svendler Nielsen, C., et al. “‘Seeing’ and ‘Being Seen’: An Embodied and Culturally Sensitive Arts-Integrated Pedagogy Creating Enriched Conditions for Learning in Multicultural Schools.” International Journal of Education & the Arts, V. 21 No. 2 (2017): 1-24. Abstract: The abstract for this article, as well as the complete article, is available on the International Journal […]


Promoting Engagement in School Through Tailored Music Programs*

Katrina Skewes McFerran, et al. | 2017

McFerran, K. S., Crooke, A. H. D. and Bolger, L. “Promoting Engagement in School Through Tailored Music Programs.” International Journal of Education & the Arts, V. 18 No. 3 (2017): 1-29. Abstract: The abstract for this article, as well as the complete article, is available on the International Journal of Education & the Arts website. […]


Investigating Causal Effect of Arts Education Experiences: Experimental Evidence From Houston’s Arts Access Initiative

Daniel H. Bowen and Brian Kisida. | 2020

Daniel H. Bowen and Brian Kisida, “Investigating Causal Effect of Arts Education Experiences: Experimental Evidence From Houston’s Arts Access Initiative,” Houston Education Research Consortium 7, no. 4 (2019): 1-28. Abstract: The researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial with 10,548 students in third through eighth grade who were enrolled across 42 schools. Participating schools were assigned […]


Improvisational Theater Classes Improve Self-Concept

Brooke H. DeBettignies and Thalia R. Goldstein. | 2020

Brooke H. DeBettignies and Thalia R. Goldstein. Improvisational Theater Classes Improve Self-Concept. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, (2019). Abstract: The study investigated the effect of improvisational theater classes on children’s self-concept. Fifty-two elementary school children participated in an experimental design study. Children from eight to 11 years old who were enrolled in an […]


The Effectiveness of a Music and Dance Program on the Task Engagement and Inclusion of Young Pupils on the Autism Spectrum

Athina Stamou et al. | 2020

Athina Stamou et al, “The Effectiveness of a Music and Dance Program on the Task Engagement and Inclusion of Young Pupils on the Autism Spectrum,” Music & Science 2 (2019): 2059204319881852. Abstract: This study explored whether music and dance can promote the inclusion of children with autism attending mainstream schools through participation in a novel music […]


Selection Into, and Academic Benefits From, Arts-Related Courses in Middle School for Low-Income, Ethnically Diverse Youth

Adam Winsler et al. | 2020

Adam Winsler et al, “Selection Into, and Academic Benefits From, Arts-Related Courses in Middle School for Low-Income, Ethnically Diverse Youth,” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, (2019). Abstract: This research on the effects of arts engagement identifies and carefully controls for preexisting selection factors that differentiate those who do and do not get exposure […]


The Effects of Arts Integration on Long-Term Retention of Content and Student Engagement

Mariale Hardiman, Luke Rinne and Julia Yarmolinskaya. | 2020

Mariale Hardiman, Luke Rinne and Julia Yarmolinskaya, “The Effects of Arts Integration on Long-Term Retention of Content and Student Engagement,” Mind, Brain and Education 8, no. 3 (2014): 144-148. Abstract: Previous studies of arts integration ― the pedagogical practice of teaching through the arts ― suggest its value for enhancing cognitive, academic and social skills. […]


Music and Juvenile Justice: A Dynamic Systems Perspective

Dennie Palmer Wolf and Steven J. Holochwost. | 2020

Dennie Palmer Wolf and Steven J. Holochwost, “Music and Juvenile Justice: A Dynamic Systems Perspective,” Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts 10, 2 (2016): 171-183. Abstract: This study investigated whether participation in an ensemble-based music education program was associated with evidence of internal strengths, changes in perceptions of peers or changes in behavior among youth involved […]


A Population-Level Analysis of Associations Between School Music Participation and Academic Achievement

