ARTS LEARNING IN ACTION TOOLKIT

Arts Learning in Action Fact Sheet

Teaching through the arts motivates children and increases their aptitude for learning. Eric Jensen, Arts With the Brain in Mind, 2001

Students of lower socioeconomic status gain as much or more from arts instruction than those of higher socioeconomic status. James Catterall et al., 1999

The nation’s top business executives agree that arts education programs can help repair weaknesses in American education and better prepare workers for the 21st century. The Changing Workplace is Changing our View of Education, Business Week, Oct 1996

Arts education increases interest in academic learning, cognitive and basic skills development and the development of academic achievement skills. Konrad, R.R., Empathy, Arts and Social Studies, 2000

Students who participate in school band or orchestra have the lowest levels of current and lifelong use of alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs among any group in our society. H. Con. Res. 266, United States Senate, June 13, 2000

According to the College Board, SAT scores in 1995 for students who studied the arts for more than four years were 59 points higher on the verbal and 44 points higher on the math portion than students with no coursework or experience in the arts.

The arts provide a reason, sometimes the only reason, for students who have been disengaged from schools and other community institutions to re-engage in educational and other community organizations. Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, Edited by Edward B. Fiske, published by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, March 2000

By 2006 all students entering the UC/CSU system must satisfy a new visual and performing arts requirement by completing an appropriate single course in a year-long sequence in dance, music, theatre or the visual arts. University of California / California State University

Young children who engage in dramatic enactments of stories and text improve their reading comprehension, story understanding and ability to read new materials they have not seen before. The effects are even more significant for children from economically disadvantaged circumstances and those with reading difficulties in the early and middle grades. Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development, Arts Education Partnership 2002

Learning in individual art forms as well as in multi-arts experiences engages and strengthens such fundamental cognitive capacities as spatial reasoning (the capacity for organizing and sequencing ideas); conditional reasoning (theorizing about outcomes and consequences); problem solving; and the components of creative thinking (originality, elaboration, flexibility). Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development, Arts Education Partnership 2002