Author: Hetland, Lois and Winner, Ellen

Publication Year:

Media Type: Periodical (article)

Summary:

Abstract:

This is the executive summary for the Reviewing Education and the Arts Projects (REAP) Report, entitled The Arts and Academic Achievement: What the Evidence Shows . The authors describe the methodology used in their research and reveal their findings. The REAP project is the first comprehensive and quantitative study that presents the realities of research on academic outcomes of arts education.

The researchers conducted a comprehensive search for all studies from 1950 to 1999 which tested the claim that studying the arts leads to some form of academic improvement. They determined there are three areas in which clear causal links could be demonstrated between the arts and achievement in a non-art, academic area. They are:

1. listening to music and spatial-temporal reasoning;
2. learning to play music and spatial reasoning; and;
3. classroom drama and verbal skills.

In two areas, causal links were found, but only on the basis of a very few studies:

1. learning to play music and mathematics; and
2. dance and nonverbal reasoning.

Finally, the researchers discovered five areas in which no casual links were found:

1. arts-rich education, and verbal and mathematics scores/grades;
2. arts-rich education and creative thinking;
3. learning to play music and reading;
4. visual arts and reading;
5. and dance and reading.

Since the findings were mixed, the authors state that it is dangerous to justify arts education by secondary, non-arts effects. Doing so puts the arts in a weakened and vulnerable position. Arts educators must build justifications based on what is inherently valuable about the arts themselves, even when the arts contribute secondary benefits.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Arts Education