The Power of the Arts to Transform

The arts are important in themselves and they help students learn other subjects. An important series of research papers has recently been commissioned by the Arts Education Partnership and the President?s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Champions of Change: The Impact of the Arts on Learning, provides compelling evidence that students can attain higher levels of achievement through their engagement with the arts.

The studies, which may be found at the Kennedy Center's Arts Edge, point out that the arts reach students who are not being reached, nurture ?the development of cognitive, social and personal competencies,? challenge successful students, and ?level the playing field for youngsters from disadvantaged circumstances.? The leading educational researchers discovered that ?the arts provided a reason, and sometimes the only reason, for being engaged with school? and give examples of classroom failures who ?became the high-achievers in arts learning settings.?

Communities have discovered that for some students, the arts present a first opportunity for learning, and for all students, the arts offer a chance to learn more. Here are some of the ways they have discovered why arts education is so important:

Studying The Arts Helps Students Achieve In The Arts And Other Academic Disciplines

Experience shows that the arts have a special potential for engaging all students and that the traditional practices of the arts can improve teaching and learning in all areas. Across the country, students at innovative schools are learning, in addition to the arts themselves, American history through the study of songs composed by many American occupational?? and ethnic groups; the body's circulatory system through choreography and dance performance; and geometry through the visual and graphic arts.