蜜桃影视

Explore

Report: Dozens of Arts Programs Could Receive Funding Under Federal Education Law

American Institutes for Research

Dozens of 鈥渁rts integration鈥 programs, which employ artistic expression as a means of teaching a variety of subjects, are eligible for federal funding under the Every Student Succeeds Act, according to . More investigation into the efficacy of the method is needed, the authors report, but 10 such programs have already been shown to meet ESSA鈥檚 highest evidentiary standards.

that combines fine-arts activities with instruction in other content areas. Teachers might use rhyming songs in a lesson about fractions, design a writing exercise around analysis of a Rembrandt painting, or stage a play to help build reading skills. It can be used to organize individual classroom exercises or inform an entire school model, and teachers use it with students from kindergarten through high school.

鈥淭hese funding opportunities can be used to support activities such as teacher professional development, school improvement efforts, supports for English learners, arts integration courses, instructional materials, extended learning time programs,鈥 write. 鈥淭hey can also be used to support arts-focused charter or magnet schools.鈥

The 10 programs that meet with highest tiers of evidence, including preschool arts enrichment services and field trips to museums and the theater, could be especially promising candidates.

Extra revenue is particularly important at a moment when arts funding has yet to recover from recession-era declines. Over a nearly decade-long period when schools in many states were struggling to keep teachers paid and buses running, music and art classes were . In March, when President Trump鈥檚 proposed budget called for , many feared for the thousands of classroom programs across the country underwritten by the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In the AIR study, conducted for the Wallace Foundation, researchers reviewed 135 studies of arts integration conducted since 2000. Their goals were to determine whether various programs were sufficiently rigorous to merit federal funding under ESSA and to isolate their average impact on student performance.

In all, 44 separate interventions, ranging from poetry-writing to origami to live theater, met with ESSA鈥檚 four tiers of evidentiary rigor. Most only met the lowest level, Tier IV. But studies of 10 arts integration programs actually cleared Tiers I鈥揑II (鈥減romising evidence,鈥 鈥渕oderate evidence,鈥 and 鈥渟trong evidence鈥), which require proof of statistically significant effects.

Even those interventions that cleared the lowest bar of Tier IV are judged by the authors to be potentially worthy of federal funds available under ESSA. While those made up the majority of the programs deemed eligible for funding, a handful also withstood scrutiny under Tiers I鈥揑II.

(Photo: American Institutes for Research)

The authors warn that, with their conclusions often based around the outcome of a single study, more research is required into the impact of arts instruction on specific student populations and subject areas.

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 蜜桃影视鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.

Republish This Article

We want our stories to be shared as widely as possible 鈥 for free.

Please view 蜜桃影视's republishing terms.





On 蜜桃影视 Today