Laura McGuinn

Professor Sarah Corporandy

BDAL 701

4 March 2017

Why Art Matters

When K-12 public schools are forced to make budget cuts, arts education is often the first

program to suffer. In 2011, the Common Core and the FarkasDuffett Research group conducted a

survey of 1,001 3rd-to-12th grade public school teachers. Two-thirds (66%) of the respondents

claimed that schools are shifting time and resources towards math and language arts and away

from subjects like art, music, foreign language, and social studies (Americans for the Arts).

However, extensive research and countless studies have shown that a robust arts education can

significantly benefit students in virtually every other subject area. Students with high

involvement in the arts generally have a higher academic performance, better standardized test

scores, volunteer more, and exhibit lower dropout rates than students who are not involved with

the arts.

The benefits of arts education have been studied and reported on in depth by reputable

figures in the academic community. Cognitive neuroscientists at seven major universities have

determined that there is a strong link between arts education and cognitive development, which

includes problem solving, concept understanding, information processing and overall

intelligence (Americans for the Arts). The Dana Consortium study of 2008 titled Learning, Arts,

and the Brain concluded that arts-engaged children develop attention skills and memory retrieval

that greatly benefits them in other subject areas (Americans for the Arts). Lois Hetland and Ellen

Winner discuss higher academic performance and higher SAT scores of arts students in their
 McGuinn 2

book Studio Thinking: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education. They conclude that arts

students develop cognitive abilities that are not emphasized in other subject areas, such as

persistence, expression, making connections between schoolwork and the outside world, and

innovating through exploration (Americans for the Arts). Research conducted between 1987 and

1998 on "young people working in the arts for at least three hours on three days of each week

throughout at least one full year" were 4 times more likely to have been recognized for academic

achievement, 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair, and 3 times more

likely to win an award for school attendance (Americans for the Arts).

Research has shown that arts education benefits students from lower socioeconomic

backgrounds the most. UCLA education researcher, James Catterall, analyzed data from the

National Educational Longitudinal Survey from the late 1990s that surveyed 25,000 secondary

school students over four years (Americans for the Arts). In 2009, Catterall analyzed ten years of

data from the exact same cohort of students and found a strong link between arts learning and

continued success in academics and life. Catterall found that low-income students with high arts

involvement were more than twice as likely to earn a Bachelor's degree (Catterall). Their

employment opportunities included better jobs with higher pay, more responsibility, more

promotion opportunity, and more employee satisfaction" (Catterall). He also found that arts

engaged low-socioeconomic status students were more likely to vote and volunteer (Catterall).

Furthermore, involvement in the arts is linked to lower dropout rates among low socioeconomic

status students. The National Educational Longitudinal Survey found that 22% of low

socioeconomic status students with low arts involvement dropped out of high school, but only

4& of low socioeconomic status students with high arts involvement dropped out (Americans for
 McGuinn 3

the Arts). Arts education can essentially level the playing field for low socioeconomic students in

underprivileged circumstances.

Despite these incredibly positive links between arts education and academic performance

and job success, public schools continue to defund arts programs. STEM programs often get

funded because there is a seemingly direct link to success between science and math programs

and successful jobs, such as jobs in the medical field or engineering. However, students pursuing

jobs in STEM fields need arts education in their K-12 studies to develop cognitive functions that

will improve their academic and job performance. Furthermore, at-risk youth need arts programs

to stimulate success, decrease absenteeism, and improve family involvement. Arts education

involves so much more than teaching children how to paint or how to dance; it provides children

with the fundamentals of how to learn and how to grow and how to stay focused.
 McGuinn 4

Works Cited

Catterall, James S. (2009). Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art: The Effects of Education

in the Visual and Performing Arts on the Achievements and Values of Young Adults.

"Research Reports." Americans for the Arts. Americans for the Arts, 15 Feb. 2017. Web. 04 Mar.

2017.