Guhn, M., S.D. Emerson and P. Gouzouasis. | 2019

Guhn, M., S.D. Emerson and P. Gouzouasis. (2019). A Population-Level Analysis of Associations Between School Music Participation and Academic Achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advance online publication: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/edu0000376. Abstract: The present study employed population-level educational records from four public school student cohorts (n = 112,916; seventh through 12th grade 7-12) in British Columbia, Canada, to […]


The Use of Music to Enhance Reading Skills of Second Grade Students and Students With Reading Disabilities

Register, Dena, Alice-Ann Darrow, Jayne Standley and Olivia Swedberg | 2019

Register, Dena, Alice-Ann Darrow, Jayne Standley and Olivia Swedberg. 2007. The Use of Music to Enhance Reading Skills of Second Grade Students and Students With Reading Disabilities. Journal of Music Therapy 44, (1) (Spring): 23-37. Abstract: This study assesses the impact of music curriculum on the reading skills of second grade, public school students with specific […]


Arts in Education: The Impact of the Arts Integration Program and Lessons Learned

Miller, Joyce Ann and Tania Bogatova | 2019

Miller, Joyce Ann and Tania Bogatova. (2018). Arts in Education: The Impact of the Arts Integration Program and Lessons Learned. Journal for Learning through the Arts, 14 (1). Abstract: This research evaluated an arts-integration project funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination Grant program. The four-year project was […]


The Effects of Arts Integration on Long-Term Retention of Academic Content

Hardiman, Mariale, Luke Rinne, and Julia Yarmolinskaya | 2019

Hardiman, Mariale, Luke Rinne, and Julia Yarmolinskaya. “The Effects of Arts Integration on Long-Term Retention of Academic Content.” International Mind, Brain, and Education Society 8, no. 3 (2014): 144-148. Abstract: This study reports the results of a small, preliminary classroom-based experiment that tested effects of arts integration on long-term retention of content. The researchers designed […]


Cultivating Common Ground: Integrating Standards-Based Visual Arts, Math and Literacy in High-Poverty Urban Classrooms

Cunnington, Marisol, Andrea Kantrowitz, Susanne Harnett, and Aline Hill-Ries | 2019

Cunnington, Marisol, Andrea Kantrowitz, Susanne Harnett, and Aline Hill-Ries. “Cultivating Common Ground: Integrating Standards-Based Visual Arts, Math and Literacy in High-Poverty Urban Classrooms.” Journal for Learning through the Arts: A Research Journal on Arts Integration in Schools and Communities 10, no. 1 (2014). Abstract: The mixed-method study assessed the effects of staff professional development and standards […]


The Influence of Classroom Drama on Teachers’ Language and Students’ On-Task Behavior

Anderson, Alida and Katherine Berry. | 2019

Anderson, Alida and Katherine Berry. “The Influence of Classroom Drama on Teachers’ Language and Students’ On-Task Behavior.” Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth 59, no. 4 (2015): 197, doi: 10.1080/1045988X.2014.903464. Abstract: Teachers’ language and students’ on-task behavior were examined during language arts lessons — both with and without classroom drama instruction — […]


Using arts integration to make science learning memorable in the upper elementary grades: A quasi-experimental study

Brouillette, L., & Graham, N. J | 2018

The study tested the hypothesis that the arts might provide upper-elementary students, who were still concrete thinkers, with a powerful means of envisioning phenomena that they could not directly observe.


Arts Education and the High School Dropout Problem

Thomas. M. K., Singh, P. & Klopfenstein, K | 2015

High school dropout is a significant public education problem in the United States.


Effect of a performing arts program on the oral language skills of young English learners.

Greenfader, C.M., Brouillette, L. & Farkas, G. | 2015

The Teaching Artist Project (TAP) is a literacy program that provides K–2 teachers with professional development in theatre and dance with the goal of helping teachers boost the oral language skills of English learners (ELs).


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 integration and the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Whole School Initiative

Phillips, J., Harper, J, Lee, K. & Boone, E. | 2014

This study examines the impact of the Whole Schools Initiative (WSI), an arts integration model for comprehensive school reform, on students’ academic performance as evidenced primarily by their scores on standardized state exams.


