Author: Murphy, Judith and Jones, Lonna

Publication Year: 1975

Media Type: Report

Summary:

Federal support for research in the arts in education was first embodied in the Arts and Humanities Program (AHP) of the U. S. Office of Education. Thanks chiefly to funds made available under Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the AHP was able to mount nearly 200 research and development projects focused on the arts in education, both the visual and the performing arts. Some projects in the humanities, including museums, were also initiated.

Abstract:

Federal support for research in the arts in education was first embodied in the Arts and Humanities Program (AHP) of the U. S. Office of Education. Thanks chiefly to funds made available under Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the AHP was able to mount nearly 200 research and development projects focused on the arts in education, both the visual and the performing arts. Some projects in the humanities, including museums, were also initiated.

Although the AHP projects (funded for the most part between 1965 and 1970) constituted the bulk of all research in arts education undertaken during those years, this is the first time an analysis and summary of this research has been published for distribution to what should be an interested public.

In a sense the content of Research in Arts Education: A Federal Chapter might be considered simply a slice of history; and as such, is worth recording. But this report, I hope, serves a second purpose, that is, it brings together the many lessons to be learned from the studies which otherwise would languish unread or, at best, serve only a few scholars or graduate students. I believe this purpose alone justifies the effort that went into this report. Here the reader will find the fruits of that intensive program to improve the scope and quality of research and development (R.& D.) in a field of education immediately important to the lives of our children and to the life of America.

I am optimistic about the appeal of this report to an audience that goes beyond specialists in the field. For it distills lessons, both positive and negative, that should be of moment not only to arts educators and administrators, to students and researchers, but also to artists of all kinds and to laymen concerned, in their private or public capacity, with the well-being and encouragement of the arts in and out of school. The reader will, I think, take pleasure in the candor and readability of the prose, and find the material organized in a way that gives perspective to a sometimes murky field.

One lesson that emerges is the continued need for R & D in arts education, and the need to profit by what we have already learned. This publication should stimulate discussion and thought about what we know and what we have yet to discover. (p. iii)

CONTENTS
Foreword.

Chapter 1. Research in arts education comes of age.
Chapter 2. The arts and humanities program in action.
Chapter 3. Crossing one mystery with another: Basic Research.
Chapter 4. The D in R & D. Surveys. Conferences.
Chapter 5. The what and how of education in the arts. 
                Measurement and testing. 
                Methods. 
                Music. 
                Art. 
                Other fields. 
                What to teach. 
                Art in the curriculum. 
                Music in the curriculum. 
                Other curriculum development. 
                Educational laboratory theatre evaluated.
Chapter 6. Postscript.

Notes.
Appendix: The AHP's projects listed according to art form.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Arts Education