| Integration of art into school curricula has the potential to increase multiple abilities in student populations. However, the process through which cognition and behavior are affected is not well understood. The current study is among the first large-scale, longitudinal examinations of arts integration on improving student creativity and engagement. The current investigation focused on change in student creativity and engagement during one academic year for fourth and fifth graders, comparing children at schools with multiple years of sustained, intensive arts integration through the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Changing Education through the Arts (CETA) program with children at matched control schools using traditional classroom instruction. Multiple measures of student creativity and engagement were assessed from the perspective of 746 students, 86 teachers, and 746 parents. In addition, standardized test scores were analyzed to assess changes in student achievement. Key findings demonstrated that on dimensions of creativity, students receiving arts integrated instruction reported a greater increase in Attitudes about Artists subscale scores over the course of the study compared to matched controls. Contrary to expectations, students receiving arts integrated instruction reported little change in Engagement subscales of Interest, Effort, and Challenge over the course of the study while students who did not receive arts integrated instruction showed an increase in their Interest and Effort scores over time, and a decrease in Positive Challenge scores over time. However, there were no significant differences between treatment and control groups across time for Attitudes about Flexibility and its subscales, or for the Idea Judgment Scale. Teachers in arts integrated schools reported a greater increase in their students' effort and global scores of Teacher Evaluations of Student Creativity, student's Creativity Core and Social Creativity over the period of the study compared to teachers in the control schools. There were no significant differences for parent reports of student engagement or creativity between treatment and control groups across time. No significant differences were found in Math and Reading standardized test scores between the treatment and control groups. Implications are discussed for arts programming, education, economics, and STEM. |