The process of social identity development in adolescent high school choral singers: A grounded theory

E.C. Parker | 2014

The purpose of this study was to describe the process of adolescent choral singers’ social identity development within three midsized, Midwestern high school mixed choirs.


The effects of creative dramatics on vocabulary achievement of fourth grade students in a language arts classroom: An empirical study

Joseph, A. | 2014

This experimental design research study provides statistically significant evidence that the two treatment groups outscored the control group when exposed to a creative dramatics intervention.


A study on the relationship between theater arts and student literacy and mathematics achievement

Inoa, R., Weltsek, G., & Tabone, C. | 2014

Past studies have shown positive relationships between the arts and academic achievement when the arts are integrated into language arts, mathematics, and science classes.


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.


Creating a children’s art world: Negotiating participation, identity, and meaning in the elementary school art room

Malin, H. | 2012

This qualitative case study examines the outcomes of the art-making process of a group of elementary school students over the course of a school year.


Prelude: Music Makes Us baseline research report

Eason, B. J. A., & Johnson, C. M. | 2013

Researchers from the University of Kansas sought to establish a baseline understanding of the effects of existing music programs in the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) in order to better understand the potential effects and implications of Music Makes Us, an enhanced music program launched in 2011 by the Mayor’s office, music industry leaders, and philanthropists.


Arts education and positive youth development: Cognitive, behavioral, and social outcomes of adolescents who study the arts

Elpus, K. | 2013

This study examined the influence of adolescent participation in the arts on cognitive, behavioral, and social outcomes.


Increasing the school engagement and oral language skills of ELLs through arts integration in the primary grades

Brouillette, L., Childress-Evans, K., Hinga, B. & Farkas, G. | 2014

Building on previous research on the relationship between the arts and student engagement and achievement, researchers studied the impact of San Diego’s Teaching Artist Project (TAP) on the attendance and speaking and listening skills of children in kindergarten through second grade, with a focus on English Language Learners (ELLs).


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.


Historic and ethnic music found to increase geographic understanding: A quasi-experimental study

R. Richardson, L. Brouillette | 2013

This study evaluated an eighth-grade supplementary music and geography curriculum (Mapping the Beat) funded by a grant from the National Geographic Foundation.


Academic Music: Music instruction to engage third grade students in learning basic fraction concepts

Courey, S., Balogh, E., Siker, J., Paik, J | 2012

This study examines the effects of an academic music intervention on conceptual understanding of music notation, fraction symbols, fraction size, and equivalency of third-graders from a multicultural, mixed socio-economic public school setting.


The arts and achievement in at-risk youth: Findings from four longitudinal studies.

Catterall, J. S., Dumais, S. A., & Hampden-Thompson, G. | 2012

This study examines the relationship between participation in the arts and academic and civic outcomes for teenagers and young adults.


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.


Contribution of drama-based strategies

Walker, E., Bosworth McFadden, L., Tabone, C., Finkelstein, M. | 2011

Building on a stream of educational research that has focused on the impact of the arts on performance in non-arts academic subjects, this three year longitudinal study investigated the impact of integrating theatre arts into the language arts and social studies curricula on fourth- and fifth-grade students’ cognitive, procognitive, and prosocial development through the Theatre Infusion project.


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.


Window of opportunity? Adolescence, music, and algebra.

Helmrich. B. H. | 2010

This study analyzes 2006-2007 data from the Maryland Algebra/Data Analysis High School Assessment in relationship to student enrollment data in middle school music.


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.


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.


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.


Drama activities as ideational resources for primary-grade children in urban science classes

Varelas, M. et al | 2010

This qualitative case study examines how drama enactments of scientific concepts—in particular, matter and the food web in the forest—enhanced scientific learning in grades one, two, and three at five Midwestern elementary schools.


Oklahoma A+ Schools: What the research tells us 2002-2007. Volume three, quantitative measures.

Barry, N. H. | 2010

Researchers conducted a five-year evaluation study of how the A+ arts integrated school reform strategies (developed in North Carolina) played out in Oklahoma’s growing network of A+ Schools.


