How Arts Ifluence Student Achievement

The Arts have a positive influence on student achievement. Through out the research process I have found a large amount of evidence proving that thesis. Also I have discovered there is a large amount of interest in the topic. Some of the facts I learned supporting my thesis are that young people who participate in the arts for at least three hours on three days a week through one full year are; four times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, three times more likely to be elected to class office within their schools, four times more likely to participate in a math and science fair, three times more likely to win an award for school attendance, four times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem. Young artists, as compared with their peers, are likely to; attend music, art, and dance classes nearly three times as frequently. They are also more likely to participate in youth groups nearly four times as frequently, read for pleasure nearly twice as often, and, perform community service more than four times as often.

Also being involved in the arts make a impact on the develop mental growth of every child and has proven to help level the "learning field" as well as make a measurable impact on youth at risk having delinquent behavior and truancy problems while increasing academic performance among those youth engaged in after school and summer arts programs targeted toward delinquency prevention.

Businesses also believe the arts affect students. They had this to contribute, the arts help build a school climate of high expectation, discipline, and academics that attracts businesses relocating to those communities where the arts are in schools. The Arts strengthen student problem-solving and critical thinking skills, adding to academic achievement and school success. Students develop a sense of craftsmanship, quality task performance, and goal-setting skills needed to succeed in the classroom and beyond. Once again the Arts can help troubled youth, providing an alternative to destructive behavior and another way for students to approach learning. They can too provide another opportunity for parental, community, and business involvement with schools, including arts and humanities organizations. The arts also supply the ability for all students to gain more appreciation and understanding of the world around, them as well as helps students develop a positive work ethic and pride in a job well done.

Through researching this topic I discovered the many types of Arts students may become involved in and there individual impact on the students achievement. Elementary students who attended schools with arts in the classroom curriculum out performed their peers in math who did not have an arts-integrated curriculum. In 1998, more than 60 percent of the students attending schools integrated with the Chicago Arts Partnership in Education (CAPE) performed at or above grade level on the math portion of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills while the remainder of Chicago Public School students averaged just over 40 percent. Those same numbers in 1992, before the CAPE program began were 40 percent in the pre-CAPE schools and 28 percent district-wide.

When multiple Arts are implied in Elementary students involved they showed higher rates of classroom participation and quality of participation than peers. These students were involved in the arts by creating an opera. The participation of the opera-creating students was more coherent and responsive in the classroom.. The longer students are engaged in the opera-creating process, the more substantial the effects on the quantity and quality of their classroom participation.

The findings of an education reform program that places a high value on the arts found that "the arts do contribute to the general school curriculum, to learning for all students, to school and professional culture, to educational and instructional practices, and to the schools' neighborhoods and communities. It is important that these contributions extend beyond what most arts in education programs promise to educators." This arts education reform program placed high on six dimensions of "effective reform practice: balanced scope, clear focus on teaching and learning, a long-term time frame, a locus of authority that encourages school-level initiative but embraces support from the top, opportunities and support for collaborative engagement, and ongoing professional development directed at instructional change." Schools in South Carolina that made room in their schedules for the arts at the expense of other academic disciplines did not suffer a decline in standardized test scores in the courses that lost time in the school schedule through the addition of the arts.

When using individual arts as focus music produced these results; Preschoolers who