How+do+schools+benefit+from+art+programs?

Annotated Bibliography -Jessie Valenti
 * How do schools benefit from art programs? **

1.) Scholarly  Brown, E., Benedett, B., & Armistead, E. (2010). Arts enrichment and school readiness for children at risk. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 25(1), 112-124. Retrieved from http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.helin.uri.edu/science/article/pii/S0885200609000477  Arts are very helpful in schools and can provide students from diverse backgrounds and needs with important educational opportunities. It was proved that arts greatly help students acquire school readiness skills essential in education. In the first study, an arts enriched preschool that served low-income children was examined. Results showed that students who attended the preschool for two years demonstrated higher school readiness skills than those who attended it for one year. This proved that maturation alone did not account for achievement, and that early learning, music, creative movement, and visual art classes caused higher achievement. The second study compared vocabulary of students attending the arts enriched preschool to students attending a regular preschool. After one year, students in the art enriched preschool showed greater vocabulary skills than those at the regular preschool. Results prove that arts enrichment has positive effects and may advance educational outcomes for children at risk. Using the arts to teach school readiness skills provides a potential solution for present challenges of early childhood education. This article exhibits how arts should most definitely be incorporated in preschools. It is clearly shown that art enhances student's school readiness skills and vocabulary and helps them both socially and emotionally. Children from low-income and racial minorities can especially benefit from the use of art because these children often experience a greater disconnection between home and school environments and art can help them express themselves. By art helping and increasing the student's achievement, it in return increases the school's achievement. There are only positive benefits from art and more pre-schools should incorporate the arts in their programs. 2.) Scholarly  Miller, S. R., & Hopper, P. F. (2010). Supporting Reading Goals Through the Visual Arts. Reading Improvement, 47(1), 3-6. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.helin.uri.edu/ehost/detail?sid=79e4f357-1a11-4d2c-8144-b2ae07cc3376@sessionmgr14&vid=1&hid=24&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ== Public schools, teachers, and administrators in secondary school systems always have such high pressure on them for their students to do well on state and national achievement tests. Schools that believe in strong arts programs, whether visual arts, performance arts, music, or creative writing, maintain the concept that creative thinking and creative approaches to problem-solving are just as important as the usual areas of study in mathematics, reading, science, and history. It is believed that students develop better habits of learning through structured art programs, and a more flexible way of thinking through problems. Students tend to feel that they have ownership of what they have learned, and as a result, their perception of academic accomplishment is high. It has been shown that schools with art programs tend to perform better across all subject areas than schools without art based programs.

This article provides an excellent source for why art programs should be included in schools. Art programs are clearly proved to be beneficial to both students and schools. Schools benefit from art programs because their students are benefiting from them. Art programs help students develop better learning habits and enhance student’s creativity, independent thinking, cognitive development, and social skills. This then allows students to achieve higher grades and perform better on national achievement tests. With higher grades and test scores, the school’s achievement and rank increases. Art programs can only help a school and its students and without art the school and student’s are at a disadvantage.

 3.) Editorial Ford, A., & McMahon, M. (2011). Point: The Arts are a Vital Part of Education. Points of View: Arts & Music in Public Schools, 2. Retrieved from http://0-web.ebscohost.com.helin.uri.edu/pov/detail?sid=ac7a246e-9c79-4476-8e89-0508fafb1bde@sessionmgr10&vid=4&bk=1&hid=24&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU=

The arts are a vital part of education and life. Emphasis on standardized reading, math, and science tests should not be allowed to decrease funding and participation in the arts. A study showed that students involved in arts education are stronger in both academic skills and confidence. Public schools need to understand that learning basic language and math skills should not be accomplished at the expense of arts, but in addition to them.

This article provides a strong opinion on how education needs to have a good balance between standardized curriculum and the arts. No school should just be focused on teaching for standardized tests and future employment or just be focused on teaching the arts. Schools, teachers, and students need to understand that being creative is just as important as being good at skill areas like math and reading. Arts education has an enormous impact on the lives of children and enables them to learn and perform better. Schools that focus on standardized curriculum but with strong incorporation of the arts are most likely to succeed.

4.) Analysis  Hershenson, R. (1992, September 27). Art Program Infuses a School With Joy. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/27/nyregion/art-program-infuses-a-school-with-joy.html

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Katherine Damkohler had a basic idea that school could be a successful yet joyful place. She did this by adding art, music, and dance to the curriculum. Success of the St. Augustine School of the Arts in the South Bronx, where enrollment has doubled and the dropout rate has fallen since an arts curriculum was introduced seven years ago has inspired many schools to include art programs. Supporters for arts in education programs say children's achievements in the visual and performing arts increase their self-confidence and provide the kind of discipline needed for success in other areas. Schools, families, and communities have came together to provide funding for arts programs and have increased both the school’s and the student’s success.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">This article represents a real life situation where arts made a school prosper. Art education makes school a fun place to be but yet still educational. Students who take part in the visual and performing arts increase their confidence and improve upon their overall outlook of school. Art programs also benefit the teachers and the school by providing a different kind of discipline to the students and increasing overall classroom performance and behavior. Once more school art programs get the proper funding, students and teachers will prosper, and more schools will succeed.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">5.) ERIC Summary <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Davis, J. (2011). Why Our High Schools Need the Arts. Teachers College Press. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/recordDetails.jsp?searchtype=advanced&pageSize=10&ERICExtSearch_Operator_2=and&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=arts+benefit+to+schools&ERICExtSearch_EDEJSearch=elecBoth&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_2=kw&ERICExtSearch_Operator_1=and&eric_displayStartCount=1&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_1=kw&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=kw&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_From=0&ERICExtSearch_PubDate_To=2013&ERICExtSearch_SearchCount=2&_pageLabel=RecordDetails&objectId=0900019b804932dc&accno=ED527158&_nfls=false

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Arts education is essential to a schools success. Increasing arts education in the high school curriculum will prevent students from dropping out. Learning in the arts is critical to adolescent development and engagement in school and art courses are relevant and valuable to students who have become distant from school. It points the way toward rescuing the American high school by making sure that all students benefit from the essential learning opportunities that the arts provide. It shows research that indicates how learning through the arts engages youth and provides them with a reason to stay in school and graduate.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> This article represents that arts education can do more than just increase students achievement but actually can keep students from dropping out of school. The arts provide students with a different way of learning that engages them to want to learn. Students have fun learning through the arts and it increases their confidence in themselves and increases their achievement. If arts can improve the overall drop-out rate of a school then all schools should most definitely invest in art programs.

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