Effects of a preschool music and movement curriculum on children’s language skills

Noreen Yazeijian, Ellen S. Peisner-Feinberg | 2009

This quasi-experimental study evaluated the effects of a supplementary music and movement curriculum on children’s language skills in a Head Start preschool classroom.


Does musical training improve school performance?

Wetter, O. E., Koerner, F., & Schwaninger, A. | 2009

The researchers used a descriptive, retrospective study to ascertain if students involved in practicing music outperformed their counterparts, who did not practice music, in school.


The impact of music on childhood and adolescent achievement

Darby E. Southgate and Vincent J. Roscigno | 2009

This large-scale, longitudinal study examines the relationship of music involvement to math and reading achievement for 4376 children and 7781 adolescents in public and private schools in the U.


The effect of piano lessons on the vocabulary and verbal sequencing skills of primary grade students.

Joseph M. Piro and Camilo Ortiz | 2009

The researchers used a quasi-experimental research design to investigate if students who received in-school keyboard lessons as part of a sequential music program would demonstrate greater gains on measures of vocabulary and verbal sequencing than students who did not receive keyboard instruction.


Singing in science: Writing and recording student lyrics to express learning

Nelson, S., & Norton-Meier, L. | 2009

This qualitative case study examines an integrated arts project in which students in two grade levels write song lyrics to express learning in science.


Doing well and doing good by doing art: The effects of education in the visual and performing arts on the achievements and values of young adults.

James S. Catterall | 2009

This study is based on the researcher’s prior work analyzing data from the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS:88), a data set of information on approximately 25,000 secondary school students over four years, in which he found significant connections between involvement in arts learning and general academic success.


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.


Training in the arts, reading, and brain imaging

Wandell, B., Dougherty, R. F., Ben-Shachar, M., & Deutsch, G., K. | 2008

This series of studies uses neuroscience methods to investigate the relationships between: (1) aesthetic ability, arts education, and improvement in children’s reading ability; (2) visual arts exposure and phonological awareness and (3) visual arts exposure and math calculation abilities.


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.


Practicing a musical instrument in childhood is associated with enhanced verbal ability and nonverbal reasoning

Forgeard, M., Winner, E., Norton, A., & Schlaug, G. | 2008

This study examines the association between instrumental music training in childhood and cognitive outcomes both proximally related to music (fine motor and auditory discrimination skills) and distally related to music (spatial, verbal, nonverbal, and mathematical skills).


Dual Diaspora and barrio art: Art as an avenue for learning English

Craig, C. | 2008

This qualitative study, guided by an action research framework, explores how urban middle school students, who are primarily Spanish-speaking English language learners, are able to utilize artwork as a means of free expression while learning a second language.


Arts in the Classroom Professional Development Program:Final Evaluation Report

Powell, D. | 2007

This study is an evaluation of The Arts in the Classroom Program which engaged 91 Kindergarten through sixth grade classroom teachers from a single school district in order to build their capacity to deliver standards-based interdisciplinary arts instruction to their students.


The predictive relationship between achievement and participation in music and achievement in core grade 12 academic subjects

Gouzouasis P., Guhn, M., & Kishor, N. | 2007

This study examines the extent to which academic achievement of grade 12 students is related to achievement and participation in music, including concert choir, jazz choir, concert band, orchestral, and jazz band.


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.


Studio thinking: How visual arts teaching can promote disciplined habits of mind

Winner, E., Hetland, L., Veenema, S., Sheridan, K., Palmer, P., Locher, I., et al. | 2006

This study first provides an overview of prior meta-analytical research about the notion of transfer between arts learning and non-arts domains, concluding that with only few exceptions, transfer could not be proved because existing studies yield insufficient evidence.


Worlds together… words apart: An assessment of the effectiveness of arts-based curriculum for second language learners

Stephanie Urso Spina | 2006

The researcher used a quasi-experimental design to assess whether an arts-based curricula facilitates English language acquisition for English language learners (ELL) and whether the gain in English language skills sacrificed proficiency in Spanish, the study subjects’ first language.


