Program Benefits

The benefits of arts integration are well documented in research from the University of New Hampshire, which conducted an evaluation of the year-long course "Picturing Writing." The results documented significant gains in the writing skills of students who were taught consistently using the writing model, compared with a demographically matched comparison group. In 1999, the Main Street School in Exeter, New Hampshire, adopted "Picturing Writing" school-wide and integrated a visual arts approach into its language arts and science curriculum. Main Street has continued implementing the model, which has resulted in impressive standardized test-score data over time. Since 2000, Main Street’s third-grade Title 1 students have scored above the state average of all third grade students. Susan O’Connor, Director of Instruction for Language Arts and Science at Main Street School, stated that "(arts integration) has given our teachers the tools they need to move our lowest-performing students forward."

Similar conclusions have been reached by other studies. The 1999 report Involvement in the Arts and Human Development (Catterall et al, UCLA) showed that students participating in the arts show stronger academic achievement in the humanities and other subjects than students who do not participate in the arts. The study Learning in and Through the Arts: Curriculum Implications (Burton et al, Columbia University, 1999) concluded that students with greater involvement in the arts showed not only greater academic achievement but also greater self-confidence in their studies. Other investigations have returned evidence of the connection between academic achievement and arts integration.

• In Arts in the Basic Curriculum, a statewide arts integration program in South Carolina, the percentage of students in an arts-based curriculum rated higher in scores on standardized tests than did students in non-arts-based schools. The study showed that an arts-based curriculum does not diminish students’ scores on standardized tests, which had been a fear.
• In Chicago, the 30 public schools taking part in a citywide arts partnership found evidence that an arts-based curriculum can raise student achievement levels in the aggregate.
  
• The Minneapolis program “Arts for Academic Achievement," conducted under an Annenberg Foundation grant, indicated that professional development of teachers could lead to improved student academic performances in an arts-based curriculum.
• New York City public schools participating in a program of the nonprofit Center for Arts Education found that an arts-based curriculum can raise reading scores for disadvantaged students.