CREATIVE LEAPS:
Journal for the Arts in Leadership and Interdisciplinary Learning

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Did You Know?...
Facts on Education, Student Achievement, and the Arts

In the wake of the assessment-based education policies of recent years, and the resulting diminishing number of children exposed to artistic and interdisciplinary educations, the

following is a sampling of statistics and facts gathered from Americans for the Arts (www.americansforthearts.org), proving the efficacy of arts exposure in the classroom, and the necessary relationships of learning, personal growth, and the arts. Also, follow the links provided to see related programming offered by The Learning Arts and Creative Leaps International.

Elementary students involved in creating original opera showed higher rates of classroom participation and quality of participation than their non opera-creating peers. Students involved in reflecting, collaborating, and making the choices necessary to create opera participated more in class (50 percent vs. 33 percent) than their non opera-creating peers. The participation of the opera-creating students was more coherent and responsive to the flow of others' comments. The researchers note the pattern in three opera-creating classrooms, "breaks down in the fourth, where students were more often a work force doing teachers' bidding than a company of individuals in charge of making choices and decisions." In other words, the responsibility for and engagement in creating art is crucial to yielding its broader benefits. 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 Learning Arts offers Introduction to Opera for Young People:

http://www.learningarts.org/guides/K-6/artsexplorations.htm#5

Artistically talented but academically at-risk 4th, 5th, and 6th grade urban students used more self-regulatory behaviors during classes in which the arts were integrated into the lesson.   Self-regulatory behaviors include paying attention, persevering, problem-solving, self-initiating, asking questions, taking positive risks, cooperating, using feedback and being prepared.

The Learning Arts offers a wide selection of programs addressing Life Skills & Personal Growth for Students:

           http://www.learningarts.org/guides/index.htm#G7

In schools with strong arts climates, teachers and students both benefit. Teachers found students who had received high levels of arts training to be more cooperative and more willing to share what they had learned than students with low levels of arts training. "High-arts" students were better able to express their ideas, use their imaginations and take risks in learning, as reported by teachers. High-arts students had better rapport with teachers and teachers in arts-rich schools demonstrated more interest in their work and were more likely to become involved in professional development experiences. They were also more likely to be innovative in their teaching.
 
Professional Learning Initiatives: Workshops, Seminars, & Concerts of Ideas for Educators: http://www.learningarts.org/profdev/for_teachers.htm

  Data Source:
Americans for the Arts, Highlights from Key National Research on Arts Education. http://www.americansforthearts.org/public_awareness/pac_article.asp?id=613