Artistic choices: A study of teachers who use the arts in the classroom

Barry Oreck | 2006

In a climate of increased education standardization, this study examines what the personal characteristics and factors are that support or constrain arts use in the classroom.


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.


“We are more than jailbirds”: An arts program for incarcerated young women.

Lazzari, M. M., Amundson, K. A., & Jackson, R. L. | 2005

This qualitative study examines the effects of an arts project on juvenile female offenders who are incarcerated.


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.


Connecting drama and writing: Seizing the moment to write.

Cremin, T., Goouch, K., Blakemore, L., Goff, E., & Macdonald, R. | 2006

A research team consisting of three teacher-researchers and two university researcher partners implemented and investigated a pilot study of a process drama program to understand the nature of the support that process drama offers to children’s development of writing skills.


Exploring moral values with young adolescents through process drama

Marie Gervais | 2006

This qualitative, arts-based research study examines adolescents’ experiences in a process drama program and explores the general decision making processes of junior high school students (grades seven, eight, and nine) related to their moral values.


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.


Focus in creative learning: Drawing on art for language development

Shirley Brice Heath and Shelby Wolf | 2005

The researchers used a blend of data collection methods from action research and linguistic anthropology to examine the learning environment in which students (ages four to seven) worked with a professional visual artist, one day per week for an entire academic school year.


Artful Citizenship Project three-year project report

Curva, F., et al. | 2005

This study evaluates the implementation and results of the Artful Citizenship program, an arts-integrated program developed by the Wolfsonian Museum and Miami-Dade County Public Schools.


Art and literacy with bilingual children

Carger, C. | 2004

The teacher-researcher designed the action research study to ascertain how the inclusion of visual arts in reading circles can enhance language and literacy learning for young bilingual students.


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).


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.


Music Training Improves Verbal but Not Visual Memory: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Explorations in Children

Ho, Y., Cheung, M., & Chan, A. S. & Chang. | 2003

The purpose of this research was to find if music training is related to improved verbal memory in children.


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.


A continuing inquiry into the school as parkland metaphor

Craig, C. | 2002

The researcher utilized an ethnographic study format to understand how fifth grade students attending a magnet school in an historic African American neighborhood made meaning of the 9/11 events.


Imagery-based learning: Improving elementary students’ reading comprehension with drama techniques

Rose, D. S., Parks, M., Androes, K., & McMahon, S.D. | 2000

This study examines the relationship between drama-based reading instruction and reading comprehension among fourth-grade students.


Art and community: Creating knowledge through service in dance

Ross, J. | 2000

Sixty at-risk and incarcerated adolescents participated in jazz and hip-hop dance classes for ten weeks.


SAT Scores of Students Who Study the Arts: What We Can and Cannot Conclude about the Association

Karen Vaughn and Ellen Winner | 2000

This study examines the claim that students who study the arts in high school have higher SAT scores than those who do not study the arts.


Mute those claims: No evidence (yet) for a causal link between arts study and academic achievement

Winner, E., & Cooper, M. | 2000

The purpose of this study was to quantify the results of existing research (from the period of 1950 to 1998) testing the claim that the study of the arts is associated with improved academic achievement.


Drama and authentic assessment in a social studies classroom

Morris, R. V. | 2001

This article describes a two-year-long case study of a seventh grade ancient world history social studies class in which the teacher used drama, along with other methods, as a central way to teach course content.


The arts are an “R” too: Integrating the arts and improving student literacy (and more) in the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Whole Schools Initiative.

Corbett, D., Wilson, B., & Morse, D. | 2002

This study evaluates the Whole Schools Initiative (WSI), funded by the Mississippi Arts Commission to incorporate arts into regular classroom instruction.


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.


Investigating the educational impact and potential of the Museum of Modern Art’s Visual Thinking Curriculum: Final report

Tishman, S., MacGillivray, D., & Palmer, P. | 1999

This study examines student outcomes associated with the Visual Thinking Curriculum (VTC), a program designed to foster students’ thinking skills through looking at and discussing visual art.


