Scholarly Writing & Styles

Issues in K-12 Education Case Study Document 7

Benefits of Arts Education

This is a simulated blog post from two teachers, followed by responses from other interested individuals. There are three responses to the original post. The content focuses on disciplines that might be excluded from a standards-based education.

Benefits of Arts Education: A Plea from Teachers As longtime teachers of art and music in our city’s public schools, we are writing to deplore the dramatic narrowing of the curriculum in our country and to urge that the arts once again take their important place in the education of our children.

It is our understanding that the goal of the standards-based education movement was to increase the quality and richness of curricula and instruction for all kids in America. Sadly, the opposite has occurred.

Since No Child Left Behind went into effect in the early 2000s, schools have tried to improve students’ performance on mandated reading and math tests by increasing the amount of time spent instructing those core subjects. According to a Center on Education Policy brief from July of 2005, 20% of schools have reduced their instructional time for art and music (Center on Education Policy, 2005). Several years later, another study from the same organization indicated that elementary schools had cut instructional time for subjects, such as social studies, art, and music, by an average of 32%. A 2010 report on a nationwide study of No Child Left Behind, issued by the National Art Education Foundation in 2010, revealed widespread negative effects of the legislation on arts education, from poor morale to reduced funds for art supplies (NAEF, 2010). A 2012 United States Department of Education report on arts education, based on thousands of surveys, contains the following discouraging statistics: In 1999-2000, 13% of elementary schools did not offer visual arts instruction. Ten years later, the number of schools without arts education had increased to 17% (Parsad and Spiegelman, 2012).

The shift away from a diverse curriculum filled with options for all interests and learning styles has been most severe in low-performing schools, where the pressure to raise students’ reading and math scores is ferocious. Tests drive instruction, and high-stakes tests do not assess the ability to play a musical instrument or express oneself through drawing or sculpture.

In our school, the “lowest-performing students” are now barred from taking any subject except math, reading, and gym! This is nothing less than criminal, in our opinion. Art and music liberate the human spirit. Removing them from the curriculum is a form of imprisonment.

The arts do far more than help with self-expression or provide a break from the grind of academic work. There is plenty of research on the complex benefits of arts education. Studies show that music education is associated with increases in motor skills, SAT scores, and attentiveness (Arts Education Partnership, 2011).

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A recent Australian study showed increases in verbal learning and memory in students who had studied instrumental music (Rickard, Vasquez, Murphy, Gill, & Toukhsati, 2010).

Music study may even help students do better on standardized tests! A 2007 study published by a professor of music education at the University of Kansas revealed that students at schools with excellent music programs scored roughly 20% higher on math and English standardized tests than students who went to schools with poor music programs. To those who assume that’s because the first group of schools were just better funded in general, here’s an interesting side-note: The findings held true regardless of socioeconomic differences! For a rich overview of recent research into the benefits of arts education, from preparing a twenty-first century workforce, to teaching students how to persevere in the face of obstacles, I highly recommend a 2013 publication by the Arts Education Partnership, a division of the CCSO, titled Preparing Students for the Next America (Arts Education Partnership, 2013).

But most importantly, arts education engages students’ hearts and minds. Art gives kids access to a realm where risk-taking is encouraged and there is no “right” or “wrong.” For special needs students, students who are at high risk of dropping out of school, and others for whom standard academic fare may be challenging, arts education is nourishing and supportive. We have seen the way art classes can motivate students not only to explore the world of art, but to gain confidence and curiosity that transfer to other aspects of school.

We strongly believe that increasing access to arts instruction will make students happier, more engaged, more confident, and ultimately more successful on those very standardized tests that have edged art out of the curriculum!!

Signed,

Maeve Costagliola, Art

Frank Anh, Music

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Responses

As a longtime educator, I strongly believe that arts education makes for better balanced, more curious, and more sensitive members of society. Let’s make the case for art on its own merit instead of asserting ridiculous claims that don’t hold up to serious scrutiny. The claim that arts education leads to better standardized test scores has no clear basis.

The correlation between arts education and higher SAT scores is just that: a correlation. There is no evidence that art classes cause higher test results.

Arts advocates need to stop grasping at straws and focus on the facts. Art is valuable; it just doesn’t relate to reading and math proficiency.

William Lacy

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Wow. Is there anything more irritating than someone who presents hard-nosed, fact- based claims that are actually based on fuzzy logic and false “information.” William Lacy states that there is no research supporting the practical benefits of arts education. How about the many studies cited in the 2010 report titled Music Matters—citing everything from boosts in reading skills and algebra, to improvements in working memory and abstract reasoning (Arts Education Partnership, 2011)?

This list goes on… I’d be more than happy to provide Mr. Lacy with a full bibliography!

Signed,

Sun Hee Kim, Ph.D.

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I was one of those “at-risk” students Ms. Costagliola and Mr. Anh refer to in their letter. My elementary and middle school years were one long struggle with academics. (Turns out I had an undiagnosed learning disability, but that’s another story.) I joined band in middle school, and I loved it. Putting in the hours after school to practice my instrument was a joy, not a chore, and the discipline I gained help me focus better on my regular homework. Then in high school, I was lucky enough to have Ms. Costagliola for my art teacher. (That’s when kids like me were still allowed to take art.) She taught me how to really see the world. My distracted brain slowed down when I drew; I learned to focus and concentrate better, and most importantly, I no longer felt like a failure. I’m no scientist, but I know when my grades in my academics went up in high school, it was at least partly because I was first a success in art.

Thanks, Ms. C and Mr. A—You guys got it right!

Jeff Laughlin

References

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Arts Education Partnership. (2011). Music matters. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED541070.pdf

Arts Education Partnership. (2013). The benefits of an arts education. Retrieved from http://www.aep-arts.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Preparing-Students-for-the-Next- America-FINAL.pdf

Brown, L. (2013). The benefits of music education. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/parents/education/music-arts/the-benefits-of-music-education/

Center on Education Policy. (2005, July 1). NCLB Policy Brief 3. Retrieved from http://www.cep-dc.org/displayDocument.cfm?DocumentID=239

NAEF. (2010). No Child Left Behind: A study of its impact on art education. Retrieved from http://www.arteducators.org/research/NCLB_Press_Release_2-10.pdf

National Education Association. (2008). Center on Education Policy: NCLB narrows the curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/17993.htm

Parsad, B., & Spiegelman, M. (2012). Arts education in public elementary and secondary schools 1999–2000 and 2009–10. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012014rev.pdf

Pogrebin, R. (2007, August 4). Book tackles old debate: Role of art in schools. The New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/04/arts/design/04stud.html?_r=0

Rickard, S., Vasquez, J., Murphy, F., Gill, A., & Toukhsati, S. (2010). Benefits of a classroom based instrumental music program on verbal memory of primary school children: A longitudinal study. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=ff570 fcf-4ab6-448c-8eb7-ac75b242701c%40sessionmgr4003&vid=4&hid=4204

Ruppert, S. (2006). Critical evidence: How the arts benefit student achievement. National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED529766.pdf

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