10 Benefits of Arts Education #ArtsInEdWeek

10 Benefits of Arts Education

“The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading, writing, and arithmetic … music, dance, painting, and theatre are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment.”
- William Bennett, Former US Secretary of Education

#1 – Arts rich schools have higher graduation rates and perform better on standardized tests. (The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, 2011; National Coalition for Core Arts Standards [NCCAS], n.d.; NCCAS, 2012; Norville 2018; ESSA, 2019; Bowen & Kisidia, 2021)

#2 – Arts education increases social emotional regulation and literacy. (Deasy et. al, 2002; McIntosh, 2015; ESSA, 2019; Academies of Arts and Sciences [AAS], 2021)

#3 – Arts education increases creative and divergent thinking, metacognition, attentive listening, and problem solving. (Deasy et. al, 2002; van de Kaap et al., 2015; Fleming et. al, 2016; Todhunter-Reid, 2019, Méndez Martínez & Fernández-Río 2021)

#4 – Arts integration is more effective than other remediation programs in ELA and Math. (ESSA, 2019, Bowen & Kisidia, 2021)

#5 –Arts integration as an intervention is effective in closing achievement gaps, in particular for students in rural and urban schools, English Language Learners, and students with socioeconomic challenges (Ludwig & Hare Bork, 2018)

#6 – Participation in arts education has a positive effect on student attendance. These effects are stronger for students with chronic absenteeism. (Bowen & Kisidia, 2021)

#7 – Arts education along with education in emotions is essential for student well-being. (McIntosh, 2015, AAS, 2021)

#8 – Education in the arts has positive effects for students with disabilities, improving in areas of reading/math achievement, expressive/receptive language, social skills, perseverance/motivation, memory, attention, risk-taking, learner ownership, and self-efficacy. (Robinson, 2013)

#9 – The presence of arts integration has a positive effect on student and family engagement, school culture, and inclusivity of all students; particularly those with special needs. (Robinson, 2013; AAS, 2021; Bowen & Kisidia, 2021)

#10 – The arts are an essential part of a Well-Rounded Education and a student’s educational civil rights. (ESSA, 2019)