The new school year is upon us with new beginnings and goals. One important goal, whether you’re a teacher, parent, or administrator, is to include the arts in daily instruction.
Numerous studies indicate how arts opportunities benefit students. According to a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) study,
“at-risk students who have access to the arts in or out of school also tend to have better academic results, better workforce opportunities, and more civic engagement.”
Recently, the Kennedy Center conducted a study which examined the effects of their Changing Education through the Arts (CETA) programs. The research yielded four significant findings:
1. “Arts integration impacts creativity. Compared to students who did not receive arts-integrated instruction, CETA students showed an increase in creativity.”
2. “Arts integration impacts student engagement. CETA students experienced greater emotional engagement, higher levels of interest, increased applied effort, and more
frequent experiences of being positively challenged throughout the school year.”
3. “Students in CETA schools had more positive attitudes about the arts. They more often believed that the arts were instrumental in helping them understand other
non-arts related subjects better, like science, history, or math.”
4. “Students in the CETA program became more flexible in their thinking and problem solving abilities over the course of the school year.”
For more information about this study, click here. If you’re looking for arts integration ideas, visit the the Kennedy Center’s fabulous ARTSEDGE website. It’s filled with
free digital resources including lesson plans, multimedia programs, music, and much more.