Learning in and through the arts: The question of transfer.

Burton, J. M., Horowitz, R. & Abeles, H. | 2000

The study investigates whether transfer occurs such that learning in the arts affects learning in non-art subjects and if there are effects, what they are, how they occur, and what circumstances within schools influence the realization of such effects.


Can music be used to teach reading?

Butzlaff, R. | 2000

This study tests the hypothesis that instruction in music improves performance in reading.


Arts Education in Secondary Schools: Effects and Effectiveness.

Harland, J., Kinder, K., Lord, P., Stott, A., Schagen, I., Haynes, J., Cusworth, L.,White, R., & Paola, R. | 2000

The purpose of this large-scale study was to examine the effects of secondary school arts education (in visual arts, drama, dance, or music) in England and Wales.


Learning to make music enhances spatial reasoning

Lois Hetland | 2000

This study describes the relationship between active music instruction and performance on spatial tasks.


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+.


Strengthening verbal skills through the use of classroom drama: A clear link.

Ann Podlozny | 2000

This study examines the relationship between in-school drama instruction and student verbal achievement.


Involvement in the arts and human development: General involvement and intensive involvement in music and theatre arts

James S. Catterall, Richard Chapleau, John Iwanaga | 1999

This briefing presents results from a two-year exploration of interactions between the arts and student achievement.


The Effect of Early Music Training on Child Cognitive Development

Terry D. Bilhartz, Rick A. Bruhn, and Judith E. Olson | 1999

The researchers conducted an experimental study to determine the relationship between the structured early childhood music curriculum, Kindermusik, and cognitive development.


The effects of musical performance, rational emotive therapy and vicarious experience on the self-efficacy and self-esteem of juvenile delinquents and disadvantage children.

Kennedy, R. | 1998

The investigator conducted a study to assess the effect of music performance on disadvantaged and delinquent teenagers on their musical self-efficacy and self-esteem.


Involvement in the arts and success in secondary school.

Catterall, J.S. | 1998

This study examines longitudinal data for 25,000 secondary school students to explore links between participation in the arts and academic achievement.


Effects on an integrated reading and music instructional approach on fifth-grade students’ reading achievement, reading attitude, music achievement, and music attitude.

Andrews, L.J. | 1997

The researcher conducted a study to determine if integrated reading and music instruction had an effect on students’ reading and music achievement and on their attitudes toward reading and music.


A meta-analysis on the effects of music as reinforcement for education/therapy objectives

Standley, J.M. | 1996

The purpose of the study meta-analysis was to examine the effectiveness of music as a reward (or removal of music as a punishment) in education and therapy settings.


The effectiveness of creative drama as an instructional strategy to enhance the reading comprehension skills of fifth-grade remedial readers

Dupont, S. | 1992

This study measured the growth of reading comprehension skills of 51 remedial fifth-grade students after exposure to a treatment of creative drama integrated with children’s literature reading material over a six-week period.


The effects of creative drama on the social and oral language skills of children with learning disabilities.

De la Cruz, R. E. | 1995

The study investigated whether students with disabilities involved in a creative drama program improved social skills, oral expressiveness, and receptive language skills compared to a group of students who were not involved in the program.


Drama and drawing for narrative writing in primary grades

Moore, B. & Caldwell, H. | 1993

This study compared the effects of two types of writing planning activities, drama and drawing, against a traditional writing planning activity, discussion, on the quality of narrative writing from 63 primary grade students.


“You can’t be grandma; you’re a boy”: Events within the thematic fantasy play context that contribute to story comprehension

Williamson, P. A. & Silvern, S. B. | 1992

This study examines how kindergarten students’ behavior during dramatic reenactments of stories affects their story comprehension.


An exploration into the writing of original scripts by inner-city high school drama students

Horn, J. | 1992

Researchers investigated how student participation in a theater class that put the students in charge of creating and implementing a theater piece affected student outcomes, such as classroom and library attendance, motivation to write, attitude toward school, and self esteem.

The work to align existing ArtsEdSearch studies to LCFF priorities and create this site was supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.